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It's Still Rock and Roll To Me 

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Oh, it doesn't matter what they say in the papers
'Cause it's always been the same old scene   
There's a new band in town
But you can't get the sound from a story in a magazine...
​Aimed at your average teen

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     Billy's first #1 hit was 1980's "It's Still Rock & Roll to Me."  The song is Billy's sardonic take on the music industry and music critics, many of whom were unfairly dogging him in the press.  Once a critics' favorite, Billy had become a target of the critics after the success of ballads like "Just the Way You Are" and "Honesty."  While critics fawned over the latest punk or new wave act that came out, Billy pushed back, he wasn't about to "take any shit from anybody."  

​     In the song, a critic or music industry exec, or perhaps a girlfriend, is urging the singer to try on new clothes or get a new car in order to appease and impress the public or press, to jump on the latest trend.  But Billy resists this as it's an unwelcome return to "the age of jive" when "all you need are looks and a whole lotta money" to become a rock and roll star.   To Billy, the music should come first, and the hype and new fashions surrounding the "new wave" were just a facade draped over music that was really not that new or different from early rock and roll or early power pop.  He wryly responds that labels like "new wave" are just marketing hype.  "It's the next phase, new wave, dance craze, anyways, it's still rock and roll to me."  And critics are not really that helpul as "you can't get the sound from a story in a magazine, aimed at your average teen."   

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"Don't take any shit from anybody."

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      It is not that Billy didn't like the so-called "new wave," it was just that the "new" wave wasn't that much different fundamentally than rock and roll.  It was simply stripping rock and pop music of the excesses and pretensions that had built up in the Seventies.   Rock and roll music was re-cycling itself, as Billy once said.  In another interview, he said it was like rock and roll music was giving itself an enema, which was good.

    The song irked critics of course, a Rolling Stone writer even called it the "worst song" ever written about rock and roll, but that only showed that Billy had hit the right note.  The song struck a chord with fans and other musicians too, as it went to number one on the charts and Billy received a Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance for Glass Houses.
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     Although it was released over thirty years ago, the message of the song is still relevant today, as noted in this American Songwriter article from 2013.

Words and Music by Billy Joel

What's the matter with the clothes I'm wearing?
Can't you tell that your tie's too wide?
Maybe I should buy some old tab collars?
Welcome back to the age of jive.

Where have you been hidin' out lately, honey?
You can't dress trashy till you spend a lot of money.
Everybody's talkin' 'bout the new sound
Funny, but it's still rock and roll to me

What's the matter with the car I'm driving?
Can't you tell that it's out of style?
Should I get a set of whitewall tires?
Are you gonna cruise the Miracle Mile?

Nowadays you can't be too sentimental
Your best bet's a true baby blue Continental.
Hot funk, cool punk, even if it's old junk
It's still rock and roll to me.

Oh, it doesn't matter what they say in the papers
'Cause it's always been the same old scene.
There's a new band in town
But you can't get the sound from a story in a magazine...
Aimed at your average teen

How about a pair of pink sidewinders
And a bright orange pair of pants?
You could really be a Beau Brummel baby
If you just give it half a chance.

Don't waste your money on a new set of speakers,
You get more mileage from a cheap pair of sneakers.
Next phase, new wave, dance craze, anyways
It's still rock and roll to me
​(All right, Rico!)

What's the matter with the crowd I'm seeing?
Don't you know that they're out of touch?
Should I try to be a straight 'A' student?
If you are then you think too much.

Don't you know about the new fashion honey?
All you need are looks and a whole lotta money.
It's the next phase, new wave, dance craze, anyways
It's still rock & roll to me.

Everybody's talkin' 'bout the new sound
Funny, but it's still rock and roll to me

Vertical Divider

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Warhol effect.  "Next phase, new wave, dance craze, anyways, it's still rock and roll to me."

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Billy discusses "It's Still Rock and Roll To Me" on SiriusXM.

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Billy discusses "It's Still Rock and Roll To Me," its message, and a chord progression from Bob Dylan, on Howard Stern.

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     In 1981, Billy Joel's official fan newsletter, The Root Beer Rag, did an in-depth look at the development, recording, and release of "It's Still Rock and Roll To Me" entitled "Odyssey of a Billy Joel Record" by Martin Torgoff.   Read Part One (scroll to page 4).  Here is Part Two and Part Three. 

     And in the Spring/Summer 1983 issue, Billy explained what "pink sidewinders" were.   See excerpt (right).  They are not sandals as some other websites have stated.  Billy preferred matador boots with a Cuban heel which he could find only at Flagg Bros. or a cheap pair of sneakers.​

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Videos
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"Next phase, new wave, dance craze, anyways it's still rock and roll to me."  © 1980 Sony BMG Music Entertainment.

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Live version (audio only) from MSG in 1980.

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Live version from Live in Long Island (1982)

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Billy's take on "new wave" music, and trying to avoid a return to "the age of jive" when record companies and promoters hyped up their musicians and teen fans swooned.  This is from a 1980 radio profile of Billy Joel on the Robert W. Morgan Special of the Week (audio only).

Gavin DeGraw sings "It's Still Rock and Roll To Me" at the 2013 Gershwin Prize concert honoring Billy Joel.

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