#299/1424
July 29 1986
Billy Joel
The Bridge
Genre: Rock
3.75 out of 5
Highlights:
Running on Ice
A Matter of Trust
One of the greatest things I’ve ever read (and nearly completely forgotten) is the Chuck Klosterman essay on Billy Joel in “Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs”. I don’t remember much except that it was a vigorous defense of Billy and, truth be told, when he is on, he’s great. And when he’s not, he’s usually just unmemorable. A good example, to me, is “This is the Time”, a song you immediately forget exists after you hear it but sounds like it’s a classic because you’ve heard it a marillion times and the chorus is actually kind of elegiac and great.
Because, as Chuck writes, Billy isn’t “cool”. He’s not anti-cool, either. He’s just, well, “the only rock star I I’ve ever loved who I never wanted to be”.
I agree with that. It’s pretty spot on.
Billy Joel is your social studies teacher made rock musician.
And that’s this record. Paunchy, dull, goateed and bald. It’s a romantic comedy on TV, which is where you heard “Big Man on Mulberry St.”, on Moonlighting, an 80s version of romance, snark and shallow, fun but unmemorable.
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