Billy Joel: And So it Goes (2025)

[Frayed Knot]

This two-part (Some 4 hrs+) docu on Joel is currently running on HBO

[metirish]

Worth watching?

[Frayed Knot]

I suppose that depends on how interested you are in him. It's quite comprehensive, or 'long' if you prefer that term, dealing with everything from childhood to the present.

It does get a little repetitive at times, as in, What's Billy depressed about now? [father abandonment, bad record deals, life on the road, failed marriage(s), bad reviews, dishonest financial manager/brother-in-law, etc.]. But it's not a total inside job. The film makers appear to be free to discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly. All four wives chime in, as does his adult daughter, some ex-bandmates (even the one whose wife he stole and the one that sued him), plus thoughts from Bruce, Sting, Jackson Browne, and others in the industry.

So I probably wouldn't recommend trying to pull it off in one sitting, if you're interested in the subject you'll probably find it worthwhile.

[roger_that]

Did nothing for me.

A lot of boohooing about the tough life of a would-be band member playing crummy gigs at Long Island's many crummy venues for years and years (paying doooooz!) and a lot of soap opera crap about stupid life decisions made by a not especially bright musician when he was a kid. I never got Billy Joel, so my opinion is clouded by that understanding. I watched only the first 45 minutes or so.

[Edgy MD]

Billy Joel: And So it Goes

What a depressing title, if you think about it. It suggests Billy Juckets is just some festering inevitability hanging over our culture that we are too dysfunctional to ever do anything about. Like global warming or gerrymandering, it just persists and persists and we just hope it goes away on its own, but are never surprised that it never does.

The adults should have done something about this, we think, as we all turn 60.

[MFS62]

I always liked the stories he told and the intricacy of the music he used to tell them.

But I never really concerned myself with the back stories of any of the musical artists I liked.

So I wouldn't be interested in this movie.

Later

[roger_that]

Someone should make "Generic Music Biopic." Dude alienates family by choosing music as his career, hooks up with a series of untalented bandmates, perseveres, drugs, sexual relationships, more drugs, better bandmates, more drugs, breakthrough hit, alcohol, romantic interest, followup hit, family accepts him, marriage and child, classic hit, more drugs and alcohol, divorce, new sexual relationships, band breaks up, solo album, depression, rehab, more drugs, suicide attempt, more rehab, period of isolation, second marriage, second solo album, second divorce, band re-forms, series of major hits, series of romantic attachments, more hits, biopic gets made, the end.

[Edgy MD]

Clean-and-triumphantly-working-on-new-music-for-the-first-time-in-a-decade-and-here-we-are-pretending-this-music-doesn't-actually-kind-of-suck-because-that-would-ruin-the-end-of-this-movie-but-come-on.

[MFS62]

Rockumentary about a band that doesn't exist?

How about This is Spinal Tap.

Later