Attila: Billy Joel’s pre-fame metal band and “colossal failure”
Before Billy Joel earned a reputation as one of the greatest musicians in history, he fell victim to the one thing most creatives experience in their early days on the ladder: unremarkability. Unlike many of his peers, however, Joel started in an entirely different arena to the one he would revolutionise, with a heavy metal band that had absolutely no chance of ever making it.
However, the beauty of the moment was that Joel didn’t know that. Before his breakthrough, he was in a band called Attila with his friend Jon Small, formed on the basis of emulating Led Zeppelin and other major rock players at the time. The difference with Attila, though, was that they would charge forth without a guitarist, instead relying on Joel’s voice, Small’s drums, and a Hammond organ played by Joel.
Playing the instrument through amplifiers was going to be their game-changer and the decision that would see their desire to become the next best destroyer to fruition. The moment they knew they had begun to operate at the ear-shattering level they desired came during live performances when their music was so loud and jarring that it actually drove audiences out of the venue.
Still, despite Joel later describing their sound as “horrible” and that he could “see blood coming out of people’s ears”, Attila signed a deal with Epic Records and released their debut album, Attila, that reflected their vision of being so loud and abrasive that it blew all the other players—quite literally—out of the water. Looking back at the record now, Joel sees the entire project as a manifestation of a “colossal failure”.
In fact, he rarely discusses his seminal project fondly, choosing particularly gruelling words like “assault” to describe the impact they had on the rock world. As he said: “If you’re going to assault the rock world and crush it under ten Marshall amps, wouldn’t Attila the Hun, who plundered Italy and Gaul and slaughtered quite a few innocents along the way, work as a role model?”
He added: “I was 19, and at that age, if you’re loving your heavy metal, it’s all about thrash, kill, metal, slash, burn, pillage, repeat.”
Still, Attila should be given credit for knowing exactly what it wanted to be. At this juncture, Joel didn’t know his destiny was to be a world-class singer-songwriter; he just wanted to make a noise so loud that it drew people’s attention, and it did. Attila wasn’t about thought-provoking lyrics or resonant melodies, nor were they concerned with creating music that reflected their experiences or the times. Joel wanted Attila to be a force, earning attention by being nothing more than explosive.
Even their album cover sought the captivated gaze, showing Joel and Small shot in a meat locker surrounded by beef—a far cry from the gritty candid delicacy that later categorised many of his future album covers. Still, if for nothing else, the experience taught Joel about who he did want to be, and it wasn’t anything resembling a heavy metal rock frontman. Instead, he wanted to write in a way that felt bigger than him to connect with those from all walks of life.
