In 1982, Billy Joel “almost died” making an album that peaked at number 7 in America. In 2011, he called it his best

Billy Joel’s 1982 album *The Nylon Curtain* was an exhausting, painstaking studio project that he later described as the recording he was most proud of. Although it peaked at number seven on the US Billboard 200, Joel valued the artistic challenge over commercial success.

After finishing the live album *Songs in the Attic*, Joel set out to make what he called a “sonic masterpiece”, building the songs layer by layer in his New York studio over several months. In 2011, he said the work left him feeling as if he had “almost died” and called it perhaps his best recorded effort; he later stopped making albums, saying he felt he had already done his best work.