Billy Joel has reportedly sold more than 160 million albums. He’s been nominated for 24 Grammy Awards (and won six of them), an Emmy, and a Tony Award (which he won). In the U.S., he’s had 33 top 40 singles and 11 top 10 albums. He’s simply one of the most popular recording artists in the history of music.

But. Critics have never been terribly kind to him, and a lot of the general public hasn’t either.

This hour, we look at the new two-part, nearly five-hour HBO documentary Billy Joel: And So It Goes. And we look at Billy Joel more generally and at the love/hate relationship we all seem to have had with him and his music for more than 50 years now.

GUESTS:
Jen Allen: A pianist, composer, arranger, and educator; her new album, Possibilities, comes out August 22
Rebecca Castellani: Co-founder of Quiet Corner Communications and the director of marketing at Washington Montessori School
Jack Hamilton:Slate’s pop critic and the author of Just Around Midnight: Rock and Roll and the Racial Imagination
Gene Seymour: A “writer, professional spectator, pop-culture maven, and jazz geek,” and he now writes Gene’s Substack

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe contributed to this show.

Billy Joel has reportedly sold more than 160 million albums. He&rsquo;s been nominated for 24 Grammy Awards (and won six of them), an Emmy, and a Tony Award (which he won). In the U.S., he&rsquo;s had 33 top 40 singles and 11 top 10 albums. He&rsquo;s simply one of the most popular recording artists in the history of music.
But. Critics have never been terribly kind to him, and a lot of the general public hasn&rsquo;t either.
This hour, we look at the new two-part, nearly five-hour HBO documentary Billy Joel: And So It Goes. And we look at Billy Joel more generally and at the love/hate relationship we all seem to have had with him and his music for more than 50 years now.
GUESTS:
<ul>
<li>Jen Allen: A pianist, composer, arranger, and educator; her new album, Possibilities, comes out August 22</li>
<li>Rebecca Castellani: Co-founder of&nbsp;<a href="https://quietcornercommunications.com/" data-cms-ai="0">Quiet Corner Communications</a>&nbsp;and the director of marketing at Washington Montessori School</li>
<li>Jack Hamilton: Slate&rsquo;s pop critic and the author of Just Around Midnight: Rock and Roll and the Racial Imagination</li>
<li>Gene Seymour: A &ldquo;writer, professional spectator, pop-culture maven, and jazz geek,&rdquo; and he now writes&nbsp;<a href="https://thatgeneseymour52.substack.com/" data-cms-ai="0">Gene&rsquo;s Substack</a></li>
</ul>
The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-colin-mcenroe-show/id714179884" data-cms-ai="0">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/0AXtqrzWounIoJyIqz003p" data-cms-ai="0">Spotify</a>, <a href="https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9b6b3cee-f69b-4729-a78b-181f851d80e8/the-colin-mcenroe-show" data-cms-ai="0">Amazon Music</a>, <a href="https://tunein.com/podcasts/News--Politics-Podcasts/The-Colin-McEnroe-Show-p1208473/" data-cms-ai="0">TuneIn</a>, <a href="https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/the-colin-mcenroe-show-connecticut-public-lXR08dxQSM5/" data-cms-ai="0">Listen Notes</a>, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!
<a href="https://www.ctpublic.org/newsletters" data-cms-ai="0">Subscribe to The Noseletter</a>, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.
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Colin McEnroe contributed to this show.

The Colin McEnroe Show is public radio’s most eclectic, eccentric weekday program. The best way to understand us is through the subjects we tackle: Neanderthals, tambourines, handshakes, the Iliad, snacks, ringtones, punk rock, Occam’s razor, Rasputin, houseflies, zippers. Are you sensing a pattern? If so, you should probably be in treatment. On Fridays, we try to stop thinking about what kind of ringtones Neanderthals would want to have and convene a panel called The Nose for an informal roundtable about the week in culture.

<a href="https://www.ctpublic.org/show/the-colin-mcenroe-show/about">The Colin McEnroe Show</a> is public radio’s most eclectic, eccentric weekday program. The best way to understand us is through the subjects we tackle: Neanderthals, tambourines, handshakes, the Iliad, snacks, ringtones, punk rock, Occam’s razor, Rasputin, houseflies, zippers. Are you sensing a pattern? If so, you should probably be in treatment. On Fridays, we try to stop thinking about what kind of ringtones Neanderthals would want to have and convene a panel called <a href="https://www.ctpublic.org/tags/the-nose">The Nose</a> for an informal roundtable about the week in culture.