It's Still Rock and Roll to Me

"It's Still Rock and Roll to Me"
Single by Billy Joel
from the album Glass Houses
Released	May 12, 1980
Format	7" vinyl
Recorded	1979
Genre	New wave[1][2]
Length	2:57
Label	Columbia
Writer(s)	Billy Joel
Producer(s)	Phil Ramone
Certification	Platinum (RIAA)
Billy Joel singles chronology
"You May Be Right" (1980) "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" (1980) "Don't Ask Me Why" (1980)

"It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" is a hit 1980 song performed by Billy Joel, from the hit album Glass Houses. The song was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts for two weeks, from July 19 through August 1, 1980. The song spent 11 weeks in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 and was the 7th biggest hit of 1980 according to American Top 40. The song is an examination of the themes of a musician's degrading fame and public tastes that were expressed in his 1975 hit "The Entertainer".

The single eventually reached Platinum status from the RIAA for sales of over 1 million copies in the United States.^[3]

Content

The song is a cynical look at the music industry as a publicist/manager begs the protagonist to remain hip for the younger crowd ("What's the matter with the car I'm driving?" / "Can't you tell that it's out of style?"), and the protagonist's refusal to change, claiming his music will remain relevant regardless of his appearance. The song was a reaction by Joel at the new music genres that were around in the late 1970s (punk, funk, new wave). It was inspired by Joel reading a review about a particular (unnamed) band, and realizing that he had no idea what their music sounded like.

Music video

The music video for the song depicted Joel mixing elements of new wave, punk, and funk as he records a music video.

Personnel

• Billy Joel - vocals, piano and electric piano
• Dave Brown - electric guitar
• Richie Cannata - saxophone solo
• Liberty DeVitto - drums and percussion
• Russell Javors - electric guitar
• Doug Stegmeyer - bass guitar

Soundtrack appearances

The song appears on the game Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Encore.^[4]

Cover

Pop rock musician Drake Bell covered the song in 2014 on his rockabilly album Ready Steady Go!.^[5] Kid Rock covered it as a demo in 1992 but rewrote the lyrics and changed title to "It's Still East Detroit To Me",it's a hardcore punk song.

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (1980) Peak position Australian Singles Chart 10 Canadian Singles Chart 1 French Singles Chart[6] 61 Irish Singles Chart 11 New Zealand Singles Chart 21 UK Singles Chart 14 U.S. Billboard Hot 100 1 U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks 45

Year-end charts Chart (1980) Position Canada 6 US Billboard Hot 100 9

See also

• List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles of 1980

References

1. Thomas, Stephen. "Glass Houses - Billy Joel". AllMusic. Retrieved 2011-08-25.
2. Brusie, David (October 28, 2014). "With Glass Houses, Billy Joel attempted to overhaul his image". The A.V. Club. Retrieved November 7, 2015.
3. "Gold & Platinum - RIAA". RIAA.
4. Allgame - Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Encore - Credits Retrieved March 19, 2011.
5. Collar, Matt. "Drake Bell - Ready Steady Go! Review". Allmusic. Retrieved March 8, 2015.
6. InfoDisc, Daniel Lesueur, Dominic Durand, Lesueur. "InfoDisc : Bilan des Ventes par Artiste". Infodisc.fr. Retrieved 2016-10-16.

External links

• Song Facts on It's Still Rock and Roll to Me.
• "It's Still Rock & Roll to Me" Music Video on YouTube / ⒞1980 Sony BMG channel
• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics