Billy Joel "And So It Goes" Documentary on HBO Max

[NeonKnite]

Part one was released last week, part two will release today.

Extremely well done. I expected it to be, since it was on HBO as their docs generally are excellent and it hasn't disappointed.

Part one takes him all the way up through Glass Houses while his first wife was his manager. I never realized how integral she was to his success.

A very in depth documentary as an artist of Billy's stature certainly deserves.

[DonJuanDeMarco]

Looking forward to this! The trailer is awesome. I forgot how badass Billy was in the 70's. Total "fuck you" New York attitude. I love the shot of him and the band at around the 35 second mark. (That was used in either the Stiletto or My Life video).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvCB4gg7yS0

He's amazing. I think being a piano player instead of a guitarist really helped him stand out. He's not singer/songwriter like Bruce, Mellencamp, Petty, etc. His songs are all over the place from album to album. The classic 70's stuff is the best though!

[SterileEyes1]

Excited to watch the whole thing this weekend.

I’m from a New York family. My mom’s from Long Island. I have an aunt who tells a story of a friend of hers getting hit on the road by a very drunk Billy Joel, who apparently said, on the side of the road, “I’m Billy Joel. Trust me, I’ll take care of this.” And I’m told he did.

So I got a good chuckle reading that he addresses his reputation for drunk driving in the documentary with “I never got a DWI, so fuck all y’all” or something to that effect. There must be hundreds of Long Islanders with stories like this. What a guy.

[DemonFilth2001]

Watched the first part. Good documentary. I used to own Billy Joel and The Hassles on vinyl. Original pressing. It’s either in my parents house somewhere or (most likely) in a landfill next to the rest of my missing vinyl.

[NeonKnite]

https://ultimateclassicrock.com/billy-j ... oundtrack/

[Wiseacre]

Few good songs. Never liked him much. Those jazzy piano bar chords always made me cringe.

[DangerZone]

I haven’t seen the doc but I saw an interview clip with Bill Maher discussing it.
They were talking about how Billy Joel turned down working with George Martin because he wanted Billy to fire his band

But in a documentary on session players that came out in 2017, they seemed to paint Billy Joel as a bad guy who… fired his band.

Anyone know about this?

[purple70rt]

He is what I picture New York people to be like. I'll pass. Give me Mellencamp from the midwest.

[Bono Nettencourt]

Melonball has a rep for being a fucking jerk too, FYI.

[NeonKnite]

I haven’t seen the doc but I saw an interview clip with Bill Maher discussing it.
They were talking about how Billy Joel turned down working with George Martin because he wanted Billy to fire his band

But in a documentary on session players that came out in 2017, they seemed to paint Billy Joel as a bad guy who… fired his band.

Anyone know about this?

Yea, all covered in the doc. The George Martin thing was before he recorded The Stranger in 1976/77. Billy had a fantastic band that he'd put together of NY guys before recording Turnstiles. He knew they were great and it was the right move, especially since he felt his early albums suffered because they were using session guys..

In 92/93, during the sessions for River of Dreams, producer Danny Kortchmar said he liked Billy but hated the band so convinced Billy to try without them and they eventually recorded the whole album with session players. Kortchmar must be a clown.

Drummer Liberty Devitto talks about how it fractured their longtime friendship for decades. It was a stupid thing to do. The album sounds sterile and generic without the band and especially Liberty who is an amazing drummer.

In fact, while Billy still puts on great shows, everything has gotten a whole lot less interesting and doesn't rock nearly as hard without Liberty on drums. He was a massive part of Billy's sound.

[Bono Nettencourt]

Liberty actually hung on til 2006. He fired the other guys in 89 before the Storm Front tour.

[NeonKnite]

Liberty actually hung on til 2006. He fired the other guys in 89 before the Storm Front tour.

True, but he only played on one track on the album.

[CrankerBait]

I watched part 1 yesterday, and finished part 2 about an hour ago. Very good documentary. Anybody that even slightly considers themself a Billy Joel fan should check it out. Aside from the music itself, anybody interested in how the music industry works - at least how it ran from the 70s until today - might learn a few things.

[SterileEyes1]

I watched the whole thing yesterday afternoon. Thought it was great. Someone makes the observation that his music translates really well when performed at his older age compared to a lot of 70s acts that go out there and try to look and act like they’re still young.

