It's Still Rock and Roll to Me


"It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" is a 1980 song written and performed by Billy Joel, from the hit album Glass Houses. The song was number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts for two weeks, from July 19 through August 1, 1980. The song spent 11 weeks in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 and was the 7th biggest hit of 1980 according to American Top 40. The song is an examination of the themes of a musician's declining fame and changing public tastes that were expressed in his 1975 hit "The Entertainer". According to drummer Liberty DeVitto in an interview, the sound engineer for the song had him tune his snare drum extremely low so that it would "flop" when he played it.
The single eventually reached Platinum status from the RIAA for sales of over 1 million copies in the United States. Pop rock musician Drake Bell covered the song in 2014 on his rockabilly album Ready Steady Go!.

Critical reception

In review made a week later after single release, Billboard editors noticed the laconicism of backing support and Joel's vocal that made the song sparkling.

Personnel

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

All-time charts

Music video

A music video for the song was made, showing Joel performing the song live with his band. According to his band members, the song vocals were performed live by Joel during the video's filming.

Parody

recorded a parody of the song entitled "It's Still Billy Joel to Me" in 1980, popularized on the Dr. Demento radio program. It was not released, either as a single or an album track. Yankovic commented, "I wrote that in 1980, but even by 1983 it felt a bit dated. Also, we figured that Billy wasn’t very likely to give us his blessing on that one anyway, so we never even bothered asking."