Maps of Music

An Innocent Man (1983)

Where the lyrics of An Innocent Man take you, and where it was really made.

The cover was shot on the front steps of 142 Mercer Street in SoHo, New York, not in a studio or stage.

Key places

Recorded at A&R Recording Studio (1983)

Recording site A&R Recording — The album is listed as recorded at A&R Recording Studio in New York City. The source gives no date for the sessions. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Cover shot on the steps of 142 Mercer Street (1983)

Album cover Record Plant Studios — The cover photo was taken on the front steps of 142 Mercer Street in SoHo. The map point is set at the city centre, not at the exact building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• An Innocent Man: ninth studio album by American singer-songwriter Billy Joel
• Released August 8, 1983
• Influenced by the American popular music of Joel's adolescent years, from the late 1950s and early 1960s
• Draws on doo-wop and soul music
• Cover artwork taken on the front steps of 142 Mercer Street, SoHo, New York City
• Seven songs released as singles from the album

Background

• Joel was newly divorced from his first wife, Elizabeth Weber, while making the album
• It was the first time he had been single since becoming a rock star
• He dated supermodels Elle Macpherson and Christie Brinkley
• Joel said these experiences made him feel like a teenager all over again
• The songs centre on various made-up characters rather than Joel's own life

Recording

• Joel wrote in the styles of the pop songs he remembered from his teenage years
• He cited early R&B, The Four Seasons and Motown and soul music as reference points
• Joel said he wrote most of the album's material within about six weeks
• "Easy Money" was influenced by James Brown and Wilson Pickett
• "Uptown Girl" was a homage to Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons

Cover

• The cover photo was taken on the front steps of 142 Mercer Street in the SoHo neighborhood of New York City

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Early life

• Born May 9, 1949 in the Bronx, New York City; raised in Hicksville on Long Island.
• Began piano lessons at age four at his mother's insistence.
• Saw the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show and decided to pursue a music career.
• Played in the Echoes, the Hassles, and Attila before going solo.

Career

• Debut solo album Cold Spring Harbor (1971); signed with Columbia Records in 1972 after a Philadelphia radio broadcast of "Captain Jack".
• Breakthrough with The Stranger (1977), Columbia's best-selling release at that time.
• 52nd Street (1978) won the Grammy for Album of the Year.
• Released 12 self-written studio albums from 1971 to 1993; over 160 million records sold worldwide.
• Performed a long Madison Square Garden residency from 2014 to 2024.
• Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Three singles reached the Billboard Top 10: "Tell Her About It" at No. 1, "Uptown Girl" at No. 3 and the title track at No. 10
• "Uptown Girl" reached No. 1 in the UK, Australia and New Zealand
• Four more singles followed: "The Longest Time", "Leave a Tender Moment Alone", "Keeping the Faith" and "This Night" as the US B-side of "Leave a Tender Moment Alone"

Records

• Nominated for the 26th Grammy Award for Album of the Year, the same year as Joel's three previous albums
• The Album of the Year award went to Michael Jackson's Thriller
• "Uptown Girl" was nominated for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance but lost to the title track of Thriller
• Stayed on the US Pop album chart for 111 weeks
• Became Joel's longest charting studio album, behind The Stranger
• Stayed on the charts in the UK, Japan and Australia for over a year
• Reported as the best-selling album in the UK, where it placed second on the sales chart
• Reported as fourth on the US sales chart

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · fr.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• "Easy Money" was written for the 1983 film of the same name starring Rodney Dangerfield and kicked off the album's creation, according to Joel.
• Dangerfield made a cameo at the end of the "Tell Her About It" video in exchange for Joel's song supporting his movie.
• "The Longest Time" required 14 vocal tracks, each sung by Joel and combined during production.
• "Christie Lee" tells of a sax player whose heart is broken by a woman who only wants him for his saxophone skills.
• The album's songs are mostly built around invented characters, not Joel's own life.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org

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