BUT WE WENT RIGHT ON WITH THE SHOW: Next Sunday at 4pm, VH-1 will rebroadcast without commercial interruption the six hour Concert for New York City held on October 20, 2001. It's a varied setlist which reflects the music of 2001 (Five For Fighting, Backstreet Boys) but also contains some timeless, great performances from pop/rock legends in front of a passionate crowd. Below the fold, Billy Joel, "Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)":
So they're leaving in not only the performances but the various celebrities and first responders who introduced the acts?
ReplyDeleteLooks that way. Apparently, before the DVD release they dubbed over the booing of then-Sen. Clinton with cheers, so I'm interested in seeing which they air.
ReplyDeleteTaking issue with calling Billy Joel timeless. He's pretty well timed, I think. Noting a dissenting view on pop/rock legend too.
ReplyDelete"Legend" is a measure of how strongly someone will be remembered; it's not necessarily a ruling on the merits. Joe Namath was a legendary football player.
ReplyDeleteDisagree. Legend and success are different things. You can be legendary without being particularly successful. Iggy Pop is a punk rock legend. Ginger Baker is a legendary rock drummer. Nicolo Paganini and Robert Johnson are legendary for the same reasons (virtuosity and false rumors of satanism), but neither sold a whole lot of records in their lifetimes.
ReplyDeleteYou can be successful without being legendary. Steve Ballmer is successful. Billy Joel is an extremely successful man with a large house on Long Island and a couple of pretty wives and a love of golf and a sensible haircut and a drinking problem -- basically indistinguishable from a lot of successful men his age. From a musical standpoint, he will be remembered as a commercially successful guy who for a long time made music that a lot of people could relate to. That's success, not legend. Nobody's going to write The Ballad of Billy Joel.
Ahh, but will someone write The Ballad of William Joel? That just sounds more substantial, you know?
ReplyDeleteThere's no way to write the Ballad of William Joel right now. It would be the story of a guy who goes from a nice house in Long Island to a nicer house in Long Island. Name one great ballad that follows that trajectory. The closest thing I can think of is "Richard Cory," I guess, but that song makes no sense without the twist at the end.
ReplyDeleteYou forgot all of the love songs written for people that he later divorced. Isn't that normally Stanza 10 of a classic ballad?
ReplyDeleteIs Paul McCartney a legend? If so, what's the arc of the ballad?
ReplyDeleteCome on, he married a one-legged ex-prostitute. If you can't make a ballad out of that, you aren't trying.
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