The Recording Industry Association of America has prevailed in its copyright fight against piano players across the country, banning them from specifically performing songs written by singer/songwriter Billy Joel, according to court documents.
In a decision that hands the RIAA an overwhelming victory, U.S. District Judge Harold Baer of the Southern District of New York ruled in favor of the the RIAA all its main theories: that most piano players are guilty of direct, contributory, and vicarious infringement through their repeated performances of Joel’s songs, including hits such as “My Life”, “New York State of Mind”, and “Piano Man”.
In a brief note posted Tuesday to RIAA.com, the trade group for the music industry said: “We’re pleased that the court recognized not just that piano players directly infringe Mr. Joel’s copyrights but also took action against the defendants for their egregiously poor interpretations of Mr. Joel’s music.”
When asked why they specifically targeted Billy Joel songs, and not other popular piano bar songs by artists like Jimmy Buffet, the RIAA responded by saying, “Cheesburger in Paradise? Really? Only drunk flip-flop wearing Parrotheads care about Jimmy Buffet songs.”
Lawyers for Joel could not be reached for comment.
It seems like just about every pop song that came out of the 80’s had a bitchin saxophone solo. So I’ve compiled a list of my Top 10 80’s Sax Songs for your (and my) amusement. Feel free to add any that I missed in the comments. Enjoy!
Note: Many of these YouTube videos that USED to be embeddable no longer allow embedding. Just click the song title to open any song below in its own window.
This song is so smooth it’s like someone used a belt sander on velvet and then put some lotion on it. The smooth sax comes at you in at the beginning and lingers…no matter how hard you try to escape.
Probably the most subtle of the sax solos on this list, I just couldn’t ignore this OMD hit from the Pretty in Pink soundtrack. The sax solo is short, sweet and, like Jeffrey Lebowski’s rug, really ties the room together. (embedding disabled…click the song title to see the video)
There’s sax all over this song, but when Huey yells “Johnny!” at about the 1 minute 55 second mark, you know to get ready for some 80’s saxophone madness. Huey Lewis & The News did saxophone right, and this is their quintessential sax song. (embedding disabled…click the song title to see the video)
Billy Joel had a lot of hits in the 80’s and a lot of sax solos. But nothing beats his oxymoronic tribute to rock and roll, with its decidedly non-rock shuffle beat and its non-rock chord progression. But what rocks? The saxophone solo. And apparently it’s ALL rock and roll to Billy, so we just get to go along for the ride. (embedding disabled…click the song title to see the video)
Okay, so technically this song didn’t come out in the 80’s but I have to include it primarily because the eight-bar alto saxophone solo led to a resurgence often described as “the ‘Baker Street’ phenomenon.” After this song came out, saxophone sales skyrocketed and quite possibly single handedly launched the entire 80’s sax solo craze. (embedding disabled…click the song title to see the video)
There are men, and then there are Men at Work. Who can it be knocking at my door? Why it’s a saxophone player, wailing one of the more recognizable riffs from one of the biggest pop groups to come from the :Land Down Under”. Haven’t heard enough sax yet? Fast forward to 2 minutes and 8 seconds for the bitchin sax solo.
The video for this song is so awesome and, at about 3 minutes in, features what is undoubtedly the grooviest dueling sax riff played from a raft and a mountainside you’ll ever see. (embedding disabled…click the song title to see the video)
This song is so awesome it actually employs saxophone foreshadowing. At the beginning you get a hint of what is to come. It’s like a tease. And then there’s a jaguar. And then…well…at about 2 minutes and 45 seconds in, prepare to have yourself draped in a velvety saxophone solo that is so good you’ll feel like you’re hearing it twice.
Like the chicken and the egg, which came first…the song or the sax riff? You can’t have one without the other. To me, this song is the definition of 80’s saxophone and gravity-defying hair. Are there other songs with more saxophone? Sure. But they all bow down to the glory that is the man with two first names. Don’t call him George or Mr. Michael. He’s George Michael, Dammit!
With all my 80’s sax-solo research recently (thanks Mark & Chris!), I’ve been itching for a way to play some of these power saxaphone solos. But the Diggz doesn’t play sax, so what can the Diggz do? Synth sax just doesn’t quite cut the mustard, but there is something I’ve found that might: The Melodica.
Also known as the “blow organ” (I actually think I like this name better), the melodica is a reedless instrument like the accordion or the harmonica. I’ve been toying with getting one just to see how well it works, and then I came across this video of this Hawaiian kid playing his Uke and the melodica to the tune of Billy Joel’s “Moving Out”. Now I must have one.
Don’t let the fancy camera editing fool you…this kid (he goes by the name Puremarkska) is playing all the parts.
Thursday, April 1
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The Recording Industry Association of America has prevailed in its copyright fight against piano players across the country, banning them from specifically performing songs written by singer/songwriter Billy Joel, according to court documents.
