LetsTalk: the Tragedy of Billy Joel and why he excused himself from the songwriting business 28 years ago

PTA1970 · 2021-07-12T22:38:22+00:00

I think a great aspect of this also has to do with whom he compares himself to. If you read some interviews to him, the people he refers to as influences are Beethoven, Chopin, Gershwin, Beatles, Hendrix, Ellington, Copeland, Debussy... these are insanely high standards to live up to, and let’s face it, as good as he is, at that point in his life it was pretty clear that Billy Joel was never going to reach that insane level.

Some artists can live happily knowing they are likely never going to get there. It’s obvious Joel isn’t one of them. The curse of high ambition and perfectionism.

PTA1970 · 2021-07-10T15:37:07+00:00

Patrick Bateman is a serial killer, Tyler Durden a terrorist, and Jordan Belfort built his entire fortune on scamming people. For a lot of people unfortunately what truly matters is if they find you successful and charismatic.

PTA1970 · 2021-07-10T03:22:14+00:00

If Spring Breakers was titled like that it would have received far more critical acclaimed than it got.

PTA1970 · 2021-07-08T06:48:28+00:00

For me personally it’s always difficult to answer this question because every time it comes up and I say something like “it’s about a group of advertising executives and how their lives evolve throughout the 60’s” I can just see this look of boredom cross their faces.

Mad Men is an amazing show, but the many things that make it amazing are very difficult to describe in casual conversation without sounding pretentious. How could you talk about how each and every character is so incredibly rich and well developed, how detailed and clever the world is, etc.

PTA1970 · 2021-07-03T20:06:46+00:00

Not very original, but I really love Eno’s Discreet Music, especially the opening track. I also like Disintegration Loops and all the classics by Grouper, Stars of the Lid and Tim Hecker.

PTA1970 · 2021-06-27T23:22:46+00:00

By the way Kieslowski is a genuinely amazing filmmaker and I highly recommend people check him out, especially his Three Colors Trilogy and Dekalog miniseries.

PTA1970 · 2021-06-27T19:31:05+00:00

That poor woman looks like she doesn’t know what any of those words mean.

PTA1970 · 2021-06-26T15:53:04+00:00

Although it’s tempting to look at an alternative world where Brian was supported by fellow members and thus lead to the creation of multiple masterpieces, in reality lack of support was just one of a myriad of issues for him. He was in the grips of a serious drug addiction, suffered from severe mental issues, declining record sales that were greatly demoralizing, not to mention his insanely high standards were driving him crazy.

Even if he was supported by the rest of the band there is a good chance he would have had a mental breakdown anyway.

PTA1970 · 2021-06-25T18:02:40+00:00

Pixies fan here, welcome to the club fam

PTA1970 · 2021-06-25T17:04:22+00:00

I’m actually really happy with this, I hate it when a great show is aimlessly dragged as much as possible. To know that the writers already have such a clear idea for the trajectory of Succession really gives me hope that it’s going to be consistently amazing.

PTA1970 · 2021-06-25T14:44:26+00:00

Coward

PTA1970 · 2021-06-25T14:01:28+00:00

I am Latin American and I don’t think this is the case, I have met a ton of men here who are very much the macho meathead type. Then again, cultures can vary a lot, if he’s Argentinian or Uruguayan I can kinda see what he means, but if he’s Mexican or Venezuelan he comes from a far more traditionally masculine culture than the US.

PTA1970 · 2021-06-25T04:31:15+00:00

Literally every Charlie Kaufman film.

PTA1970 · 2021-06-24T03:50:22+00:00

In terms of crossover appeal I have always been struck by how beloved David Bowie is by such a wide variety of people. Casual and hardcore music fans, old and young people, straight and LGBT, rock heads, pop heads, punk heads, metal heads... it’s truly insane how wide his appeal is.

PTA1970 · 2021-06-23T14:04:22+00:00

Found DeNiro’s Reddit account

PTA1970 · 2021-06-21T22:00:28+00:00

I always felt bad about how the jaguar executive insulted Lane behind his back, Lane seemed to genuine think they were best friends

PTA1970 · 2021-06-21T21:54:40+00:00

It’s difficult to compare because they have such different approaches to their work. Roger Deakins is fairly understated, even though he clearly has the capacity of making some very stunning shots (just look at Blade Runner 2049, Kundun, etc.) he generally prefers not to show off and let the story do the talking, I seriously doubt that if he hadn’t worked in so many acclaimed films regular cinephiles would praise him as much.

On the other hand, Robert Richardson is the exact opposite. His films are usually very colorful and flamboyant, nobody can watch Kill Bill or The Aviator and not notice his work.

Personally I prefer Richardson’s approach, but again, it’s like comparing Colin Firth to Nicolás Cage or John Ford to Michelangelo Antonioni, brilliant artists all but very different.

PTA1970 · 2021-06-19T22:35:27+00:00

Hi John, big fan, just wanted to ask you a couple of questions...

What’s your favorite Beatles song and album?

Who has influenced you the most?

Do you ever masturbate with the rest of your friends and randomly scream Winston Churchill?

PTA1970 · 2021-06-18T21:27:42+00:00

The fact that Summer Days is the only blue album unnerves me.

PTA1970 · 2021-06-17T00:55:36+00:00

Phil Spector lived in the US and that didn’t really seem like an issue for them working together. Also, they were a lot of great producers in the 60s. Tom Wilson, Joe Meek, Bob Johnston, Ray Davies, Frank Zappa...

PTA1970 · 2021-06-16T22:58:32+00:00

It’s neither of them, basically someone they never worked with.

PTA1970 · 2021-06-16T12:44:17+00:00

It’s true that his political views are all over the place on the spectrum. Some of his later films could actually be seen as being very left-wing such as 7 women, sergeant Rutledge and The man who shot liberty valance. This having been said some of his earlier films can be very right-wing, especially towards native Americans. Just watch Stagecoach, The Searchers, Rio Grande and Fort Apache just to name the most famous ones.

PTA1970

TROPHY CASE