#billyjoel #uptowngirl #reaction Billy Joel - Uptown Girl REACTION! Is this Where the BACKSTREET BOYS got their name!? Join this channel get access to perks: / @blackpegasusraps
Watch the story Billy Joel tells on Howard Stern. He met Elle McPherson, Christie Brinkley, and Whitney Houston all at the same time in the Bahamas. So he and Christie Brinkley were already a couple here after heb briefly dated Elle McPherson.@@leannmiller7153
I was thinking the same thing. I have always heard white bread and took it to mean white bread world while poor folks be eatin' that cheap brown bread.
Exactly....sometimes the things that were plain to us (back in the day), aren't so plain to people who have never heard them. The context is everything, and anyone watching an old movie or video needs to keep this in mind. ( To understand that words may have meant something different in the era of the movie/video, then it does now) The common quotes or sayings were just that...sayings..a way to say "rich" without saying the word "rich".
Go look at a pic of Christie Brinkley in her 70's today, your jaw will STILL hit the floor. I was 10 when I became aware of her. She is timeless. NOBODY could believe it when he landed her. She was the TOP model for years.
@@bkm2797 Christie is also on the poster on the inside of the locker door behind Billy, too, but the OP was talking about her now and what she looks like today, having entered her 70s earlier on this year. She is still a nice looking woman but definitely has had a little help these days though.
Joel was already famous and well known guy at this point and could have any woman he wanted, and he did but I think he was so humble to still think that she was not attainable for a guy from a working class background.
The whole album (Glass Houses) was a smorgasbord of various genres of rock 7& roll, past and present. This was Joel's tribute to street-corner doo-wop music.
The White Bred lyric is not talking race. It's talking the about the food -bread. The captioning is incorrect on the video. The phrase "White Bread" means "bland." The uptown girl lives a nice but boring and bland life. Billy is going to change that into something more exciting.
for the 80s, in all honesty, it could be interpreted as both. The mega-rich community in the 80s was almost exclusively white (IIRC); but also, financially, white bread was usually more expensive than wheat bread.
Christy Brinkley has been on fire for 50 damn years. So fricking classically beautiful, no surgery BS, sigh. She is the girl in first Vacation movie in red the Ferrari.
I love Billy Joel! He was playing on Grammys on the night Sinatra was honored for lifetime achievement and the producers cut off to commercial during Sinatra's speech. When Joel did his set of River of Dreams, he stopped his band and stopped singing looked at his watch and started saying "valuable advertising time going by" multiple times!! 😂
White bread, it means a boring, bland life, unexciting life. Basically, she leads an unexciting life, and a backstreet guy can give her excitement that the other guys can't give her.
When he wrote the song it was for his girlfriend at the time Elle McPherson, by the time he decided to record and release the track he was dating Christie Brinkley (the woman in the video) who he went onto marry. Billy has definitely had his share of uptown girls.
You NEED to do Scenes from an Italian Restaurant. It has a story like Piano Man and you can picture the couple he sings about going from high school sweethearts to married life to divorce and beyond. It's a great song and you will picture a couple you know as you listen. Especially if you grew up in NYC because we all knew a couple like this one.
Backstreet Boys name - Pearlman decided to call them Backstreet Boys, after Orlando's Backstreet Market, an outdoor flea market near International Drive which was also a teen hangout
His concerts are incredible. He always plays at least one ACDC song because he says that they write the complete songs and he loves their music. He even m has had Brian Johnson come and sing it with him when he performs it.
His second wife his first wife was Elizabeth Weber Small from 1973-1982 He married Christie Brinkley in 1985-1994 then went on to marry Katie Lee (Food network) from 2004-2009 and is now married to Alexis Roderick.
There is also River of Dreams as another style of song from Billy. You were looking away so I don't think you noticed the billboard for Uptown Cosmetics at the beginning. I'm pretty sure the lyric is "white bread" not "white-bred" as shown (an obvious mistake by a ill-educated and youngster seeing racism everywhere). It references the old stereotype of the upper crust being able to afford white flour while the lower classes ate whole wheat. This was reversed around the 1900's as commercial processing brought down the cost of white flour and the introduction of Wonder Bread pre-sliced bread brought 'rich people's bread' to everyone in the 20's. The upper crust realizing the health benefits of whole grains through the 50's and 60's then eschewed white bread and it is now the reverse situation. But Billy was definitely referencing the older trope.