Also just because of the timing I realized Billy and Ozzy are not dissimilar in that they sort of always stayed true to themselves and got beyond their fuckups and their caricatures to a level of near-universal respect in older age.

[Tymaster]

A companion, if you will, playlist has shown up on Spotify and YouTube Music and is absolutely amazing.

[DangerZone]

I haven’t seen the doc but I saw an interview clip with Bill Maher discussing it.
They were talking about how Billy Joel turned down working with George Martin because he wanted Billy to fire his band

But in a documentary on session players that came out in 2017, they seemed to paint Billy Joel as a bad guy who… fired his band.

Anyone know about this?

Yea, all covered in the doc. The George Martin thing was before he recorded The Stranger in 1976/77. Billy had a fantastic band that he'd put together of NY guys before recording Turnstiles. He knew they were great and it was the right move, especially since he felt his early albums suffered because they were using session guys..

In 92/93, during the sessions for River of Dreams, producer Danny Kortchmar said he liked Billy but hated the band so convinced Billy to try without them and they eventually recorded the whole album with session players. Kortchmar must be a clown.

Drummer Liberty Devitto talks about how it fractured their longtime friendship for decades. It was a stupid thing to do. The album sounds sterile and generic without the band and especially Liberty who is an amazing drummer.

In fact, while Billy still puts on great shows, everything has gotten a whole lot less interesting and doesn't rock nearly as hard without Liberty on drums. He was a massive part of Billy's sound.

Ahh. Thanks for the info.
That session player doc made me dislike Billy quite a bit

[Hatchets Molly]

Haven’t watched yet. Not sure I will. Saw a few YouTube clips of Billy on Bill Maher’s podcast. He looked bored having to patronize Bill.

Edit: meant to say they covered some of the doc’s stories.

[veritas]

very good documentary.

I too was surprised how important his wife was early on.

Much of his stuff is schlocky, broadway-ish -- not my thing. But he is a talented pianist and songwriter. And certainly did change album to album.

[Tommy2Tone84]

Billy is a legend. He is one of the few major pop rock artists to really evolve and change shit up from album to album. He had the talent and all the right influences to pull it off.

[ElectrickMagick]

It's a well done doc, but while I was watching it I couldn't help but feel Joel has always been a man "out of time." In the late 70s he was performing live with a sport-coat on and it just looks nothing like any of his contemporaries. Looking at a lot of that footage I'd think to myself "this has to be the 80s" and nope, it was 1978 or whatever.

It's just so odd to me how Joel has no real peers or clones. No one else was like him by the late 70s and no one else was really sounds like Joel.

[Bono Nettencourt]

He's just a goofy-looking try-hard who hung in there and ground his way up to the top at a time when it was still possible to do that. Yetnikoff probably paid those classic rock jocks a ton of money to play his records, because whatever his music is, it ain't rock. Has a handful of cool tunes but anyone who's been at it that long damn well should. The majority of his catalogue is overwrought AC schlock. Like the previous poster said, he's a man out of time - a 50s/60s Brill Building-type who inexplicably hit it big in the rock world. Retrospectively, it seems like whatever real rock songs crept into his catalog were the result of his backing band, because after he gave them the sack he (dis)graced us with shit like WDSTF and River of Dreams. Like his pal across the river, has a cult of aging boomers/Xers who will pay 100s to see him repeat himself into his 80s, and has a similar reputation as a "great live performer" because he ran around the stage like a circus geek when he was younger, even tho now he's glued to a piano bench. Overrated, overblown, and uninteresting. Ain't a pimple on Sir Elton's ass. The poster boy for why Boomers should die.

[El Vampiro Blanco]

I watched the documentary this weekend.
I learned 2 things: I know a lot more Billy Joel songs than I thought and I like none of them apart from the song about the Vietnam war.
It all sounds like whiny crap to me and I second the opinion of a previous commenter that him and the people around him are so New York. I'm not even American and I hate new York people who think they are great just because they're from NY.

