Like many other musicians, Warren Zevon was nominated as one of dozens of candidates for a place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. That may hardly come as a surprise, as many consider the grumpy rocker to be one of the best in his field. But almost 20 years after his death in 2003, the honor failed to materialize. Perhaps the guardians of good rock taste in Cleveland didn’t really like his cynical approach to life.
But that could change, because Billy Joel has campaigned massively for Zevon’s late canonization. He even wrote a letter to the nominating committee.
“I just wanted to advocate for Warren Zevon to be inducted,” Joel told the Los Angeles Times a year ago. “If anyone deserves it, it’s him. He was a true original, and I don’t know if that’s been appreciated enough.”
Billy Joel has been a Hall of Fame member since 1999 and has written similar letters for Joe Cocker and Cyndi Lauper in the past.
Billy Joel: “Warren Zevon was fearless”
But why does Joel’s heart beat for Zevon? “The first minute I saw Zevon, it blew me away,” he recalls of his performances in the 1970s. “He was like the crazy brother I never had. He was fearless and that stuck with me. I never thought he got the attention he deserved.”
Joel suspects that the reason for the lack of respect is that Zevon was a pianist “and we all tend to get lumped together with the idea, ‘They’re not real rock musicians’.” He doesn’t think it’s fair, but he understands why it happens. “Piano is seen as a mediocre instrument played only by idiots,” Joel continued. “But when I saw Warren, he was breaking the piano down piece by piece, which I thought was an incredible style.”
A process that should be understood as metaphorical and physical at the same time. “The piano is actually a percussion instrument,” Joel continues. “Most people think it’s a stringed instrument, but you play it like a drum. And Warren really filled that role. He beat his piano, and he beat it well. Even without an amplifier, he got the most volume possible out of the thing.”