August 8, 1983: Billy Joel releases his album An Innocent Man. It might be my favorite album of all time. Not just because of who did it, but how.
I was 13 years old when it was released. This was a year dominated by Michael Jackson's Thriller, The Police's Synchronicity, Lionel Richie's Can't Slow Down, Marvin Gaye's comeback album Midnight Love, and, for hard rock fans, Ozzy Osbourne's Bark at the Moon and Def Leppard's Pyromania.
Unlike many people, I didn't have a singer or music group that meant EVERYTHING to me when I was 13, and is still with me today. In hindsight, it should have been Billy Joel. But at that point, he reminded me of people who were doing their best to make my life miserable: Ginkers, greasers, people who thought being tough was the most important thing.
When I graduated high school in 1987, his song "This Is the Time," from his next album, The Bridge, was our prom song. (I didn't go to the prom. I couldn't afford it, and I didn't have a date, anyway.) I began to see that Billy was a very different kind of person than I thought he was.
He would never have picked on someone small, just for the hell of it. Indeed, he was only 5-foot-5, and I was already taller. He was a lot like me in other ways: He was an intellectual who loved big things, but big things with meaning. He was, to borrow John McLaughlin's phrase, "an introvert living as an extrovert." He was capable of holding competing thoughts, such as knowing that Chuck Berry wrote a great song with "Roll Over, Beethoven," but also considering Ludwig van Beethoven to be the greatest composer of all time, a man rocked every bit as hard in his time as did Berry.
By the time I was 18, Billy was THE GUY to me -- more even than Bruce Springsteen, even though Bruce and I were both from Central Jersey.
He had made his starmaking recordings, such as the albums Piano Man and The Stranger. He had gotten some things out of his system, with Glass Houses and The Nylon Curtain. Early in 1983, he was on vacation on the French Caribbean island of Saint Barthélemy, and he met supermodel Christie Brinkley. They fell for each other, and he started writing songs inspired by her. As the man himself said:
If you said goodbye to me tonight
there would still be music left to write.
What else could I do?
I'm so inspired by you.
That hasn't happened for the longest time.
And so, he basically said, "You know what? Fuck it, I'm happy for once, so it's time to have some fun with music again." The result was An Innocent Man, which was, for all intents and purposes, a concept album, the concept being a tribute to early 1960s doo-wop, the songs Billy listened to when he was... 11, 12, 13 and 14 years old. He was now 34.
The title track has been compared to a song by The Drifters, but also to The Righteous Brothers, who debuted a little later. It hit Number 10. He said, "I had a suspicion that was going to be the last time I was going to be able to hit those notes, so why not go out in a blaze of glory? That was the end of Billy's high note."
"Tell Her About It," with its "diddle-iddle-ip" background vocals, is a tribute to Dion DiMucci. It hit Number 1. "Uptown Girl," with its falsetto vocals, is an obvious homage to Frankie Vallie & The Four Seasons. With a video showing him dressed as a mechanic, and Christie dressed in a fancy outfit, matching his dance moves -- bringing to mind the old line about how Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did but backwards and in high heels -- it hit Number 3.
"The Longest Time" is completely a cappella. There are 4 singers on it, singing the first tenor, second tenor, baritone and bass parts, and all 4 singers are Billy. Billy also provides the finger snaps and hand claps. The only other musician listed in the credits is bass guitarist Doug Stegemayer, but I can't hear a bass on it. The video shows Billy at a reunion for a high school Class of 1959 (his Hicksville High class was actually that of 1967), filmed at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. He made himself prematurely gray, but, as it turned out, his hairline receded before his hair went gray. The song hit Number 14.
The cover photo shows Billy on the stoop of a brownstone, at 142 Mercer Street, at the corner of Prince Street in Manhattan's SoHo. Three years later, for The Bridge, he shot the video for "A Matter of Trust" at 23 St. Mark's Place, between 2nd and 3rd Avenues, a few blocks away in the East Village.
In 1990, CBS aired a special, Grammy Legends, from Radio City Music Hall. The honorees were Billy, Aretha Franklin, Johnny Cash and Quincy Jones -- and in his acceptance speech, Billy admitted he was a fan of the others before he ever recorded a note of his own music. Melissa Etheridge sang "New York State of Mind." Regina Belle sang "Just the Way You Are." Ronnie Spector sang "Say Goodbye to Hollywood," which Billy admitted was a tribute to her work with The Ronettes. Valli led the current lineup of the Seasons in singing "Uptown Girl."
Narrating Billy's segment, actor James Woods said, "I'm takin' this next group home and havin' it bronzed." It was Frankie, Dion, Ben E. King of The Drifters, Graham Nash of The Hollies, David Ruffin and Dennis Edwards of The Temptations, and then-current stars Johnny Gill and Keith Sweat. Together, they sang "The Longest Time." Billy closed the show by singing "And So It Goes," from his then-current album, Storm Front.
*
August 8, 1983 was a Monday. These games were played in Major League Baseball:
* The New York Yankees swept a doubleheader from the Toronto Blue Jays, 8-3 and 11-3 at Yankee Stadium. Ron Guidry went the distance to get the win in the opener, while Jim Clancy didn't get out of the 4th inning. Oscar Gamble went 2-for-4 with a home run and 3 RBIs, and that's without playing in the nightcap.
In that, Bob Shirley was the starter and winner for the Yankees, while Jays starter Matt Williams (no relation to the later Giants slugger of the same name) didn't get a single out. Dave Winfield, Don Baylor and Ken Griffey Sr. hit home runs, Griffey's being a grand slam. Neither Baylor nor Griffey played in the 1st game.
Over the 2 games, Winfield went 4-for-9 with a home run, a walk, and 3 RBIs, Willie Randolph went 4-for-9 with a walk, and rookie Don Mattingly went 4-for-9 with an RBI.
* The Texas Rangers beat the Boston Red Sox, 12-7 at Fenway Park in Boston. Carl Yastrzemski, in his final season, still had something left, as he went 2-for-4 with a walk and 4 RBIs.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Baltimore Orioles, 9-4 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Andre Thornton hit a home run. Joe Nolan drove in all the Oriole runs with a grand slam. Cal Ripken went 2-for-4. Eddie Murray did not play.
* A doubleheader was split at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. The Chicago White Sox won the 1st game, 5-4. The Detroit Tigers won the 2nd game, 7-2.
* A doubleheader was split at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. The Kansas City Royals won the 1st game, 5-4. Robin Yount went 3-for-5 with an RBI, then got the 2nd game off. The Milwaukee Brewers won it, 8-5. Over the 2 games, Paul Molitor went 4-for-10, and George Brett went 1-for-6 with 2 RBIs.
* The Minnesota Twins beat the California Angels, 4-2 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Ken Schrom outpitched Tommy John. Reggie Jackson went 0-for-3 with a walk. Rod Carew went 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI against his former team.
* And the Oakland Athletics beat the Seattle Mariners, 2-1 at the Oakland Coliseum. Rickey Henderson did not play.
* Only 2 games were scheduled in the National League. In one, the New York Mets beat the Montreal Expos, 6-5 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal. In the top of the 10th inning, Jeff Reardon attempted to pick Bob Bailor off 1st base, but threw the ball away, allowing Darryl Strawberry to score the winning run. This made Jesse Orosco the winning pitcher, in relief of Tom Seaver.
* And the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 14-5 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Charles Hudson outpitched John Candelaria. Mike Schmidt hit 2 home runs. Pete Rose struck out as a pinch-hitter.
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