Which piano man was more overrated overall as a artist, Elton John or Billy Joel?

[Naer]

They both good but they were a bit overrated imo.

Which one was more overrated?

 

[IronWing]

Neither, both produced music people enjoyed. I can’t think of a higher calling than bringing a little happiness and beauty into the world.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

Put Elton John, Billy Joel, Keith Emerson, Rick Wakeman, Cedar Walton, Oscar Peterson and Victor Borge together and see which one survives.

(Never mind the fact that a couple of them are already dead.)



But remember that only one of them got Christie Brinkley.

 

[SKORPI0]

Elton John....

 

[brianmanahan]

i like listening to both their songs, so neither is overrated in my book

i've had a lot of fun over the years playing along with "piano man", "always a woman to me", and "root beer rag" on the piano

likewise with "crocodile rock", "tiny dancer", and "this train don't stop there anymore"

 

[HomerJS]

Neither

 

[lxskllr]

I like Joel a bit better, but I don't think either are overrated. They're rated just about right.

 

[Captante]

Personally I slightly prefer Elton John based on his classics like "Goodbye Yellowbrick Road" but I also will have to answer "neither".

One of the very first albums I ever bought was Billy Joel: The Stranger.

 

[Torn Mind]

I don't think I have consciously listened to any Billy Joel, so I do not have an opinion.

Elton John, well, I do like Rocketman. I'm Still Standing is also catchy(and apparently a personal triumph song).

I don't think Lion King is the same without that lion sex interlude to prime the boys and girls. lol. Cheesy and sappy moment, but you can't forget it.

John's way of resolving measure by measure is distinct, which does mean his abilities to songwrite is a bit above cookie cutter.

"The Rumour" also is good for me.

I don't know much about how much Elton John is "rated" though.

 

[Torn Mind]

Hilariously, the first time I heard Rocketman was Yu-gi-oh: The Abridged Series.

As a testament to LIttle Kuriboh's GENIUS editing...song fits in better than the original music in the dub.

 

[IBMJunkman]

I wish I knew enough music theory to appreciate Rick’s reviews.

 

[Mai72]

Both are relly great for pop music. But on the same level as say Mozart or Beethovan?

Nope. But both are amazing musicians.

 

[Torn Mind]

Beato is learned. "Deficiently learned" as I would call it because the learning tends make people think mechanically in terms of chords and the like. He wouldn't know how to explain Mozart's K. 545 Sonata but kisses big ass to Bach. Pretty much every only-classical trained pianist is in the same boat, if not even more incompetent.

His videos become exceptionally banal as it is chords, chords, moar chords, random non-chord insight, chords, chords, did I say CHORDS?.

 

[TheELF]

Both are relly great for pop music. But on the same level as say Mozart or Beethovan?

Nope. But both are amazing musicians.

I don't know, I never heard mozart or Beethoven sing...they might have been terrible at it.

Also thanks a ducking lot to the OP for now having the piano man stuck in my brain for the next few days....

 

[IronWing]

Beato is learned. "Deficiently learned" as I would call it because the learning tends make people think mechanically in terms of chords and the like. He wouldn't know how to explain Mozart's K. 545 Sonata but kisses big ass to Bach. Pretty much every only-classical trained pianist is in the same boat, if not even more incompetent.

His videos become exceptionally banal as it is chords, chords, moar chords, random non-chord insight, chords, chords, did I say CHORDS?.

Like I said before, Bach was writing 8 bit video game and slot machine music centuries before his time. Tedium of tones.

 

[Torn Mind]

Both are relly great for pop music. But on the same level as say Mozart or Beethovan?

Nope. But both are amazing musicians.

Beethoven is more accessible...but audience taste differs these days compared to his time. Posterity's tastes regarding Beethoven is a bit different than his contemporaries. The Septet was Beethoven's calling card and moneymaker while he was alive. That made Beethoven apparently hate the Septet. So Beethoven did have his "pop" or "easy listening" work in his early career.
He also wrote his love songs too.
A now-forgotten Beethoven work is his Andante favori. The originally intended 2nd movement of the Waldstein, and the opening is bascially calling out the name of someone he was in love with (Josephina). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josephine_Brunsvik
Another is "Ich Denke Dein". There is the song itself and the themes and variation for duet.
Few hundred years later, he's now old and mostly preserved by a bunch of isolationists with some head-in-the-clouds attitude about music. Lot of focus on the symphonies, and the ways to interpret them. This probably leads people to view Beethoven as some monk or otherworldly figure. In actuality, some of his outpurings are quite "real". Dealing with the mental anguish of becoming deaf. Falling in love with someone but being unable to be together. Beethoven wrote love songs. Love songs may be common, but a master can still hit you in the feels with one; I know the variations for Ich Denke Dein do for me. Break ups can be the grounds for a hit(Taylor Swift sure made good use of that).

Elton John isn't writing a symphony, but one could try to size up his songs with some of the "songs" Beethoven wrote and see if they in terms of emotional effectiveness and creative key changes.

Mozart is well-respected, but comprehending him is a taller order for him compared to Beethoven or Bach. It's not the style Mozart wrote for that made him a genius. It's more on the nuts and bolts level, in which he leaves people wondering how he did so much with such a seemingly simple, not overly complicated score.

I wouldn't put Elton John with Mozart, but John does have a rather advanced level of musical ability that could be argued as genius.

 

[Mayne]

I like both. watched the old elton john video "Pinball Wizard" last night ..what a trippy video with the Who.

 

[Torn Mind]

I don't know, I never heard mozart or Beethoven sing...they might have been terrible at it.

Also thanks a ducking lot to the OP for now having the piano man stuck in my brain for the next few days....

Well, Mozart did give Aloysia Weber singing lessons. If he couldn't sing at all...that would render him unable to do the job.

Music History Monday: The One Who Doesn’t Want Me Can Lick My [expletive deleted]

We note the death on June 8, 1839 – 181 years ago today – of the German soprano Aloysia Weber Lange. Don’t know who she is? You will soon enough.

robertgreenbergmusic.com

(Singing lessons from Mozart? Yes indeed: as a child, Mozart had trained as a singer with the well-known castrato Giovanni Manzuoli [1720-1782] in 1764 and 1765, while he – Mozart – was living in London. Mozart publically performed as a singer until his voice broke in 1769, when he was 13. And, of course, by the age of 21 Mozart was a veteran of the opera house as a composer and conductor.)

Mozart in brief would be best described as a guy who could make any instrument become a quasi-singer, and a melismatic one at that.

 

[sactoking]

I think they're both good but not great. I have the impression that Billy Joel's biggest fans would say he's a 7, 8 tops while Elton John's biggest fans think he's the greatest ever. By that metric is day Elton John is the more overrated of the two.