It was 33 years ago today (December 16th, 1989) that Billy Joel‘s 11th studio album, Storm Front hit Number One, displacing Milli Vanilli‘s 1989 three-week chart-topper, Girl You Know It’s True. The album, which topped the Billboard 200 albums chart for one week, spent 17 weeks in the Top 10. Storm Front marked the “Piano Man’s” first album since 1977 not to be produced by the legendary Phil Ramone, with Billy tapping Foreigner leader Mick Jones to sit behind the boards for his final album of the decade. Billy had originally approached Eddie Van Halen to produce the set, but due to Van Halen duties passed on the offer — but suggested Jones, who had recently helmed the band’s 1986 5150 album.
Storm Front, which was the first Billy Joel album since 1976’s Turnstiles collection to not feature bassist Doug Stegmeyer — the inaugural member of the famed Billy Joel Band.
The album’s lead single, “We Didn’t Start The Fire,” hit Number One on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks starting on December 9th, 1989. Storm Front spawned four other singles, “I Go To Extremes,” which hit Number Six; “The Downeaster Alexa,” which stalled at Number 57 — but peaked at Number 18 on Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart; “That’s Not Her Style,” which only got as far as Number 70 on the Billboard Hot 100 — but made its way up to a respectable Number 18 on the magazine’s Mainstream Rock chart.
The album’s final single, “And So It Goes” — a tune first tracked during the sessions for 1983’s An Innocent Man — squeaked into the Top 40 at Number 37 — but proved to have real legs on the Adult Contemporary Chart, where it peaked at Number Five. Garth Brooks covered the Storm Front sleeper “Shameless” on his 1991 Ropin’ The Wind album and brought the song to Number One on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart.
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