Friday Night Videos

These past couple of days, I've become thoroughly fascinated by A Year of Billy Joel, a blog started by a self-professed Billy Joel hater who decided to listen to Joel's entire catalog and critique the music he's so long despised. But an interesting thing happened--the fellow based most of his dislike on some broad assumptions that he soon discovered were unfounded. As he works through each album, his commentary is fresh and insightful (and funny--he's very, very funny). He doesn't like everything, but is quite enthusiastic when he comes across something that speaks to him. In the process, he's grudgingly become a Billy Joel fan. I, myself, am a huge Billy Joel fan--not obsessive or anything--but he's my second-favorite musical act behind only the Kinks. His blog has prompted me to revisit my Joel collection--bootlegs and all--and reexamine some of the deep album tracks and rarities. Alas, most of those intriguing songs don't have videos, so for today's Friday Night Video I'll go with the super-fun Sometimes A Fantasy. Love the creepy, sleazy alter-ego Billy in this one, plus the twist ending. Aerosmith cribbed the whole concept nearly a decade later when they cut a new video for "Sweet Emotion" to mark the release of Pandora's Box, and while that later video is more polished and sophisticated in technical terms, you have to credit Joel's video for pushing the envelope back when MTV was still in its infancy.

Previously on Friday Night Videos... Dire Straits.

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