''Storm Front'' is the eleventh studio album by American singer-songwriter

Billy Joel William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Piano Man" after his Signature song, signature 1973 song Piano Man (song), of the same name, Joel has ha ...

, released on October 23, 1989. It was Joel's third album to reach No. 1 in the U.S. and features "

We Didn't Start the Fire "We Didn't Start the Fire" is a song written by American musician Billy Joel. The song was released as a single on September 18, 1989, and later released as part of Joel's album '' Storm Front'' on October 17, 1989. A list song, its fast-paced ...

", a fast-paced song that cataloged a list of historical events, trends, and cultural icons from 1949 (when Joel was born) until 1989. " I Go to Extremes", a song describing the ups and downs of his emotional life, placed at No. 6. Other songs that placed in the top 100 were " And So It Goes" (No. 37), " The Downeaster 'Alexa'" (No. 57), and " That's Not Her Style" (No. 77). The album was also nominated for five

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

s. The album's cover depicts the maritime

storm warning At sea, a storm warning is a warning issued by the National Weather Service of the United States when winds between are occurring or predicted to occur soon. The winds must not be associated with a tropical cyclone. If the winds are associate ...

flag indicating wind forces 10–12, the highest intensity on the

Beaufort scale The Beaufort scale ( ) is an empirical measure that relates wind speed to observed conditions at sea or on land. Its full name is the Beaufort wind force scale. It was devised in 1805 by Francis Beaufort a hydrographer in the Royal Navy. It ...

. Joel has stated in recent Sirius XM segments that he was inspired by

Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English singer, songwriter, musician, and human rights activist. He came to prominence as the original frontman of the rock band Genesis. He left the band in 1975 and launched a solo career wit ...

's 1986 track "

Sledgehammer A sledgehammer is a tool with a large, flat, massive, often metal head, attached to a long wooden or solid handle. The long handle is combined with a heavy head which allows the sledgehammer to pick up momentum during a swing and applying a large ...

" for the "driving rhythm section" when he was writing the title track.

Notable cover versions

*In 1991,

Garth Brooks Troyal Garth Brooks (born February 7, 1962) is an American Country music, country singer and songwriter. His integration of pop and rock elements into the country genre has earned him his immense popularity, particularly in the United States, ...

recorded "Shameless" on his album ''

Ropin' the Wind ''Ropin' the Wind'' is the third studio album by American country music artist Garth Brooks. It was released on September 2, 1991, and became his first studio album to debut at No. 1 on both the ''Billboard'' 200 chart and the Top Country Albums ...

''. Brooks' cover version was also released as a single and reached the top of the US country charts, and also entered the UK Singles Chart.

Track listing

All songs written by Billy Joel. Side one #" That's Not Her Style" – 5:10 #"

" – 4:50 #" The Downeaster 'Alexa'" – 3:44 #" I Go to Extremes" – 4:23 #" Shameless" – 4:26 Side two #

"Storm Front" – 5:17 #"

Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

" – 4:06 #"State of Grace" – 4:30 #"When in Rome" – 4:44 #" And So It Goes" – 3:38

Personnel

''Storm Front'' marked a radical change in Joel's

backing band A backup band or backing band is a Band (music), musical ensemble that typically Accompaniment, accompanies a single artist who is the featured performer. The situation may be a live performance or in a Studio recording, recording session, and the ...

. Since his last studio album (''

The Bridge The Bridge may refer to: Art, entertainment and media Art * ''The Bridge'' (sculpture), a 1997 sculpture in Atlanta, Georgia, US * Die Brücke (''The Bridge''), a group of German expressionist artists * ''The Bridge'' (M. C. Escher), a lithograph ...

''), both

Russell Javors Russell Javors (born June 13, 1952) is an American rock guitarist. He is best known as a rhythm guitarist for Billy Joel from 1976 to 1989. Career At age 15, Javors was performing songs with his childhood friend Liberty DeVitto. He met Doug Stegm ...

and

Doug Stegmeyer Douglas Alan Stegmeyer (December 23, 1951 – August 25, 1995) was an American musician who was best known as a bassist and back-up vocalist for Billy Joel. Stegmeyer also performed as bassist for Debbie Gibson and Hall & Oates. Life and car ...

, long-time members of Joel's band, were discharged from their respective duties as rhythm guitarist and bass guitarist. Javors was replaced with Joey Hunting for the record and by Tommy Byrnes on tour while Stegmeyer was replaced by Schuyler Deale. Band regulars

Liberty DeVitto Liberatori "Liberty" DeVitto (born August 8, 1950) is an American rock drummer. He is best known for his work as a drummer for singer-songwriter Billy Joel's recording and touring band. He has been a session drummer on recordings of other artists ...

, David Brown and

Mark Rivera Mark Rivera (born May 24, 1953) is an American saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, singer, musical director, and corporate entertainment provider who is mostly known for his work with Billy Joel. In addition to playing soprano, alto, tenor, a ...

were retained. Joel also hired the percussionist and multi-instrumentalist

Crystal Taliefero Crystal Taliefero-Pratt (née Taliefero, born 5 January 1963) is an American multi-instrumentalist and vocalist. Taliefero grew up with a musical family, performing rhythm and blues with her brother in the Chicago metropolitan area. During her ...

beginning with this album. *

– vocals, acoustic piano (1, 4, 7, 8, 10),

clavinet The Clavinet is an electric clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds with rubber pads, each matching one of the keys and respond ...

