[atlantaprog] Re: This list has become tiresome - touch my monkey,

Billy Joel is the Antichrist.

Wellll, not quite, I think that bit of ignobility should be reserved for the likes of Air Supply (WIMPS!) Peter Cetera (SUPER-WIMP that destroyed Chicago beyond repair!!!)

What's wrong with wimpy? Plenty of prog is wimpy, including some of the best of it.

As for Peter Cetera, the problem can be traced to one song, "If You Leave Me Now", which, yes, told me something terrible had happened to my first favorite band, but not because it was wimpy. "Saccharine" and "bland" are a bit more like it, but even there, that's in the ear of the listener. More importantly, it seems that Columbia Records decided in the wake of the success of "If You Leave Me Now" that Cetera should be the "face" of the band and that his songs would be pushed as the singles. Chicago trombonist/brass arranger/early hit single writer Jimmy--excuse me, "James"--Pankow will tell you that, at least. (Note: Pankow wrote "Just You 'n' Me", sung by Cetera on *Chicago VI*, so maybe it goes back that far, in a way. But even that tune is a little more substantial than the usual pop fare.) (Trivia: That's Pankow you hear on Toto's "Rosanna".)

Billy Joel had a good run up until 1980, then after that, it was down the sewer!

Didn't *The Nylon Curtain* come out in 1982? From what little I know, that's one of his best albums.

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