Billy Joel said he fell in love with the groove of Peter Gabriel’s 1986 song “Sledgehammer”, which inspired the feel of “Storm Front”. He admired its steady, powerful rhythm and wanted to bring a similar quality to a song of his own.

The article places this influence in the context of Joel’s broader habit of drawing on music he admired, from Beethoven to The Four Seasons. It also notes that “We Didn’t Start the Fire” helped revive his chart success during a difficult period, while Joel preferred the title track “Storm Front” as a rock song he could get behind.