Tuesday, October 4, 2022

45

 

Last week was the 45th anniversary of the release of Billy Joel's album called "The Stranger."  It's my favorite of all time.  Any time I hear a song from it, I'm immediately transported back to high school, and it's the fun high school memories, not the soul crushing ones.

Every track is wonderful, especially the ones that didn't receive a lot or radio station air play, and that includes "Vienna" and "Everybody Has a Dream."  "Get It Right the First Time" was also great.  In fact, there isn't one dog on the entire album.  "Scenes From and Italian Restaurant" is a masterpiece.  "Anthony's Song" is just plain fun.

Rolling Stone calls "The Stranger" one of the best albums of all time.

The title cut holds special significance.  It was the first song I ever played on the radio, at Marywood's WVMW in December of 1979.  It was also the last song I played there, in January of 1983.  You may be asking, "Why January?"  "Didn't you graduate in May of 83?"  The graduation month is correct.  Back in the day, you had to put in a certain number of hours at the college radio station.  I went nuts during the 82/83 Christmas break, working every shift I could get my hands on.  I exceeded the minimum hour requirement by a huge amount in just a matter of weeks.  Just before the new semester started, I declared my college radio days were at an end,  and that was it.  A lot of classmates asked me to fill in for them during the spring semester.  I politely declined.  I retired.  There was another reason.  By then, I was working a lot of shifts at WARM 590.  Something had to give, and that was college radio.  Yes, it was bittersweet.  I really loved being on the air at WVMW.  We were given the freedom to play the music we liked.  I miss that.

I digress.

The bottom line is that "The Stranger" was one of the best albums of all time, with four singles hitting the top 40.  It's quite an accomplishment.

There are some songs I liked as a teen, and when I hear them today, I wonder what I was thinking at the time.  They're awful.  Nothing from "The Stranger" is on that list.

Happy anniversary.