Billy Joel tried heroin only once in his life. The experience inspired a 1982 song

Billy Joel said he tried heroin once during a visit to Amsterdam in the late 1970s, but the intense and frightening experience did not lead him to use it again. He later drew on that episode when writing “Scandinavian Skies”, a track on his 1982 album *The Nylon Curtain*.

Joel described becoming disoriented and sick, and said he had seen others become addicted, which helped keep him from getting hooked. The song’s references to Amsterdam, flying and feeling paralysed reflect the drug experience and the band’s subsequent plane journey to Sweden. Joel has also spoken about struggling with alcohol; in 2023 he said he had been sober for two years.