The Billy Joel album that almost featured Eddie Van Halen: “I like the energy”
Since his 1971 debut LP Cold Spring Harbour, American singer-songwriter Billy Joel has established himself as one of pop rock’s most successful artists. Winning scores of fans with his tender piano ballads surrounding his signature The Stranger, the ‘Piano Man’ sought to enter the next decade exploring further creative avenues and wider commercial appeal.
With a background in earlier psychedelic rock groups like The Hassles and Attila, Joel already had experience flexing his musical dexterity. Following 1980’s strutting Glass Houses, Joel jumped into the unabashed nostalgia of his youth on 1983’s An Innocent Man, crafting pop smashers like ‘Uptown Girl‘ and ‘Tell Her About It’ inspired by the doo-wop, Motown soul, and R&B of yesteryear.
Following 1986’s The Bridge and his landmark live shows in the Soviet Union, Joel hit major rocky waters with his band and the music business. In addition to dismissing longtime guitarist and bassist Russell Javors and Doug Stegmeyer, a major financial dispute between Joel and his manager Frank Weber after an alleged auditing discrepancy resulted in a two-year legal wrangling, Joel eventually winning $2million in a partial judgment.
This upheaval and acrimony birthed the Billboard 200 number one Storm Front, preceded by the Boomer laundry list whirlwind single ‘We Didn’t Start the Fire’. Produced by Foreigner’s Mick Jones over his usual studio partner Phil Ramone, Joel’s desire to herald his 11th LP with a new creative direction saw him looking at the world of hard rock for potential candidates behind the mixing desk.
Why Eddie Van Halen?
“Originally, I thought of having Eddie Van Halen produce Storm Front,” Joel told Rolling Stone. “I think he’s a fantastic musician. And I like the energy in Van Halen records. Our schedules didn’t line up, but we had a fun meeting at this Italian restaurant in Manhattan. People would look at us and say, ‘Isn’t that him and him? What are they doing?'”
Eager for arena appeal after his previous album’s lacklustre sales, Pasadena’s premier stadium pop-rock outfit was an obvious early choice.
Van Halen was closer to Joel in the pop charts than they ever were by the late 1980s. Having won a dedicated fanbase as an antidote to punk, the introduction of synths on their monster ‘Jump‘ followed by further chart success with the transition to second frontman Sammy Hagar, pulled Van Halen away from their hard rock roots to an infinitely glossier glam package. Lending his virtuoso fretwork to Michael Jackson’s ‘Beat It’ a few years prior, Van Halen was right at home in the upper pop echelons.
It never came to be, however, not that it mattered. Despite a mixed critical reception, Storm Front was a four-time Platinum seller, nominated for five Grammys and stands as one of his signature albums. Clearly holding a deep affection for the late axe tapper, Joel bestowed high praise upon his sad passing in 2020: “Shocked to hear of the death of the great Eddie Van Halen. He was a consummate musician and an extraordinary virtuoso on the guitar. He leaves a giant footprint and an irreplaceable void.”