This song was HUGE, catchy, and especially popular because Christy Brinkley was in it. (They were married) This was totally a pop chart song and not like "Piano Man" "We Didn't Start the Fire" nor "New York State of Mind" Thank you for your great reaction. Billy Joel writes so very many more songs than he ever recorded for himself.....look in the writing credits of some of the great songs from 1980 to present.
@Renee-Suzanne - Not trying to be a dick here but it is not really the case when you say: "Billy Joel writes so very many more songs than he ever recorded for himself.....look in the writing credits of some of the great songs from 1980 to present". He records himself what he has written but several others then go on to also do covers of his songs and some of those covers go back to the 1970s too.
@@seanscanlon9067 I agree that he has recorded so very many songs he penned himself and that many have been covered. I only meant that he has also written many songs for other artists.
@@Renee-Suzanne Yeah I thought that was perhaps what you meant but again, not meaning this in a bad way but that is not really the case though. Billy has never written anything for other artists per se to record, he has written songs for him to do so but then others have covered them later on, even if some songs might be more familiar as the covers rather than Billy's original recordings.
Billy Joel is an American treasure! His music videos were legendary! He ended up marrying the beautiful woman he meets in this video. That’s the lovely Christie Brinkley, supermodel. He’s amazingly talented in every possible musical way. Composer, lyricist, pianist, multi instrumentalist, vocalist and video creator. You will be blown away as you explore more of his catalogue. His live performances are amazing too. I’m sure your other subscribers will recommend all the best songs. I thoroughly enjoy your videos and look forward to more reactions to Billy Joel. I hope you will also revisit Linda Ronstadt. 🌺✌️
Billy Joel's "Glass Houses" was the first EIGHT TRACK! album I ever bought with my own money! "It's Still Rock-n-Roll to Me" was one of the first absolute jams of my life! Wore that sucker out!💯
Pearlman decided to call them Backstreet Boys, after Orlando's Backstreet Market, an outdoor flea market near International Drive which was also a teen hangout.
I think it says white bread world, meaning the good and back then fancy stuff. The lovely lady in the video was his then or soon to be wife model Christy Brinkley.
Checkout all of the Billy Joel you can! He's my favorite solo artist. If you want another one of his do-whop songs with high harmonies, I recommend "The Longest Time".
Wanna hear crazy awesome fast piano by Billy Joel then check out PRELUDE/ANGRY YOUNG MAN. Great song and another totally different sound by Billy Joel.
I'm sure you know this but this song was about Christie Brinkley who became his wife.(she's the one at the beginning of the video that's on the calendar or the picture or whatever he's holding in his hand.)
Please do “Still Rock and Roll to Me”. I can’t help but be sympathetic to the plight of reactors trying to categorize everything by genre … when so much of it is hue and nuance. I think you’ll appreciate the idea. I remember watching this video as a kid SO many times (as happened to most of us kids home for the summer with MTV). I’ll never forget Billy’s sideways trot at 4:10 , or the fun syncopated rag buffing at 7:38 . 😅 And you’ve hit it on the head with the dystopian nightmare talk … 9:32 - I FEEL so intensely for my kid and his generation and the lack of positivity they are trying to LIVE in. Anyway … good stuff. Thanks!
This past weekend in New York City, Billy Joel performed his 100th show at that venue in his 40 year career! Yes, he performed Uptown Girl, and the cameras were showing on the huge screen, yup, Christy Brinkley, the Uptown Girl herself, singing along! It was incredible! Also, their daughter came on stage and performed for her dad! U must look it up on RU-vid!❤❤
Billy Joel and Christie Brinkley had a daughter Alexa Ray Joel. The middle name “Ray” was to honor Ray Charles, who Billy did a duet with called Grand Piano. Alexa Ray is also a musician taking after her father I believe she does shows in New York City.
