126 replies to this topic

[brobee]

Billy Joel > Hall & Oates

so so wrong.

hall & oates>anything not hall & oates

[Holiday in Risk]

Haha, I unironically listened to Private Eyes during lunch today.

Three pages about Billy Joel. So this is what the mighty SOMB has come to, huh.

I like ABBA, by the way.

[EdVonBlue]

Here is an interesting article that asks the same question as this threads title:

http://blogs.myspace...mp;swapped=true

[Tony]

Haha, I unironically listened to Private Eyes during lunch today.

Three pages about Billy Joel. So this is what the mighty SOMB has come to, huh.

I like ABBA, by the way.

It just shows how generally well known his music that even people who never owned a single album can reel off opinions about a dozen songs or so.

[Duff.]

Uh, it shows he gets played on the radio by our mothers a lot?

[surlacarte]

Yeah, no one's debating how well known he is.

[DrAftershave]

Another reason to like him is one of the greatest music videos ever.

hell yea. love this song.

what a bitch to play on piano.

[Tony]

Yeah, no one's debating how well known he is.

Actually it's the songs which are well known. Which was my contention from the start. A teenage girl I know told me she liked 'Piano Man' but had no idea who Joel was.

[Duff.]

Uh, it shows he gets played on the radio by our mothers a lot?

[Tony]

Here is an interesting article that asks the same question as this threads title:

http://blogs.myspace...mp;swapped=true

What an idiotic blog. His reasoning is worse than the guy who wrote the Salon article.

[Agrimorfee]

Another reason to like him is one of the greatest music videos ever.

what a bitch to play on piano.

Easier than Italian Restaurant I would think, though.

[Guy]

Yeah, no one's debating how well known he is.

Actually it's the songs which are well known. Which was my contention from the start. A teenage girl I know told me she liked 'Piano Man' but had no idea who Joel was.

Mr Tony, please tell us more about the teenage girls you know. This is bound to be far more interesting than anyone's opinion of Billy Joel.

[AFTERSHOCK]

Virtually all of Collins' solo material sounds the same to me. And since we're on the subject he's a truly awful lyricist. At least on his own.

I'm certainly not going to let myself get cornered into defending Phil Collins...I'm hardly an expert on the subject anyway. I was just saying that, if he was a big influence on 808s & Heartbreaks, which I loved, maybe there's something there we've been missing. I'll go to bat for "In the Air Tonight," though...

I'd got to bat for the song "I Don't Care Anymore" & "Long Long Way To Go".

Billy Joel > Hall & Oates

so so wrong.

Agreed. Hall & Oates were brilliant in their vocal arrangements. Joel always sounds like he's forcing his voice to do what it can't.

[Agrimorfee]

I'd got to bat for the song "I Don't Care Anymore" ...".

Yeah, a great tune...like other artists, he seems to be more interesting when he's pissed off...but he hasn't been pissed off for awhile I think...

[Tony]

Billy Joel > Hall & Oates

so so wrong.

Agreed. Hall & Oates were brilliant in their vocal arrangements. Joel always sounds like he's forcing his voice to do what it can't.

Darryl Hall is a geniune vocalist though. But Joel put some impressive vocals on record ('The Longest Time' and 'Until the Night') that don't sound strained at all.

Yeah, no one's debating how well known he is.

Actually it's the songs which are well known. Which was my contention from the start. A teenage girl I know told me she liked 'Piano Man' but had no idea who Joel was.

Mr Tony, please tell us more about the teenage girls you know. This is bound to be far more interesting than anyone's opinion of Billy Joel.

She's the daughter of friends.

[brobee]

Billy Joel > Hall & Oates

so so wrong.

Agreed. Hall & Oates were brilliant in their vocal arrangements. Joel always sounds like he's forcing his voice to do what it can't.

Darryl Hall is a geniune vocalist though. But Joel put some impressive vocals on record ('The Longest Time' and 'Until the Night') that don't sound strained at all.

it's more than that. their song writing ability, though shallow, was remarkably precise. plus their arrangements were far more sophisticated than joel's, more than they even get credit for these days.

[stignasty]

Okay, all trolling aside. . . I genuinely like 52nd Street and the Stranger. An Innocent Man was alright, and so was "Allentown" and "Pressure." He's made some shitty, shitty music too. Glass Houses was horrible as was that god damned "We didn't start the fire" shit.

[Tony]

Okay, all trolling aside. . .

I genuinely like 52nd Street and the Stranger. An Innocent Man was alright, and so was "Allentown" and "Pressure." He's made some shitty, shitty music too. Glass Houses was horrible as was that god damned "We didn't start the fire" shit.

Glass Houses was fun. 'You May Be Right', 'Don't Ask Me Why' and It's Still Rnr to me' were fun singles that still get played on the radio all the time. And 'All For Leyna' is a sadly overlooked classic.

[EdVonBlue]

Here is an interesting article that asks the same question as this threads title:

http://blogs.myspace...mp;swapped=true

What an idiotic blog. His reasoning is worse than the guy who wrote the Salon article.

I thought it was entertaining at least--especially that quote by the Beastie Boys about Michael jackson, that was hilarious!

[Holiday in Risk]

That Klosterman essay about Joel is so repeatedly off the mark, by the way. "Allentown" isn't about "how baby boomers supposedly have it rough," it's about the decay of the Rust Belt. He gets so tied up in being Chuck Klosterman with all the "he's cool because he's not cool, but he's not cool because he's uncool, he's great because he's not cool, and being cool isn't great, though maybe after all he's not really that great" shit that he fails to make cogent points. Awful. It reminds me of this time I happened upon a high school football game on the radio: "We're here at [so-and-so] Field here in Kenosha, on the shores of Lake Michigan, one of the Great Lakes. Some might say the greatest of the Great Lakes. Which is not to say that the other lakes aren't great. But this is a GREAT lake." That's why it's high school sports radio, I guess. But yeah. Annoying essay.