The Worst Pop Singer Ever. Why, exactly, is Billy Joel so bad?

Slate ^ | Jan 23, 2009 | Ron Rosenbaum

[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.

[CzarNicky]

“Why, exactly, is Billy Joel so bad?”

Probably because he stole Piano Man.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SW2peqkJsI

[highlander_UW]

This thread stinks...not a single photo of Christie Brinkley?

[Mojave]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2171221/posts?page=65#65

[andyandval]

I have to disagree with your including Cindy Lauper in that list :0)

Maybe it's cause she sang the National Anthem at the Jets vs. Dolphins game I attended in December...

Or maybe I've always thought she had talent.

Take a listen if you're of a mind.

Cyndi Lauper sings Carey (by Joni Mitchell)

Or depending on your taste maybe this will prove your point.

:)

[RedCobra]

All of them suck, but I’ll name two that were very good...Harry Chapin and Harry Nilson (just a coincidence that they’re both named Harry), and Bob Dylan was not, is not a “pop singer”, rather he has always been a poet, an artist with words, an ORIGINAL, whether you like him or not, and his voice, however bad, is merely a vehicle for his poetry.

[RedCobra]

Also, Billy Joel, a mediocrity, and Andrew Wyeth, a great draftsman/technician/painter don’t equate at all.

[AppyPappy]

People who weren’t around when “The Stranger” was released simply cannot opine about Billy Joel being the worst. That was a masterpiece of its time.

[Skooz]

Billy Joel isn’t nearly as bad as Bruce Springsteen.

I dunno. They're both at the bottom of the dust bin of BAD. It's hard to say which one is worse.

[antisocial]

Is he the one that sang “Maggie may” or something like that?

[LS]

As a former rocker, I think I can claims some insight:

There are songwriters/bands/singers who are somewhat timeless---they steadily turn out good stuff and occasionally have a hit;

Then there are the one-hit wonders, of whom we're all familiar (Ace, "How Long has this Been Goin' On?")

More puzzling are the bands/songwriters who turn out an absolutely incredible album, where almost every song is a classic or cutting edge, then they never seem to recapture it.

Think of Boz Scaggs, "Silk Degrees," or, for you older rockers, "Moby Grape" by Moby Grape, where every song was refreshing. Billy Joel's "The Stranger" was one of those albums. I don't know how many #1 hits he had off that, but it was a few.

[MarkL]

While I’m not much of a Bill Joel fan, though I did go to one of his concerts many years ago (late 70s, early 80s), and thought that he was a fantastic performer.

This is the sort of dreck I’d expect from “slate.” There is FAR worse pop music out there than Billy Joel’s. The fact that the writer is making a big deal of it is simply to try to tie his fame to a famous name, especially someone in a downward slide of addiction. This writer is doing nothing more than trying to use Billy Joel as a “step up” is his pitiful excuse for a career.

Mark

[MarkL]

Billy Joel isn’t nearly as bad as Bruce Springsteen.

Be prepared to be pilloried, but I couldn't agree with your more. I've never understood why people like Springsteen, and went into culture shock when I moved from KC to Ardsley NY in 1979 to finish high school. Everywhere I turned there was Springsteen! Blech!!!!

Mark

[MarkL]

Weird Al answered the question, to the tune of “It’s Still Rock and Roll To Me”:

You know you've made it as a cultural icon when Weird Al does a parody song of you.

BTW, I'm a HUGE fan of Weird Al, and think that he's absolutely brilliant (though I have a tolerance of about 20 minutes at a time for his music). "UHF" is one of my all time favorite movies.

Mark

[usmcobra]

I actually hope to live long enough to watch aging rappers get booed off the stage for slurring the words into one long spew of Vomit Carnage...

[InvisibleChurch]

“It’s Still Rock and Roll To Me”:

It's still one of the most putrid "rock" songs ever.

[MarkL]

Just like my daughter knows how to work me. I can’t write a lullaby like Billy did but I can stay married to her mom and watch her grow up. Geez, if you can’t be happy with Christie Brinkley, there is something wrong with you.

Then again, her next husband was not happy with her either and got into trouble having an affair with a teenage woman.

Maybe there is something wrong with Christie Brinkley.

I had thought that Christie Brinkley left Billy Joel. Of course, it seems that he's something of a "car wreck" himself, but hasn't she been married 4 or 5 times now? Granted, she still looks great at more than 50 years of age! I find myself actually watching her infomercials.

Mark

[MarkL]

REO Speedwagon kicks Rick Springfield’s butt.

REO Speedwagon WAS a terrific ROCK band. I've always thought that "You Can Tune a Piano, But You Can't Tuna Fish" was the album where they "jumpled the shark." It was also the start of their commercial success, which wrecked the band.

Mark

[andyandval]

I find myself actually watching her infomercials.

Not a good sign, Mark.

:)

[InvisibleChurch]

I read an Elvis Costello interview a few days ago (it was an old interview), and he bashed BSpringsteen pretty good. He was going on about "what's so good about the street"? Springsteen never lived and doesn't live "on the street" and why should anyone?

I agree with Elvis.

[MarkL]

Two of my favorite Beatles’ tunes are Harrison songs.

Smae here... "The Beatles" is quite possibly one of the very best examples of "the total is far greater than the sum of the parts."

Paul is a master of mushy "love songs." John supplied the "edge," and in some cases, humor AND anger. George added musicality and finesse. And Ringo added a terrific beat AND good natured humor.

And George Martin tied it all together and made it REALLY work.

Mark