On this day in 1977, the Piano Man Billy Joel released arguably his most successful album, The Stranger. It launched him into super-stardom and features some of his most iconic songs. But you already knew that. Let’s look at 6 things you probably don’t know about Billy Joel’s The Stranger.

 

  1. Billy Joel is a huge Beatles fan and originally wanted the Beatles long-time producer George Martin to produce what would become The Stranger. They met, but they didn’t work together due to Martin’s lack of faith in Joel’s band.
  2. Despite producing four hit singles on the Hot 100 chart, the album itself never reached #1 in any country. It peaked at #2 in both Canada and the US.
  3. In 2002, a Billy Joel-inspired stage production titled Movin’ Out opened on Broadway. The show was named after one of The Stranger’s biggest hits, “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song), and won Joel a Tony Award for the show’s orchestration.
  4. The Stranger overtook Simon & Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Water to become the best-selling album ever released by Columbia Records (at the time).
  5. The Grammy-winning “Just the Way You Are” was written for his first wife and manager, Elizabeth Weber Small. She had previously been married to Joel’s former music partner Jon Small.
  6. Another hit from the album “Only The Good Die Young” was met with controversy due to the song’s lyrics. Catholic groups opposed the song and lobbied to have it banned from radio stations across the US but the campaign only served to increase exposure for the song. It is now known as one of Billy Joel’s signature hits.

 

Have any other facts about The Stranger you’d like to share with us? Or a favourite song from this incredible album? Let us know on Facebook or Twitter!

Filed under: 1977, Billy Joel, The Stranger