Fractured Billy Joel Trivia Quiz

Answer: Only the Good Die Young

Some controversy followed "Only the Good Die Young" upon its release, as some found the song anti-Catholic. Some radio stations even banned the song. Billy Joel later stated the song wasn't so much anti-Catholic as it was pro-lust. He also pointed out the boy in the song trying to get his virgin girlfriend to go against her Catholic ways DIDN'T succeed in doing so.

Answer: The River of Dreams

A Top Five Billboard hit and a Number One Adult Contemporary hit, "The River of Dreams" comes from his album "River of Dreams". Coming from a retrospective time in his life, the song spoke to many people. This was his first single release in four years.

Answer: I Go to Extremes

From the 1989 album "Storm Front", Billy loved playing this one live. With its scorching piano solos, it was a chance to once again showcase his piano abilities. In addition, the song was perfect for the larger arenas he was now starting to fill up.

Answer: Scenes From an Italian Restaurant

While not released as a single, it has been a staple in Billy's live shows. Originally released on Billy Joel's iconic album "The Stranger", it created a description of a couple's (Brenda and Eddie) relationship that many people identified with.

Answer: Sometimes a Fantasy

A Billboard Top 40 hit from 1980, it has somewhat negative connotations as it was the song he was singing when he flipped a keyboard in the middle of a show in the Soviet Union. He was screaming during the song for the crew to "stop lighting the audience", as he didn't want the crowd to feel self-conscious about being watched. Billy's account has the crew thinking he said "stop fighting the audience", and they did nothing. So, Billy fumed to the point of tossing his keyboard during the bridge. Of course, the crowd just thought this was the American Rock & Roll style, and let it go.

It wasn't until later that analysis of the film made it out to be something different.

Answer: Tell Her About It

This was Billy Joel's second of three Number One hits. The inception of videos and MTV in the early 1980s, combined with the 195s and 1960s theme of the "Innocent Man" album the song came from allowed him to create the "Ed Sullivan Show" theme of the video that gained him heavy airplay on MTV and other video outlets.

Billy Joel's other two Billboard Number One hits, "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" and "We Didn't Start the Fire", were ineligible for this quiz, as both of them feature punctuation. Not to gripe, Billy, but boy, you use a lot of apostrophes in your song titles!

Answer: Goodnight Saigon

From his 1982 album "The Nylon Curtain", "Saigon" was a minor American hit, but was a Number One song on the Netherlands charts. The song depicts the hard life of the Vietnam War veteran, the life that many of Billy's Long Island friends were forced to take coming out of high school.

Answer: Leave a Tender Moment Alone

"Leave a Tender Moment Alone" was not as prominent a hit as the other songs to be released from his album "An Innocent Man". In the early age of MTV, songs were almost required to have a video to become a significant hit. An observation of this theory: Billy Joel released six songs from "An Innocent Man", and only one, this one, did not crack the Top 20.

Answer: Big Man on Mulberry Street

"Big Man on Mulberry Street" came from Billy Joel's 1986 album "The Bridge" and was not released as a single. It was however used in a dream sequence on the hit television show "Moonlighting". Featuring Cybill Shepherd, Bruce Willis, and Mark Harmon, the dance sequence showcased the love triangle between the three characters.

Answer: New York State of Mind

"New York State of Mind" wasn't originally released as a single, but it has become one of Billy Joel's most beloved, and covered, songs. Barbra Streisand, Carmen Macrae, Tony Bennett, and even the Muppets have done versions of the song, which pays tribute to his hometown. The song figured prominently in the mourning and recovery of New York and America after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.