Artists Who Inspire Me: Billy Joel

Welcome to my series on Artists Who Inspire Me. Each post will address a different artist, from any field, who has had a major impact on my life and/or my work. Some will be artists whose work I enjoy, others will be artists whose work I respect. All of them, however, will have had some type of major impact upon me, and I will explain why and how, here. Hopefully I can introduce you to some great artistic work, while simultaneously offering some insight into my personal growth as an artist and as a person.

No one is a more appropriate choice for the first article in my Artists Who Inspire Me series than Billy Joel, the American musician, singer, and songwriter.

Known as a piano aficionado, and major rock artist of the 1970s and 1980s, Billy Joel's work has had a long-lasting impact upon the face of the music industry for decades, and will continue to do so for decades to come. A member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, he released 13 solo studio albums between 1971 and 2001, with his twelfth, and final studio album to contain vocals, being released in 1993.

1993.

One year before I was born.

In other words, with the exception of his 2001 classical music album Fantasies & Delusions and his 2007 non-album singles "All My Life" and "Christmas in Fallujah", the entirety of Billy Joel's original catalogue of songs pre-dates my existence.

Yet still, he was, and continues to be, a major impact upon my life.

Because I grew up on Billy Joel. I still remember sitting in the car when I was probably 4 or 6 years old, on the way to God-knows-where, listening to the tape (yes, cassette tape!) my parents had punched into the player, offering a variety of tracks that I couldn't individually extract from one another. But I knew I liked them. Sometimes it was Barry Manilow. Sometimes it was Elvis Presley. Sometimes it was a mixtape of my parents' favourites. But the one who stood out most to me (once I realized who he was) was Billy Joel.

I couldn't tell you when I first heard songs like "Piano Man", "Running on Ice", or "Zanzibar", because they were just always there, although it sometimes took me years to discover the titles. In fact, I knew the refrain to "Zanzibar" for years, not knowing who had done it, or what the title was, before hearing Billy Joel play it in concert, in 2007, and finally satisfying a years-long mission of discovery. (Google wasn't quite as useful back then as it is now.)

I believe that the first time that I ever declared someone to be "my favourite" artist, in any field, it was Billy Joel. I listened to his Greatest Hits — Volume I & Volume 2, and Greatest Hits Volume III on repeat for years. My parents also had Piano Man (1973), The Stranger (1977), The Bridge (1986), and River of Dreams (1993) lying around, on CD, and over the years I started to learn the lesser-known songs that they had to offer, as well. The public library supplied me with 52nd Street (1978) and Glass Houses (1980), while my father's old records eventually offered me The Nylon Curtain (1982).

My appreciation of Billy Joel has led me to see him live, in concert, twice, one of only two artists I've deliberately gone to see twice (I've worked multiple concerts by other artists, not always by choice).

So, clearly, Billy Joel was a defining feature of my childhood who still brings back great memories and enjoyable singalongs to this day, even as my musical knowledge has grown, my tastes have changed, and he's found himself playing less often through my speakers than he once did.

Whether he's affected my own artistry is a different question. Directly, I would have to say no. I've never deliberately or knowingly obtained inspiration from one of his songs, albums, or performances. I've never gone out of my way to pay homage to him, despite his importance to my life.

But I do think he's had a more indirect impact. That is, my entire taste in music began on the foundation of Billy Joel, and therefore everything that has come since, and everything that has had a more direct influence upon me in later years, was only possible in response to my long-term base of Billy Joel, establishing the type of music I enjoy.

Rock music.

And, as time has gone by, all kinds of rock music. (To clarify, not all rock music, but many of its subgenres appeal to me in different manners.) Billy Joel is stepping-stone rock, if you will. Not too hard, but not too soft, either. Compare the slow build of "Piano Man" to the intense opening guitar of "A Matter of Trust", consider the soft and emotional "And So It Goes" versus the jazzy (but still rock-y) "Stiletto". Billy Joel's diversity opened me up to all kinds of rock music—but, always rock music.

And that's probably part of why I was unwilling to listen to, or enjoy, just about any other genre until quite recently. Still now, even if it comes from another genre, if a song doesn't have that rock-ish edge in some way, that hard emotion, (even in a soft song) it's probably not for me.

Maybe, in its convoluted way, this has also impacted my writing, my appreciation for something edgier, darker, more emotional. Maybe not Billy Joel, directly, but the path that he set me upon, the avenues that my appreciation for his music opened up, going forward. There are steps in every direction, there are unexpected combinations that work well together, but in the end, that harsher edge has to be there, somewhere, for me to engage with it. Which also probably explains why some of my less-preferred Billy Joel songs are the smoother ones, the "edge-less" ones, if you will: "Just the Way You Are", "A Minor Variation", etc.

To change directions, I'd also like to show a little appreciation for Billy Joel's longevity. Active in the music industry since the mid-1960s, and still performing live today. He may not be releasing new songs, but he's still engaging with his fans, playing his music, and keeping his legacy alive, long after his initial popularity in the 1970s and 1980s has waned. I still hear him on the radio fairly regularly, whether it's "Uptown Girl", "The River of Dreams", "The Longest Time", or one of his other dozens of top 100 Billboard hits. That longevity and continued relevance, in itself, is inspiring: it's something I want, something to model myself after, even if working in a different artistic field.

I'd like to end off with a short list of some of my favourites, for your listening pleasure (I hope).

My top 5 songs, always subject to change:

1. "Temptation" (The Bridge, 1986)

2. "The Downeaster 'Alexa'" (Storm Front, 1989)

3. "And So It Goes" (Storm Front, 1989)

4. "Vienna" (The Stranger, 1977)

5. "All For Leyna" (Glass Houses, 1980)

That list was a lot harder to make than I'd expected. "Pressure", "Goodnight Saigon", "Leningrad", "Shades of Grey", and "We Didn't Start the Fire" all have good claims, with a few others also trying to push their ways in. But I'll settle on this list for now. A good combination of slow, emotional, and edgy. Always great lyrics. The poetry of Billy Joel's words definitely serves as a rhythmic inspiration for me, even if their content is often very different from my own.

But in the end, Billy Joel doesn't have to inspire me in my work. He's a major influence upon my life and that counts for just as much, if not more.

Let me know if you have a favourite Billy Joel song or album, below!