It’s been 18 months since Billy Joel cancelled his tour for health reasons, and his hydrocephalus still makes it unclear whether he’ll ever be able to perform again.
“What the neurologist told me, every time you do a show, it’s like you’re getting a concussion,” Joel told the Hollywood Reporter. The interview coincides with the announcement that Joel is auctioning off more than 70 of the 100-plus motorcycles he’s accumulated over the years. Yes, he goes to extremes.
He didn’t buy them so he could show them off. “I was not a collector, I was actually a rider,” he said, but “I’m into my 70s now, and I realized I can’t ride as much as I used to. I don’t want to die like a bug on a windshield. So I figured it was just time to let it go.”
“I Go to Extremes” appeared on “Storm Front,” the 1989 album that was considered a comeback at the time, mainly because none of his other ’80s albums topped the charts (they all made the top 10, though). Joel said the tune was an apology to his then-wife Christie Brinkley for his moody personality; the couple divorced in 1994. The single, the second from the album, reached No. 6 in 1990.
