After years of a brilliant songwriting career, filled with countless hits and major successes, Billy Joel reached a point where he questioned whether he wanted to continue writing music at all.
From his childhood, music composition was at the core of his creative process. Even before he knew he would become a musician, classical music shaped his understanding of melody, structure, and emotion. In a 1995 interview in Nuremberg, Germany – his father’s hometown – Joel reflected on these early influences and how they unknowingly set the foundation for his future career.
“My father played the piano when I was a little boy, and the first thing that I remember hearing was classical music when I was young. My father and my mother would play classical music on the radio and classical records, and I was enchanted by this; I thought it was a kind of magic. When I was very, very little, I would make up my own songs – not songs with words, but music,” he said.
As he grew into a professional musician, his gift for storytelling through song became undeniable. He crafted some of the most enduring tracks of the 20th century, including Piano Man, a song that cemented his status as a master songwriter.
Its vivid, melancholic lyrics and unforgettable melody made it one of his most recognized works. Hits like Just the Way You Are, Scenes from an Italian Restaurant, and Uptown Girl followed, proving his versatility in both introspective ballads and upbeat pop anthems.
But his approach to songwriting changed dramatically in 1993 when he released what would become his final mainstream pop album, River of Dreams. The album was a commercial success, debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and producing a hit with its title track, which reached the Top 5 on the charts.
However, not all of its songs resonated with the industry. All About Soul peaked at No. 29, and No Man’s Land – which Joel himself considered one of his best songs lyrically – failed to chart. The response left him disillusioned with the music business.
“I put a lot of work into River of Dreams, and it was as if the business had left me behind because there are substantial songs on that album that never went anywhere,” he told Vulture in 2018. “So I said, ‘What’s the point of putting myself through writing and recording if it doesn’t mean what it’s supposed to mean out there in the world?’”
That realization led him to step away from writing new pop music. Instead, he turned his attention to a long-held passion: classical composition. In 2001, nearly a decade after River of Dreams, he released Fantasies & Delusions, an album entirely made up of instrumental piano pieces.
Reflecting on his decision to stop writing pop songs, Joel said: “Certain composers only have so much productivity in them. Mozart wrote more than 40 symphonies; Beethoven wrote nine. That difference doesn’t mean one guy was better than the other.”
“I always looked at The Beatles as a template. They did 12 studio albums. By the time I got to my 12th album, I didn’t think the quality trajectory was going to continue to go up. And I was more interested in other music.”