“Disco bullshit”: The classic rock band featured in the background of Billy Joel’s 1978 number two hit
One of the biggest stars to ever grace the American pop charts, the power of Billy Joel’s discography is a tricky thing to harness – a fact reflected by just how many copycat songwriters have been and gone without experiencing a percentage of Joel’s otherworldly success. Despite his name being splashed across record sleeves, though, his output could rarely be described as truly independent.
Few artists, even the most prominent solo performers of all time, are truly independent. Sure, they might be alone in the recording booth, or on stage, on a press tour, or even the writing room, but behind them stands an extensive team of producers, engineers, publicists, backing musicians, and collaborators each with a crucial impact on the final record – alright, maybe not publicists, but everybody else. Never was that collaborative process more overt than on Joel’s 1978 smash ‘My Life’.
Earning the accolade of reaching number two in the adult contemporary charts, and three in the US singles charts, the song quickly became one of Joel’s defining moments. Although it was written by the man himself, without the aid of any label-hired writing teams or editors, it would be unjust to suggest that the success of the single was solely down to Billy Joel in isolation. It is a suggestion that, of all people, producer Phil Ramone is likely to take issue with.
A veteran producer with a list of credits that spans from Ray Charles to George Michael, it is fair to say that Ramone knew his way around a mixing desk, and ‘My Life’ was a particular jewel within his production career. Nevertheless, his methods tended to rub the backing band up the wrong way, with drummer Liberty DeVitto recalling, “He wanted me to play a very straight beat, and I bucked him. ‘I ain’t playin’ that disco bullshit!’”
“Phil got up, slammed something on the console, and scolded me like he was my father,” the drummer continued, in the 2007 book Making Records: The Scenes Behind The Music. “’You’ve been in this business for what, 12 minutes? And you’re gonna tell me how you’re gonna play? Just get the hell out there and play it the way I told you to play!’”
Inevitably, his direction worked out for the best. “I grumbled about it then, but every time I see the gold record I received for ‘My Life’ on the wall, I mutter, ‘Fucking guy was right’,” the drummer admitted.
DeVitto and the rest of the Ramone-directed backing band weren’t the only auxiliary artists to lend a hand to ‘My Life’, either. Although they didn’t make a mountain out of the collaboration, the harmonising backing vocals for the song were actually performed by Peter Cetera and Donnie Dacus, of classic rock stalwarts Chicago.
Once again, that impromptu collaboration arrived at the suggestion of Phil Ramone, who was working alongside Chicago at the same time as he was producing Billy Joel. In fact, the group were recording in the very same studio as Joel when ‘My Life’ was being laid down, which is how they came to feature as uncredited backing vocalists on one of the biggest hits of 1978.
Billy Joel was, of course, the driving factor behind that hit, but it is worth remembering that, as with all so-called solo artists, he didn’t create ‘My Life’ entirely in isolation. Without the backing band, the producer, or even the vocal contributions of Chicago, ‘My Life’ wouldn’t be nearly as beloved as it was back in the 1970s, or as it is in the present day.
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