Like that's saying something...
Amazing << Hear this. Feel this, and tell me that this isn't music.
And dont sleep on these two, either.
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 ...
agree with both Harrys. “A Better Place to Be” is like a 3-act play. Wonder whatever happened to Nilsson. The “Schmilsson” albums were the last I remember.
Billy Joel is a bazillion times better than any of the crap music popular today.
I think people have artistic allergies, much like hay fever or asthma.
For me, it’s Neil Diamond and Chicago.
Also, any of the songs about astronauts that came out at the beginning of the 70’s, like those of Elton John and Harry Nilsson.
Bruce Springsteen makes Billy Joel sound like Pavarotti.
Maybe there is something wrong with Christie Brinkley.
No matter how purdy she is there is someone, somewhere, who is throughly sick and tired of putting up with her Sh!t...
You can get AIDS from coming down a chimney?
Want something to really make your ears bleed, here in Michigan they are advertising the Billy Joel/Elton John concert/extravaganza. As if things weren’t bad enough in Michigan.
AHHHHHHH! You've put it in my brain! Make it stop make it stop for the love of god make it stoooooooooop......*sob*
It's a small world after all
It's a small world after all...
While Andrew Wyeth may not have been another Da Vinci, sentimental schlock art is better epitomized by the works of Thomas Kinkade. As for title of the worst pop singer ever there are so many choices it would be almost impossible to decide.
Harry first broke into the public awareness in ‘67 when he released his first real commercial album under a brand new contract with RCA.
He idolized the Beatles and covered numerous of their songs throughout his first few albums. He came to their attention by about ‘68, and they publicly complimented his work. (Having a number of their songs done in interesting ways by him may have been a factor!)
He eventually became particularly close to Ringo Starr and John Lennon.
Ringo was credited on one of Harry’s albums (I think it “Nilsson Schmilsson”) under the name Reggie Snare. Harry later produced one of Ringo’s solo albums, “Goodnight Vienna.”
John produced one of Harry’s albums, “Pussy Cats.” Harry was devastated by John’s assassination some years later, and went on to become a strong advocate of handgun control.
After a number of not-so-successful albums in the late 70’s, he worked in music for films. This was foreshadowed perhaps by his 1971 animated production “The Point,” done originally as an ABC movie, and still available on DVD. Great for kids especially.
Highly athletic in his youth and middle years, he finally succumbed to diabetes and heart disease in 1993 in his early 50’s. Al Kooper, Jimmy Webb, and others were putting together a tribute album at the time, “Everybody Loves Harry.” The album does have a couple of interesting tracks, and also some duds.
Apparently he was very well known around the industry, beyond what his commercial record sales would suggest. Perhaps that’s because he was at least as much a songwriter as a performer; also because he couldn’t stand doing live concerts, so road trips and promotions were out of the question.
The final irony is that his greatest hits were performances of songs written by others. Except for his original “Coconut,” which was many years in becoming a cult favorite.
If it's the wrong "chimney," yes.
≤};^)
I saw costello in the 80s and he bashed reo speedwagon at his concert, wait a minute i think it was joe jackson, sorry.
george wrote “Here Comes the Sun” my all time favorite Beatles song. Clapton wrote in his autobiography that george was in his garden when he wrote that song. it’s still one of my favorite songs of all time. makes me nostalgic for my childhood as remember being 5 and listening to it. loved it as a kid.
” Okay! Who's hot boxing the dube!?”
I turn th eradio station whenever a billyjoel song comes on. He is awful.
From the album Joel himself hates the most...so you may be on to something...
Like that's saying something...
Amazing << Hear this. Feel this, and tell me that this isn't music.
And dont sleep on these two, either.
Ah, I missed it and stand corrected, although one hardly does the thread justice, but it does explain why he’s the worst pop singer...foolish man.
I’ve always liked Billy Joel, and I make no apologies for it. “The Stranger” is still one of the greatest pop albums ever.
Joel for sure isn't a Republican, or a conservative, but I do remember during the Iran Hostage crisis, he would always start off his concerts by giving the Ayatollah, "the bird."
And also "Goodnight Saigon" did a lot to raise awareness of the Vietnam vets. So I don't lump Joel in with the other show-business lefties.
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