[Tommy2Tone84]

He's just a goofy-looking try-hard who hung in there and ground his way up to the top at a time when it was still possible to do that. Yetnikoff probably paid those classic rock jocks a ton of money to play his records, because whatever his music is, it ain't rock. Has a handful of cool tunes but anyone who's been at it that long damn well should. The majority of his catalogue is overwrought AC schlock. Like the previous poster said, he's a man out of time - a 50s/60s Brill Building-type who inexplicably hit it big in the rock world. Retrospectively, it seems like whatever real rock songs crept into his catalog were the result of his backing band, because after he gave them the sack he (dis)graced us with shit like WDSTF and River of Dreams. Like his pal across the river, has a cult of aging boomers/Xers who will pay 100s to see him repeat himself into his 80s, and has a similar reputation as a "great live performer" because he ran around the stage like a circus geek when he was younger, even tho now he's glued to a piano bench. Overrated, overblown, and uninteresting. Ain't a pimple on Sir Elton's ass. The poster boy for why Boomers should die.

You’re just jealous because DLR on his best day can’t carry Billy’s water jug.

[Tymaster]

He's just a goofy-looking try-hard who hung in there and ground his way up to the top at a time when it was still possible to do that. Yetnikoff probably paid those classic rock jocks a ton of money to play his records, because whatever his music is, it ain't rock. Has a handful of cool tunes but anyone who's been at it that long damn well should. The majority of his catalogue is overwrought AC schlock. Like the previous poster said, he's a man out of time - a 50s/60s Brill Building-type who inexplicably hit it big in the rock world. Retrospectively, it seems like whatever real rock songs crept into his catalog were the result of his backing band, because after he gave them the sack he (dis)graced us with shit like WDSTF and River of Dreams. Like his pal across the river, has a cult of aging boomers/Xers who will pay 100s to see him repeat himself into his 80s, and has a similar reputation as a "great live performer" because he ran around the stage like a circus geek when he was younger, even tho now he's glued to a piano bench. Overrated, overblown, and uninteresting. Ain't a pimple on Sir Elton's ass. The poster boy for why Boomers should die.

That's a lot wasted energy to mock a legitimate legend from a DLR fan.

[veritas]

Finished the documentary.

He comes off as a mostly sad man who never could really enjoy his success (or relationships) or even songwriting! and had a pretty bad drinking problem for many years. And, now, worst, of all has young kids with wife No. 4!

But he was a much better pianist than I ever knew. I have to admit he certainly can write a catchy (if somewhat schlocky) tune.
And I admire, somewhat, how he walked away from songwriting after being so incredibly productive for so many years. That's super unusual. but it goes to the strange way he didn't seem to enjoy even that?

[Bono Nettencourt]

Finished the documentary.

He comes off as a mostly sad man who never could really enjoy his success (or relationships) or even songwriting! and had a pretty bad drinking problem for many years. And, now, worst, of all has young kids with wife No. 4!

Those are anchor babies... she's in it for the estate.

[Tymaster]

Finished the documentary.

He comes off as a mostly sad man who never could really enjoy his success (or relationships) or even songwriting! and had a pretty bad drinking problem for many years. And, now, worst, of all has young kids with wife No. 4!

But he was a much better pianist than I ever knew. I have to admit he certainly can write a catchy (if somewhat schlocky) tune.
And I admire, somewhat, how he walked away from songwriting after being so incredibly productive for so many years. That's super unusual. but it goes to the strange way he didn't seem to enjoy even that?

A long time ago I read an interview with BJ where he sad "I'm content" and kind of went on a tangent about how society is too obsessed with everyone being "happy." That quote always stuck with me.

[Anthrax442]

In 92/93, during the sessions for River of Dreams, producer Danny Kortchmar said he liked Billy but hated the band so convinced Billy to try without them and they eventually recorded the whole album with session players. Kortchmar must be a clown.

Drummer Liberty Devitto talks about how it fractured their longtime friendship for decades. It was a stupid thing to do. The album sounds sterile and generic without the band and especially Liberty who is an amazing drummer.

Makes me think that this is actually why he "retired" after River of Dreams. I know he said he didn't feel like he had anything left to contribute, song writing wise, so he just wasn't going to do it anymore, but I wonder if he had kept the band together if he would have kept writing?

Or maybe it's the opposite, maybe he knew he didn't have any gas left in the tank, and it was time to end things.