“A template”: The band Billy Joel called the blueprint for his career
Billy Joel was, and still is, one of the most enduring songwriters and performers in music history. Growing up as a teenager in the Bronx in the 1960s, Joel would have been exposed to the likes of the Everly Brothers and Elvis Presley, the musical icons of the time. But one band had more influence than the rest, and that band was The Beatles, in every which way.
Tapping into genres of classical, pop, and rock, it’s difficult to categorise Joel into a singular type of artist. In an interview with Vulture in 2018, he shared, “I always looked at the Beatles as a template. They did 12 studio albums. By the time I got to my 12th album, I didn’t think the quality trajectory was going to continue to go up. And I was more interested in other music.”
Joel’s last studio album, Fantasies & Delusions, arrived in 2001. The project contained 12 compositions for classical solo piano, a great departure from the ‘Uptown Girl’-s and ‘Piano Man’-s one might normally associate with the songwriter. River of Dreams, released eight years prior to his last ever record, would be Joel’s last rock album.
In an interview with The New Yorker, he explained, “I look back at the guy who was the recording artist, this Billy Joel guy, and I think, who the fuck was that guy? He was very ambitious, very driven, and I don’t feel like that anymore.” The fire had gone out. So, like The Beatles before him at this juncture, he decided to leave it there rather than deride his own legacy for purely commercial gain.
The Beatles were revolutionary for their time, proving that a band could write, perform and record their own music, rather than relying on industry songwriters. This shift in the industry paved the way for artists like Joel himself, who is today chided as an unparalleled songwriter and performer. But he is also one who might not exist without the guided light of the giant Fab Four before him.
Like The Beatles, Joel’s greatest strength was his ability to blend influences across genres, in turn creating something exciting and fresh. From his rock tendencies in Glass Houses, jazz and blues riffs in An Innocent Man, and theatre sensibilites in The Stranger, what Joel got from The Fab Four was a reminder to truly put the music above all else. Like The Beatles, Joel was never boxed into a single genre, solidifying him as one of the most adaptable and curious minds of the music industry.
When it came to lyricism and storytelling, Joel took heed from The Beatles’ career in one other way: progressing from traditional love songs to introspective pieces of cultural commentary. While The Beatles gave us love song classics like ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’, they also gave us ‘Let It Be’. Joel, on the other hand, also showcased his knack for tender lyricism through ‘She’s Always a Woman’, but also gave us thoughtful reflections through ‘Goodnight Saigon’.
The Beatles may have been a template for Billy Joel, but Joel has been the blueprint for the modern musician. Just as the Beatles defined what artistry could be, Joel furthered that tradition. He demonstrated the significance of artistry in covering the expanses of thoughtful storytelling, genre-bending sonics, and cultural impact.
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