Hello BP !! I LOVE IT when you "trip out" over old song that you are familiar with from the radio but now you are really interested in all of the details and I am learning a lot from you, so thank you. So, I think what these guys in the garage singing reminded you of, might none from the film "Grease". That is what comes to my mind, every time I see this. Also, the girl inn the video is Christie Brinkley who was one of the top models back in the 80's (one of the earlier Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Models). I am not sure if they knew each other before this video or not, but they ended up married to each other, if I am remembering correctly. Also, if you have ever seen the original "Vacation" movie with Chevy Chase,( NOT the Christmas one but when the Griswalds drive across the U.S. to go to Wally World), Christie Brinkley is the blonde girl in the sports car that Chevy Chase Flirts with on the interstate and eventually ends up skinny dipping with her in a pool. That's all I've got for you on this one. Thank you!!
I love Billy Joel. Garth Brooks is also a big Billy fan and Billy let him do a cover of Billys song Shameless. For what ever reason Shameless wasnt a huge hit for Billy, but it was a mega hit for Garth. You should do a rea tion on it. Shameless written by Billy Joel and preformed by Garth Brooks. Its really great!
That was the beauty of growing up in the 70s and 80s when music came on vinyl and cassette and you had album covers with lyrics printed on them and magazines that came out weekly with some lyrics in them. Something that streaming will never be able to recreate
You're definitely the best reactor to old songs. It's great to see you explore different styles and delve into the old music. I still think the best music ended in the 90s
Billy Joel is one of the top Singer songwriters of the past 60 years- still going strong. You need to review his FULL albums "The Stranger" which went 11x Platinum and "52nd street" went 7x Platinum....the woman in this video is his now ex-wife Christie Brinkley. When he got famous he had supermodels throwing themselves at him. VERY heavy drinker and smoker with multiple DUIs who stayed sober after a bad accident running into a tree on Long Island in the NY suburbs. He has sold over 160 MILLION albums. He is turning 75 this year and he is still touring. He has won 6 Grammies....a legend
The Backstreet Boys were named after the Backstreet Market in Orlando where a lot of kids hung out. Billy's singing about backstreet guys who were just dudes in lived in the rougher parts of town.
If you still get traditional TV, you should check your on demand for the Billy Joel special that was on this last week. It was in celebration of his 100th sold out concert at Madison Square Garden. He's been playing there once a month for approx. 10 years. One song he does, he debuted at the Grammys this year. It's the first song he's written in 30 years. It's really good.
Loved your reaction. This is my era along with Frankie Valle and the Four Seasons - which of course transitioned me to the Backstreet Boys decades later. Loved each of their sounds. Also I agree with someone comment that white-bread refers to 'refined' sugar used to make those little squares of cakes you would see upscaled parties. They are called Petit-fours. Thank you for your open opinions.
@@andreaschmall5560 Dad left the family to return to Austria when Joel was only 4 years old (so grew up fatherless). Career very nearly killed with his first attempt to record in his early 20s; that's when he hid out on the West Coast playing piano bars under an assumed name (so his contract would time out; wrote "Piano Man" based on his experiences, which was so successful Columbia Records reversed its decision to drop him, saving his career, but still edited "Piano Man" down for broadcast time). First wife pushed him to perform constantly, her brother managed him and embezzled tens of millions of dollars from him (making up the money meant he had to tour hard, which cost him his second marriage; the betrayal gutted him). That's just off the top.
@@chris...9497 Add two suicide attempts that later led to his song You’re Only Human (Second Wind) and even before he was born, his family had to flee the Nazis and ended up losing their textile business in Germany. There is a documentary on it called The Joel Files. And I think Billy was nearer seven or eight when his dad left the family home. And not trying to be a dick here because you have the basis of the story right, but Columbia Records actually took over his contract around the time of Captain Jack and Piano Man, having negotiated a release from his previous record company.
Great reaction! (And I rarely say great reaction.) You were jamming, you were dancing, you were reacting. And you had good commentary! (Yeah, forget that dystopia 💩) This was FUN! Thanks BP!
You nailed it! We had so much hope back then despite the challenges of racism, war, pollution, fighting for democracy, blah, blah. we believed we could change it all.
