Joel’s disdain of pop

Billy Joel may never write another pop song, said Andrew Goldman in The New York Times. The singer-songwriter hasn’t put out an album since his 1993 album River of Dreams, and doesn’t plan to release any “three-minute pop tunes” anytime soon. “I got bored of it,” he says. “For me, it was a box. A very nice box to be in for a while, but then it becomes like a coffin.” Having always seen himself as a rocker, Joel isn’t happy that he’s most famous for ballads like “Just the Way You Are,” which has become standard at wedding receptions. “When it’s done by a wedding band, they tend to glop it up,” he sighs. Joel rarely tours now, partly because he’s sick of performing his greatest hits. “I wouldn’t say never, but there are some I’d like not to have to do. I can’t do a show without doing ‘Piano Man.’ I hardly ever do ‘Uptown Girl.’” His biggest fear is becoming an oldies act. “Let’s face it. I am an oldies act. I just don’t want it to be like when you watch [a PBS fundraiser] and there’s the Delltones or some English band from the ’60s, and they’re real crotchety and they look terrible. I go, ‘Oh, God, I don’t want to be on that show.’”

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