It was 40 years ago today (September 23rd, 1982) that Billy Joel released his ninth album — The Nylon Curtain. The set, which followed the 1981 live set Songs In The Attic, was “The Piano Man's” proper follow-up to his multi-platinum 1980 chart-topping Glass Houses set.
The Nylon Curtain peaked at Number Seven on the Billboard 200 album chart and was nominated for the Grammy Award for Album Of The Year — despite the album not spawning a single Top 10 hit. Three singles were pulled from the album: “Pressure” (#20), “Allentown” (#17), and “Goodnight Saigon” (#56)” — all of which enjoyed massive airplay on MTV. Despite the exposure, the album spent just seven weeks in the Top 10 — as opposed to Glass Houses' 25 weeks.
Billy Joel says he didn't realize how affected he was by John Lennon's 1980 murder until completing The Nylon Curtain. He talked candidly about Lennon's death — among many other things — in author Fred Schruers' 2014 book, Billy Joel: The Definitive Biography, which was culled from 100-plus hours of interviews.