Billy and Christie have a daughter Alexa Ray ( for Ray Charles). Recently at Madison Sq Alexa sang "To Sir, With Love" to her father during his concert. Christie (The Uptown Girl ) was there having a blast! She posted an amazing video on Instagram. Love your channel and loving your Billy journey.
You love dancing you got to listen to YES and a song called Roundabout off the Fragile album. I've been dancing to Roundabout for 53yrs. ✨️🎶✨️ Saw Billy 4 times in the 70s
As soon as i saw this I remembered the music video on VH1 ...that's where he met his wife, can't remember her name, the model ....dated and married Great Video!!!!! Love Billy Joel , his talent is incredible in somany ways!!! Glad he's still with us and performing ❤ 🎶 🎵 🏍 Christie Brinkley thanks for helping me out with her full name !!! White Breed Girl, high class world!!!!
I don't know if anyone stated this yet but, Christie Brinkley was married and had children with Billy Joel. I believe they divorced some years ago but, they were married.... He definitely got his Uptown Girl!
The woman in the video is his then wife, Christie Brinkley. Also, most people don't know that Garth Brooks hit SHAMELESS was a cover of Billy Joel, who wrote and recorded it first.
Yup! Saw Billy Joel and Elton John in Orlando, FL , in the 1980's! It was amazing, both on a piano! My family and friends, my parents, Aunt and Uncle the whole "fam Damnly". Such a great concert! It was when "the Lion King" cartoon came out. Pretty sure they collaborated on the lyrics to the theme song of the movie.
Please react to GOODNIGHT SIAGNON. Its about Vietnam and he always has disabled vets on stage singing the chorus. The lyrics are raw and bars!! Billy Joel is the GOAT and always humble.
I know you've already done another Billy Joel that's on the members page but for your next one I think a live performance is a must, he's such a great live performer and you get the audience reaction to it too
Billy Joel was actually married to Christie Brinkley (world famous top model back in the day). Before dating her, he dated Elle MacPhearson, another modeling beauty, for a few months. In an interview with Howard Stearne, Joel explains that the song was originally called "Uptown Girls," because he couldn't believe the situation he was in, dating such beautiful women. But, after getting into a relationship with Brinkley, he made her THE "Uptown Girl."
The woman in this video is Billy Joel's wife, Christie Brinkley, who was a super model at the time. They had a daughter, Alexa, who has sung with Billy, at times. Billy and Christie got married in 1985 and divorced in 1994.
That's the lyrics everywhere. He just never saw the lyrics before and thought it was white man's world which he didn't want to say because he thought was racist. But white bread world only means that she was wealthy, a term used back in depression times. This song is a nod to Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.
You had me falling in love with this song all over again. What a ride! And you are so right about today’s dystopian/victim centered world. We do live in tremendous abundance and most have no clue! As for movies, this video always reminds me of Grease! Another fabulous classic: white-bred (Aussie - Olivia Newton John) and Italian (from wrong side of the tracks - John Travolta). Anyway, GREAT reaction video and looking forward to more Billy Joel! ❤
Billy wanted this album to be a tribute to the music he grew up with- especially Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons and also Do-Wop groups with the rich vocal harmonies and lead singers with the faksetto voices.
11:03 Hey, Pegasus, here's a few other Billy Joel songs that you might like: Allentown Myself Life For The Longest Time Tell Her About It It's Still Rock'N'Roll To Me Keeping The Faith A Matter Of Trust
My daughter several years ago when she was about 16 came out of her room and said, “Mom! I just discovered this singer named Billy Joel! He’s amazing!”😂😂😂I told her to listen to We Didn’t Start the Fire.🔥🔥🔥
I remember when my son "discovered" Jimi Hendrix, Supertramp, & a few others [popular before he was born] when he was 14. 😂 He was shocked when I simply told him to go look at my cassettes & albums. For a few hours I was "cool." 😎
Haha, I think maybe I had a few words wrong, but this song always holds a special place in my heart because when I was in jr high I did some modeling and walked a runway to this song.
This was one of my jams when I was a young teen,lol…Ive always liked the idea of a couple from opposite sides of the track meeting and falling in love against odds.😄
