It's Still Rock and Roll to Me

"It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" is a 1980 song written and performed by Billy Joel, from the hit album Glass Houses. The song was number 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 declining fame and changing public tastes that were expressed in his 1975 hit "The Entertainer". According to drummer Liberty DeVitto in an interview, the sound engineer for the song had him tune his snare drum extremely low so that it would "flop" when he played it.[3]

"It's Still Rock and Roll to Me"
Single by Billy Joel
from the album Glass Houses
B-side"Through the Long Night"
ReleasedMay 12, 1980
Recorded1979
Genre
Length2:57
LabelColumbia
Songwriter(s)Billy Joel
Producer(s)Phil Ramone
Billy Joel singles chronology
"You May Be Right"
(1980)		 "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me"
(1980)		 "Don't Ask Me Why"
(1980)

The single eventually reached Platinum status from the RIAA for sales of over 1 million copies in the United States.[4] Pop rock musician Drake Bell covered the song in 2014 on his rockabilly album Ready Steady Go!.[5]

Critical reception

In review made a week later after single release, Billboard editors noticed the laconicism of backing support and Joel's vocal that made the song sparkling.[6]

Personnel

Chart history

Music video

A music video for the song was made, showing Joel performing the song live with his band. According to his band members, the song vocals were performed live by Joel during the video's filming.[3]

Parody

"Weird Al" Yankovic recorded a parody of the song entitled "It's Still Billy Joel to Me" in 1980, popularized on the Dr. Demento radio program. It was not released, either as a single or an album track. Yankovic commented, "I wrote that in 1980, but even by 1983 (when my first album came out) it felt a bit dated. Also, we figured that Billy wasn’t very likely to give us his blessing on that one anyway, so we never even bothered asking."[12]

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. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfFo2TVKeLw
  4. "Gold & Platinum - RIAA". RIAA.
  5. Collar, Matt. "Drake Bell - Ready Steady Go! Review". Allmusic. Retrieved March 8, 2015.
  6. "Review: Billy Joel — It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" (PDF). Billboard. 85 (20). 17 May 1980. p. 68. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved 31 May 2020 – via American Radio History.
  7. InfoDisc, Daniel Lesueur, Dominic Durand, Lesueur. "InfoDisc : Bilan des Ventes par Artiste". Infodisc.fr. Archived from the original on 2012-06-14. Retrieved 2016-10-16.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. "The Irish Charts – Search Results – It's Still Rock and Roll to Me". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved June 22, 2017.
  9. "Canadian 1980 Top 100 Singles". Library and Archives Canada. Archived from the original on 2 February 2014. Retrieved 24 January 2014.
  10. "Top 100 Hits of 1980/Top 100 Songs of 1980". Musicoutfitters.com. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
  11. "Billboard Hot 100 60th Anniversary Interactive Chart". Billboard. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
  12. "Weird Al Yankovic - It's Still Billy Joel To Me". Paste Magazine. 2008-10-24. Retrieved 2019-12-18.
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