Posted on 01/24/2009 9:21:17 PM PST by SeekAndFind
This may seem an odd moment to bring up the subject of Billy Joel. But the recent death of the painter Andrew Wyeth revived a long-standing debate over whether his art is respectable or merely sentimental schlock. (Say it: good or bad?) It got me to thinking about the question of value in art and whether there are any absolute standards for judging it. It indicates the question is still alive, not relegated to irrelevance by relativism.
And then I picked up The Art Instinct, a new book by Denis Dutton, the curator of the Arts & Letters Daily Web site. The book strives valiantly to find a basis for judging the value of art from the perspective of evolutionary psychology; in it, Dutton argues that a certain kind of artistic talent offered a competitive advantage in the Darwinian struggle for survival.
Which brings me to Billy Joel—the Andrew Wyeth of contemporary pop music—and the continuing irritation I feel whenever I hear his tunes, whether in the original or in the multitude of elevator-Muzak versions. It is a kind of mystery: Why does his music make my skin crawl in a way that other bad music doesn't? Why is it that so many of us feel it is possible to say Billy Joel is—well—just bad, a blight upon pop music, a plague upon the airwaves more contagious than West Nile virus, a dire threat to the peacefulness of any given elevator ride, not rock 'n' roll but schlock 'n' roll?
I'm reluctant to pick on Billy Joel. He's been subject to withering contempt from hipster types for so long that it no longer seems worth the time. Still, the mystery persists: How can he be so bad and yet so popular for so long? He's still there.
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...
Excellent. I remember the song, but didn't know the group.
It’s one of the few groups I have a DVD of. The DVD more or less tells how the group was formed etc. Just some friends sitting around playing among other things Ukes. A Wilbury was a noise they would hear in their amp systems that’s what they called the noise. LOL
I am not a fan of either's politics (I can't believe that almost thirty years of safety after Three Mile Island, Browne's still against nuclear energy), but they have had their shining moments.
Mellencamp's breakthrough Cougar-era track "I Need a Lover" is IMHO one of the greatest pop-rock songs ever (the album cut has the terrific intro). Magnificent drumming. And what lonely man hasn't dreamed of "some woman to thrill me, and then go away"? (Remember, this was written at least fifteen years before AOL.) Jackson Browne's "Running On Empty" was my favorite all-time song for years, and to think that was a live recording.
Where is David Lindley nowadays? He is missed.
Brinkley had two next husbands and one before husband. There's something wrong with Brinkley. That being said, I'm not a Joel fan. Never got the whole Springsteen thing either.
Now Roy is a legend. A personal favorite. Seemed like a great guy too.
When did it become so trendy to hate Billy Joel? The guy’s an excellent musician.
Two of my favorite Beatles’ tunes are Harrison songs.
Yea I grew up listening to his music. There's not been another voice like his. A lot of the older music is coming back. Amazon has some good downloads. Draw back for me is I'm on dial up and not by choice. Sometimes the downloads play right other times not. I have about 15 or more milk crates of albums I'm wanting to replace with buying CD's. A lot of it real hard to find. Right now second hand music stores are my friend.
Definitely one of a kind. Hard to believe he's been gone 20 years now. Doesn't seem that long.
I secretly love Barry Manilow!! It’s great music to torture friends and relatives with... for instance, next time you want to drive someone insane, sing CopaCabana at different times throughout your evening. Not the entire song, but a few lines here and there... You will both be rolling laughing or at least have them begging for mercy!!!! Also, after much experience with this over the years, I’ve found some of his other hits like Mandy, I Write the Songs and Daybreak are good for the same purpose... LOL
I can’t stand stick-up-the-butt, pretentious “music critics” like this. Back in the Dark Ages, when I went to North Texas State, all my friends in the jazz program used to roll their eyes at guys like this who wrote for Rolling Stone and obviously knew nothing about music but just filled their columns with arrogant jabber about politics and sociology. Billy Joel is one of the best pop songwriters of the past 40 years, and he’s written more great songs that most people don’t even know (”Summer Highland Falls,” “The Entertainer,” “Root Beer Rag”) than most major artists have had hits. If you can hum me the “melody” of even one #1 hit by Mariah Carey, then you can tell me that Billy Joel is not talented. I think jerks like this are just furious that Billy nailed them so well in what may be my all-time favorite song of his: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErPywgiMb4k
This writer has never listened to any of Billy’s work done before his bad 80’s hits. His live album ‘Songs In The Attic’ is a must have live album.
Michael Bolton?
Compared to the talentless hacks of today’s pop music scene, Billy Joel is a Titan.
According to RIAA, Joel is in the top 6 of all time album sales with almost 80 million, so he’s doing OK. Only two other solo performers have more album sales than Joel and that’s Elvis Presley and Garth Brooks.
Ok, here's the cure.
But the writer mostly hits home with this piece on Billy Joel. Recently heard a couple of his mid-80s songs on the radio recently, "Pressure" and "You've Got A Way". Awful cringe-inducing stuff.
Piano man and Italian Restaurant for me!
Ouch.
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