From The Archive: Billy Joel's 'The Nylon Curtain'
Joel's 1982 classic is an elegy for a disappearing America, and a warning of what's to come.
Good morning!
Today, we’re taking a quick look back at Billy Joel’s The Nylon Curtain.
When I was a teenager, my friends and I would congregate on our front porch until all hours of the night. My stepdad-a journeyman carpenter- would try and break those sessions up by announcing that "this is a blue-collar neighborhood," which I suppose he thought might land better than "I have to get up early, so shut the F up."
It usually worked-my stepdad was a man with whom one did not mess with- but we always bristled a little at the phrasing. We'd all try and convince ourselves that he was out of his mind. But he wasn't- we just wished he was.
The truth is while the iron curtain was falling across Europe, walls of classism were shooting up in my town. It was hard to see classmates with 500k homes (in the early 90s) and only to come home and see your stepdad unloading his truck after a day on the job site. Instead of tracks, there was a hill, and we lived on the wrong side of it.
Those chips on one's shoulder get increasingly hard to carry. I felt shared frustration(s) as the good men of Allentown, PA. At the same time, on some level, I embraced it. I liked that he built things with his hands. There was-is- something honorable about showing up every day and creating something tangible, even if not glorious. And in a lot of ways, it's influenced my own career path.
That's a really long way to say that "Allentown" is my favorite song by Billy Joel. Yes, it talks about the American dream not quite working out for steelworkers (a sort of companion piece to Springsteen’s “Born In The USA”), but it somehow leaves one with hope. That the same grit and determination that carried them through endless shifts at the forge will see them through; there's something quintessentially American about it all.
Similarly, Joel's entire Nylon Curtain album is blue-collar. There are synthesizers, but the songs still work when played live. Most are no-nonsense tunes. They clock in, put in the work, and get the job done.
Joel usually has two speeds: rock and torch song. I almost always prefer the former. But here, tracks like Lara sound like something that would've been at home on a Beatle's record (and did I hear an F-bomb?).
A Room of Our Own is a bit of kicks rock that would be at home at just about any bar jukebox. I'm honestly surprised it never charted.
The backside of Side B skews further toward the electronic but never strays too far from the blueprint. You never forget you're listening to a Billy Joel record- and should that happen, tracks like Surprises bring you right back with its standard-issue chord progressions and melodies.
Joel once called Nylon Curtain his favorite record. In many ways, it's easy to see why. It's a bit like my stepdad helping build the light rail system all those years ago; it might not be glamorous, but the value lasts long after much flashier things have come and gone.
Listen:
Billy Joel | The Nylon Curtain, 1982
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Have any thoughts about this record or a favorite track? Share your thoughts inthe comments!
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Kevin—
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There are so many things I could say about Nylon Curtain, which is IMO (and his, too) Billy's masterpiece. It's an interesting take to me, as I've never thought of it as a blue collar album, other than Allentown and Goodnight Saigon. Even Pressure feels like more of a middle management/white collar lament. I'd say that The Stranger is his blue collar masterpiece, as a whole album anyroad.
You probably know that with Nylon Curtain, Billy set out to make essentially the 13th Beatles album -- an audacious goal if ever there was one. I'm not sure he succeeded on the A side, which contains those two aforementioned blue collar songs, but the B-side... that's where he knocked it out of the park.
Side B of Nylon Curtain is baroque pop at its near-finest (the finest being the Fabs, always and of course). It's the most complex arrangements Billy and Phil Ramone ever attempted, architectural and spacious and, well, Beatle-esque. I occasionally play Surprises and Scandinavian Skies (and Laura) for Beatles people not familiar with Nylon Curtain beyond the hits and they inevitably think it's a lost/new Beatles track with a Lennon lead vocal. And of course, Where's the Orchestra is Billy's homage to McCartney.
So maybe the answer is that the magic of Nylon Curtain is similar to the magic of the Beatles in that it's a rich and masterful combination of blue collar, whether it's the steel mills of Allentown, PA, or the docks of Liverpool's Cast Iron Shore, and sophisticated avant garde pop. Regardless, a masterpiece and as a long-time Billy Joel afficienado, I'm so happy that the rest of the world is finally catching up to his briliance.
PS I lived in Allentown, PA, for awhile -- because of the song. I have only fond memories of the Lehigh Valley and the people there.
Great analysis, man. Holy shit.
This and Glass Houses. Just classic albums I had with me growing up. Thanks for writing this.
As an aside, I saw Colbert interview Billy Joel the other day. Good stuff. Lots of funny little stories.