Classic Rock,Metal,Oldies 101: Billy Joel

Sunday, July 27, 2025

Attila (Billy Joel) : Attila

Attila

was an American

rock duo

from New York City,

most notable for

having featured

a young

William Joel

(Billy Joel.)

History

Billy Joel

and

Jon Small

broke away from

their band

the Hassles

and formed

Attila in 1969.

The instrumentation was

organ and drums,

with Joel

also handling the

bass lines

with a keyboard,

similar to

the Doors'

Ray Manzarek.

Their creative partnership

ended in 1970

when Joel

ran off with

Small's wife,

Elizabeth,

whom he later married,

although this

did not end

their collaborations,

as Small produced

Joel's 1987

Концерт video

and the

2011

Live at Shea Stadium

performance.

Small became a

music video director

Attila Album

Their only album,

Attila,

was released on

July 27, 1970.

No singles were released

from the album

and it did not chart.

Joel himself has

described the album as

"psychedelic bullshit".

End of the sixties I was in a two-man group. We were heavy metal, we were going to destroy the world with amplification, we had titles like "Godzilla", "March of the Huns", "Brain Invasion". A lot of people think [I] just came out of the piano bar ... I did a lot of heavy metal for a while. We had about a dozen gigs and nobody could stay in the room when we were playing. It was too loud. We drove people literally out of clubs. "It was great, but we can't stay in the club."

— Billy Joel, Interview in 1985

The track

Amplifier Fire, Part 1 (Godzilla)

would later appear on

Joel's 2005 box set

My Lives

Personnel

Billy Joel (credited as William Joel) – vocals, keyboards, composer-arranger, production
Jonathan Small – drums, composer-arranger, production
Irwin Mazur – production
Glenn Evans – road manager, technical (connected Hammond organ directly to Marshall amplifier)

LINK