Billy Joel's Retirement from Pop/Rock

There have been many latter day releases by older acts that have been quite good - McCartney, Simon, Dylan, Crosby to name a few.

But, good for him. It's like being at a table in Vegas...do you leave while you're up A LOT or do you play a few more hands and walk away, still up, but not where you were.

 

I like the bit on a talk show recently where Billy was told Elton John wishes he would release more albums and Billy replied "I wish Elton John would release less albums." haha

 

To me there's a middle ground they both could arrive at.

This is different IMO to Paul Simon's recent decision to stop performing and writing songs. The man is 77 years old, he's given us 60 years of work going back to his teen years. Billy OTOH was more "let's go out on top before they kick me out" instead of "I've done this all my life, I'm ready to relax for my remainder years" to where while I'm sad Paul Simon's finished making music, the guy has been giving us music since 1957 and is an elderly man who I feel has truly given us all he has to give and feels like it's time to say goodbye.

 

plus he wrote that classical piano album that was released

 

People may want to keep in mind that over the years since he stopped recording new original material, the economics and trends of the music industry have changed drastically. If he released an album now, it would probably go to number one, but still sell a fraction of the numbers of River of Dreams. And no radio stations would play it. And most of the crowd at his concerts could care less about the new songs and he knows it.

All of the above factors and more probably just hardened his resolve to completely avoid the headache of recording and marketing a new album.

 

That makes sense for Billy then, because he said in an interview years ago that he didn't write music because he was an artist compelled to express himself, but rather a craftsman doing his work.

 

I always remembee quote from Bob Neuwirth:

"Has he got anything to "say"? If he has something to "say" then write it. If not, then dont."

Billy Joel doesnt have anything new thats worth saying.

Good on him for realizing it.

 

I don’t think he tours at all for the last long while. He works once a month, MSG, to a sell out crowd.

 

This.
He has always been disapointed that he didn't get the appropriate aknowledgment by his peers. He should be standing next to someone like Paul McCartney. You mentioned the "Nylon Curtain" album: this is a pure masterpiece from an incredible songwriter/arranger and frankly, as big a Paul fan as I can be, I find this album to be as good as, if not better, some of Paul's.
I know he's kinda huge in the US , but here, and in France in particular, no-one ever heard anything beside Honesty and Uptown girl ! and no-one is caring either ! That's a shame.

So he kind of missed out on worldwide notoriety, although he is very VERY good. (The 52nd Street album - an incredible jazz oriented album. ).

I don't buy the "he has nothing left to say/write" thing. I thing he is deeply hurt and gutted.

 

I saw him in Dublin a few months ago. He was also in Germany.

 

Ah! There we go! Thanks!

 

Billy Joel
"Some people think it’s because I’m lazy or I’m just being contrary," he said. "But, no, I think it’s just -- I’ve had my say. If I put out an album now, it would probably sell pretty well, because of who I am, but that’s no reason to do it. I’d want it to be good."
"I’ve seen artists on that treadmill, putting out albums year after year, and the albums get worse and worse, less and less interesting, and it’s, like, 'Maybe you should stop,'"
"I’m not crazy about going into a recording studio and doing that kind of life again, or taking on another project where there’s other people involved -- arrangers and orchestrators and conductors and producers. I don’t want to deal with it. ... You have to have a certain amount of ambition to want to do all that," he said. "And I look back at the guy who was the recording artist, this Billy Joel guy, and I think, Who the f*** was that guy? He was very ambitious, very driven, and I don’t feel like that anymore.”

full article Billy Joel Reveals Why He Won't Make Another Album Ever Again

 

I think River Of Dreams was a stretch for him and there is sense in it where he was struggling to remain contemporary in sound. I applaud his decision, even if I would like to hear another album. I don't think he ever issued a real lemon and that is something to be content with.

 

Album sales are down for everyone... and so what if radio wouldn't touch it? Ageism is a big thing on radio, but it hasn't stopped Sir Paul, Elton, Bowie (RIP), Bruce, Blondie, Neil Young, Lindsey Buckingham, Sting, Robert Plant, Pretenders, Chaka Khan, even "slightly younger but still too old for the radio" acts like U2, Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, Pet Shop Boys, Metallica, Madonna, Aimee Mann, Janet Jackson, Beck, Foo Fighters, Pearl Jam amongst others from having dropped really solid albums in the past ten years. Radio is a youth skewing format and the average 13 year old doesn't want to listen to someone who is likely older than their parents. All those aforementioned acts are still capable of putting out quality work even if they realize there's a snowballs chance in hell they're going to compete with Drake on radio. All had their time as a hitmaker, it's gone now but it doesn't mean they're down for the count. They've all had their curated "setlist the fans want" but it doesn't mean they've given up (well, Bowie is dead, so he kind of has but that wasn't his will)

Plus, while album sales are down, streaming is way up. We consume music differently these days.

 

He created a vast catalog that continues to sell out arenas to this day. He's been NOT releasing new music longer than he was releasing new music at this point. Pretty impressive.

As for the original poster's question - even though it was clear he was done (from the final song of RoD), it wasn't so much of a "I'm done" at the time - the album was a success and the tour was really popular. In hindsight, he truly meant it, but at the time, who knew if it'd stick?

 

Paul did join him at the Final Play at Shea shows in NY - so they have stood together. I think he's respected by his peers - it's the snobbish world of online "critics" who bashed him unnecessarily.

 

I was disappointed when BJ stopped making records. I was a big fan but if he was not enjoying it any more, and he had the luxury of doing so, I respect his decision to stop.

It is also possible that the songs just stopped coming to him. I am not in any way comparing myself artistically to Billy or anyone else but I did write songs prolifically, almost compulsively when I was younger and for about 20 years. Then one day I realised that nothing new had come to me for a while. OK I thought, I have a bit of writers' block but no further songs have ever come to me from that day, more than 20 years ago, to this and once you get out of the habit or rhythm of writing it is very hard to get it back and other activities start to replace it. Maybe BJ has experienced something along those lines.

 

Yeah, I definitely think he needed some time away. But I'm bummed it ended up being 26+ years away. Once you step away from being an active hitmaker for awhile, you're free to make whatever you want, free of any need to "remain contemporary." It's always going to be an odd thing to me that someone that creative can just stop creating, but so be it.

 

Exactly right. You can also mention Amy Grant in the "slightly younger but still too old for the radio" acts who have continued to put out great music for their fans and rather than trying to compete with the modern generation, her new music is simply a modern version of Amy Grant music.

 

Actually, if my memory serves me right, I vaguely remember him debuting a new song on the Tonight Show maybe 10 years ago or so? I don't remember hearing it afterwards, may have been this song, can't find any Youtube videos with it on the Tonight Show.

All My Life (Billy Joel song) - Wikipedia

 

Obviously Mr. Joel wanted to do it differently. Who are we to demand that he conform?

 

He relayed in another interview once how upset he was when he realized he didn't have the staggering talent of someone like Bach or Mozart. He considered his talent mickey mouse in comparison. Strange view. He obviously is a one-in-a-million talent, but I guess everyone just looks to those ahead of them.

 

Conform would be him making an embarrassing trap record. Making something quality and modern but still undeniably Billy Joel is what I'm sure everyone has wanted to hear, not some last ditch desperate attempt to win over the younger generation

 

I believe he's always struggled with this. Partly may have to due to the fact that his father was a classical musician. I think he always felt inferior making pop records compared to that. He brings up classical musicians a lot in his conversations about music, and you can hear the influence in his own songs (a LOT). It's almost as though he feels musically guilty for being so successful with pop and rock hits.

 

I was unaware this song existed. It's a worthy addition to his discography.