Billy Joel: And so it goes (2025)

[Greg]

Billy Joel: And so it goes. Part 1

I've always liked Billy Joel. He was the soundtrack to my 70s. I've even seen him in concert where he put on a great show.

This is a pretty extensive biography. This section covers from birth to just after Glass Houses. There are lots of famous people in the doc including Bruce Springsteen and Jackson Browne. The doc goes in depth on all his stories during this period, some of which was new to me, which is always good.

I've always thought of Joel as a bit of a dick and this documentary does nothing to dispel my notion. A lot of his work seems to come from a chip in his shoulder or being told not to do something which he then goes ahead and does. I was surprised to see Liberty DeVito in the film, Joel's long time drummer. They had a big falling out several years ago when DeVito wanted more money and recognition for his work to which Joel responded "See Ya"

This section covers my favorite period of Joel's music. I'm interested to see what they do in the second half.

[Greg]

Billy: Part 2.

The rest of his life. One thing I did notice was they touched on his problematic behavior but never went in depth. For instance, he went to Betty Ford for alcoholism but other than the mention they never really got his opinion on it. They covered in depth his reaction to Elton John calling him out on his drinking but not the underlying problem. It could be they had a lot to cover and it was hard to fit it all in. But I noticed they didn't cover the bad stories all that much.

In the end, I did enjoy it. It was fun to get song back stories. I did like hearing all the songs again.

You'd really have to like Billy Joel to want to watch this.