"THE ANDREW WYETH OF CONTEMPORARY POP MUSIC": Let's just say that
Ron Rosenbaum doesn't like Billy Joel:
He was terrible, he is terrible, he always will be terrible. Anodyne, sappy, superficial, derivative, fraudulently rebellious. Joel's famous song 'It's Still Rock and Roll to Me'? Please. It never was rock 'n' roll. ...
I think I've identified the qualities in B.J.'s work that distinguish his badness from other kinds of badness: It exhibits unearned contempt. Both a self-righteous contempt for others and the self-approbation and self-congratulation that is contempt's backside, so to speak. Most frequently a contempt for the supposed phoniness or inauthenticity of other people as opposed to the rock-solid authenticity of our B.J.
Yeah, he said it.
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