(2, 3, 6), percussion (2),

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...

(3),

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created ...

(4, 6, 9),

harpsichord A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a musical keyboard, keyboard. Depressing a key raises its back end within the instrument, which in turn raises a mechanism with a small plectrum made from quill or plastic that plucks one ...

(5),

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

(8), synthesizers (10) * Jeff Jacobs – synthesizers (1–9), backing vocals (1), horn arrangements (6) * David Brown – lead guitar (1–9), MIDI guitar solo (6) * Joey Hunting – rhythm guitar (2) * Schuyler Deale – bass guitar (1–9) *

– drums (1–9), percussion (2) *

– backing vocals (1, 2, 5, 6, 9), percussion (2) Additional musicians * Don Brooks –

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...

(1) * Kevin Jones – keyboard programming (2) * John Mahoney – keyboards (2), keyboard programming (7) * Doug Kleeger – sounds effects (2), arrangements (2) * Sammy Merendino – electronic percussion (2) * Dominic Cortese – accordion (3, 7) *

Itzhak Perlman Itzhak Perlman (; born August 31, 1945) is an Israeli-American violinist. He has performed worldwide and throughout the United States, in venues that have included a state dinner for Elizabeth II at the White House in 2007, and at the First ina ...

– violin (3) *

Lenny Pickett Lenny Pickett (born April 10, 1954) is an American saxophonist and musical director of the ''Saturday Night Live'' band.

– saxophone (6, 9) *

The Memphis Horns The Memphis Horns was an American horn section, made famous by their many appearances on Stax Records. The duo consisted of Wayne Jackson on trumpet and Andrew Love on tenor saxophone. An "offshoot of the Mar-Keys", they continued to work to ...

(6): ** Andrew Love – saxophone ** Wayne Jackson – trombone, trumpet *

Arif Mardin Arif Mardin (March 15, 1932 – June 25, 2006) was a Turkish-American music producer, who worked with hundreds of artists across many different styles of music, including jazz, rock, soul, disco and country. He worked at Atlantic Records for ov ...

– orchestral arrangement (7) * Frank Floyd – backing vocals (1, 5, 6) * Mick Jones – backing vocals (1, 4, 8), guitar (6), guitar solo (8) * Patricia Darcy Jones – backing vocals (1, 5, 6, 9) *

Richard Marx Richard Noel Marx (born September 16, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter. He has sold over 30 million albums worldwide. Marx's first number one success as a songwriter came in 1984 with " What About Me?", which was recorded by Kenny Rogers ...

– backing vocals (1, 6) * Brian Ruggles – backing vocals (1) * Ian Lloyd – backing vocals (4, 8) *

Joe Lynn Turner Joe Lynn Turner (born Joseph Arthur Mark Linquito, August 2, 1951) is an American singer best known for his work with Rainbow (rock band), Rainbow, Deep Purple, and Yngwie Malmsteen. Turner joined Rainbow (rock band), Rainbow in the early 1980 ...

– backing vocals (4, 8) * Chuck Arnold – backing vocals (7), choral leader (7) * Hicksville High School Chorus – backing vocals (7) * Bill Zampino – choral arrangement (7) * Brenda White King – backing vocals (9) * Curtis King – backing vocals (9) Production * Produced by Billy Joel and Mick Jones * Mixed by

Tom Lord-Alge Tom Lord-Alge (born January 17, 1962) is an American music engineer and mixer. He began his career at Unique Recording in New York. Subsequently, he was the resident mixer at what used to be known as "South Beach Studios", located on the ground ...

(tracks 1–3) and Jay Healy (tracks 3–10) * Engineered by Jay Healy * Assistant engineers – Dana Becker, Tim Crich, David Dorn, Suzanne Hollander, Joe Pirrera and Gary Solomon * Mastered by

Ted Jensen Ted Jensen (born September 19, 1954) is an American mastering engineer, known for having mastered many recordings, including the Eagles' '' Hotel California'', Green Day's '' American Idiot'' and Norah Jones' ''Come Away with Me''. Early life ...

at Sterling Sound (New York, NY) * Art direction – Chris Austopchuk * Back photo – Timothy White * Front photo –

Frank Ockenfels Frank W. Ockenfels III (referred to professionally as Frank Ockenfels 3) is an American photographer, artist, and director who is best known for his portraits of prominent celebrities like David Bowie, Angelina Jolie, Kurt Cobain and numerous o ...

Accolades

Grammy Awards

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1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

, , rowspan=3, "We Didn't Start the Fire" , , Song of the Year , , , - ,

Record of the Year The Grammy Award for Record of the Year is presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without re ...

, , , - , Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male , , , - , style="width:35px; text-align:center;" rowspan="2",

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

, , ''Storm Front'' , , Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male , , , - , ''Storm Front'' (produced by Billy Joel and Mick Jones) , , Producer of the Year (Non-Classical) , ,

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

References

{{Authority control 1989 albums Albums produced by Mick Jones (Foreigner) Albums recorded at MSR Studios Albums recorded at Power Station Albums recorded at The Warehouse Studio Billy Joel albums Columbia Records albums Art rock albums by American artists