That time Billy Joel tried his hand at heavy metal

The year was 1969…

Singer, keyboardist and songwriter Billy Joel had just quit The Hassles. If you’re not familiar with the band, they were a psychedelic rock and soul group from Long Island that sounded a bit like the Rascals crossed with a more pop oriented Vanilla Fudge. Formed in 1964, they scored a record deal with United Artists and released their self-titled debut album in 1967, and a follow-up LP called Hour Of The Wolf in 1969. Although the Hassles enjoyed some modest regional success, neither album nor any of their singles made much of an impact on the national charts, and the band called it quits shortly after the release of the second album.

Perhaps inspired by the newer sounds being created at the time by Iron Butterfly, Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin, Billy and Hassles drummer John Small hatched a new plan: get heavy.

That plan resulted in the formation of the two man band called Attila, which featured Small on drums and Joel singing and playing an electrified Hammond organ pumped through giant Marshall amplifiers, producing a distorted sound similar to that of Deep Purple’s Jon Lord. Billy played the bass parts on keyboard too, like Ray Manzarek of the Doors.

Surprisingly, Attila attracted the attention of Epic records, who released the band’s self-titled debut (and only) album in 1970.

Take a look at the album cover:

Photo: Epic Records (That’s Billy Joel on the right)

The track listing includes some amusing titles like “Brain Invasion,” “Amplifier Fire” and “March Of The Huns.”

So…

What does it sound like?

Well, it’s loud, it’s distorted, and definitely waaaaaaay over the top, with Billy sometimes singing in a much higher register than the one he would adopt later in his solo career. But, truth be told, it’s a bit of a stretch to call this a true heavy metal album. “Proto-metal” would be a more accurate description of the psychedelic racket these guys were making. If you listen to this album back-to-back with other heavy rock released in 1970, like the first Black Sabbath album, you’ll see what I mean; Attila is no match for the Sabs in the heaviness department.

These days, Billy views the band as an amusing embarrassment, calling it “psychedelic bullshit” and “a colossal failure” in recent interviews. And, make no mistake about it, the album is definitely not great; just Google any “Worst Rock Albums Of All Time” list, and chances are the Attila album will be on it. But here’s the thing:

It’s also, in its own weird way…not too terrible either?

If you listen with an objective ear, it’s clear that the album’s distorted organ style really doesn’t sound all that different from a lot of the stuff that Deep Purple was doing from ’68-’69. Granted, that early Deep Purple material had some occasional catchy hooks (especially on on their surprise American hit single “Hush”), and Attila most certainly did not, but still…if you didn’t know who Billy Joel was, and you hadn’t heard even one note of his ubiquitous multi-platinum solo catalogue…would this really seem all that outrageous? 

I suspect not, but I guess each listener will have to decide for themselves. You won’t find the Attila album on any of the streaming services (except for the track “Amplifier Fire Part 1,” which was included as part of Billy’s My Lives box set). And while the album was released on vinyl, cassette and also (shockingly) on CD, all versions are long out of print, and original vinyl copies are fairly scarce and a little pricey.

Thankfully, there is always YouTube, where the album has been preserved in all its eardrum-destroying glory. Enjoy.