Most Influential Albums: Day Three

I was probably first introduced to Billy Joel on the heels of Storm Front and "We Didn't Start the Fire", but it was Greatest Hits Volume I & II that really unlocked the world of Billy Joel to me.

Storm Front was his 11th album, and so for a kid with a limited music budget it was not practical for me to acquire the entire Billy Joel library. Instead, I just went back to Greatest Hits when I was in the mood for some Billy Joel. It's pretty good for a road trip. 

I was reviewing his career a little bit and apparently he wasn't always the musical legend he is today. Columbia Records was on the verge of dropping him from the label before the release of his fifth album in 1977. The Stranger wound up peaking at #2 on the Billboard charts and selling the most copies of any album in Columbia's history. He won five Grammys between 1978 and 1980, and the rest is history.

Even though he hasn't produced anything new in 27 years, I can still discover new favorites that weren't among the chart toppers that populate Greatest Hits. A lot of them are songs that I wouldn't have appreciated when I was younger. The latest of these is "Leave a Tender Moment Alone" from An Innocent Man. Without Greatest Hits Volume I & II in my youth, I probably wouldn't be having these experiences as an adult.