“We’d need a really good guitar player.”

One of the most successful singer-songwriter pianists of all time, Billy Joel, was recently a guest on The Howard Stern Show.And when Stern wondered why Joel was not invited to take part in the all-star Traveling Wilburys way back when, the discussion turned to whether he ever thought of assembling his own supergroup, with Joel saying the following (transcribed by Ultimate Guitar).

“I thought about putting together a band: me, Don Henley, and Sting. And maybe John Mayer on guitar.” But when asked why this line-up never actually materialized, he replied, “Well, everybody’s busy. You always say to the other guys, ‘I’ll see you on the road and we’ll get together,’ and you never do it.”

Stern then offered to call Paul McCartney personally to see if he’d be interested in forming a group with Joel, which then led to who the Piano Man chatting about who he would select for his “dream supergroup.”

His selection for a drummer was an easy one.

“Ringo [Starr] would be good. Ringo is a great drummer. He doesn’t get the credit he deserves. He was phenomenal. He knew what the right thing was to play. He didn’t get in the way of the great writing and novel productions that they did. He played the right thing, which sometimes is the hardest thing to do.”

However, his pick to fill the guitar slot was not as clear-cut.

“We’d need a really good guitar player. My favorite guy died recently: Jeff Beck. He was brilliant. Another guy is Jimmy Page. I love Jimmy Page. He’s a great musician.” Joel then played a bit of the riff of “Kashmir” on his piano, to prove his point.

Although best known for such piano ballads as “She’s Got a Way” and “She’s Always a Woman” and pop tunes like “Uptown Girl” and “Allentown”, Joel also has legit ties to hard rock and heavy metal.

Case in point, providing piano on the Twisted Sister song “Be Chrool to Your Scuel”, and also his early duo Attila, which featured organ played through a Marshall stack a la Deep Purple: as evidenced by their obscure self-titled 1970 debut.

Additionally, several of his “surprise guests” at his concerts over the years have been decidedly rockin’: Brian Johnson, Axl Rose, Joan Jett, etcetera.