Five stars for his work up until he hooked up with Christie Brinkley. After that he tried too hard to be relevant for the younger audiences.

can barely stand the time until the music is over

Soft. Spongy. Boggy. Swampy. Slushy. All of the above...

It's simply impossible not to like Billy Joel. I've come to that conclusion over fifteen years of living and listening to Billy and Elton John (can't have one without the other....) My favorite artist of all time. Because he's God. [/fanboy]

  My #2 favorite artist of all time.  My favorite songs of his are "We didn't Start the Fire", "Only the Good Die Young", and "Allentown".

Great vocals and mad piano playing skills.

dear mr joel my name is celinkie@verizon.netand i would sereiously consider re-realsing "Until The Night" fron 52nd Sreet i feel that this would br the perfit time and trullly hit #1 on the charts sincerely celine krziwda reading pa

The best singer/songwriter ever. Everybody who rates him with 1 star should be killed. Assholes.

This guy knew what would sell,but he's still a weenie.With one or two exceptions his music is about as Cheesy as possible.

I've seen Billy Joel in concert several times. The guy has genuine musical talent not to mention staying power.

There's certainly some piffle here from 5 star givers about BJ being the greatest musican ever blah blah. He's certainly better than most other piano bashers and even has great taste in women. Not my bag but he's ok.

It's light music, but it's excellent light music.

His older stuff had more of a NY attitude and swagger but he softened up in later years and became more commercial-adult contemporary. Overall a good talent.

Mostly for songs like "Uptown Girl".

How can you give him anything but 5 stars. Anyone who doesn't should just say they dont like light rock. He is one of the greatest song writers of our time, and should be honored as such.

shut the FUCK up your allinmysoul and all you other drug addicts.

besides being extremely talented both instrumentally(great piano player, and could simultaniously play harmonica), and vocally..most importantly, he wrote alot of great songs both lyrically and instrumentally. he's one of those artists who you could say, wrote songs that were important in both the musical world and the social/political world. songs like allentown and downeaster alexa helped bring attention to important issues, and lenningrad is a great song about the foolishness and end of the cold war. alot of people don't even know these songs, which is kind of a shame. close to the borderline, off of his glass houses album, is another great song in the social/political arena, and as much as any song hes ever written, really applies right now. summer, highland falls..one of his lesser known songs, is a brilliant song lyrically and musically, especially the live version. he wrote some great love songs(someone mentioned "shes got a way" and the vastly underplayed "this is the time", which are probably his two best followed by "just the way you are" and "the night is still young"), but as much as that he wrote so many songs that dealt with important aspects our interwining lives and he had something valuable to say, unlike much of todays music and a good amount of the music that was "rock and roll" during his time. i consider him the greatest artist sinse the birth of rock, and you'd certainly be stretched to find a musician who was able to write quality songs for so long on a consistent basis, and not just popping off a single from album to album, but multiple quality singles and often a number of quality non-singles on the albums as well. if you were to get one single album of his to start with, barring the greatest hits albums, i would say get "songs in the attic"(a live album of mostly composed of previously unknowns) or "glass houses", both which came out right in the heart of his career. if you go for the greatest hits, its worth getting songs in the attic as well, because the best cut of "captain jack" is the live version and summer, highland falls isnt on the greatest hits for what ever reason i dont know, but can be found on songs in the attic.

This guy rocks!

He had some decent enough cuts in the 70's, but he tends to be very ham-fisted, pompous, and he is quick, or was quick rather, to jump on the bandwagon and try to follow, like a bloodhound, whatever trend was currently in favor. He's a good piano player, I'll grant you that, but he puts on airs, has an inflated sense of his own importance, often writes sophomoric lyrics, and should not be seen as comparable in any sense to the guys he has frankly ripped off at various points: Elton John, Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, etc. I have a cd of his 60's band, the Long Island act The Hassles, and that stuff is some of the worst trash I've ever heard from that period, and I am a LOT kinder to the stuff from that era than most, so any hope that he might have started out ok, like other later shlockmeisters did, is out the window. If Mark Twain was living today and a music writer, he would write about "The Musical Offences of William Joel" instead of "The Literary Offences of James Fenimore Cooper."

Billy Joel's music is cool. Interesting mellow hits to rock hits. I like these songs the best: Piano Man (The way it's arranged)Allentown (The sound effects he makes in the song),Matter of Trust(The song period),Always A Woman To Me(nice and mellow),She's Got A Way(nice piano work) For The Longest Time (The various voices in that one) , Don't Ask Me Why (Cool song) He has a way to paint pictures with his songs. Oh my, there's even River Of Dreams and Just The Way You Are. Cool artist.

Billy is the best musician in this century. No one can equal to him. Coz he is the only best singer, Song Writer and Best Piano Player. When his release of Piano Man he compared to Beethovan and Chopin. No one can get that regard. I like his songs Piano Man, Honesty, Italian Restaurant and we didnt start fire. Billy is the best.

A great song writer and story teller that can rock with the best. I love Pressure and Allen Town.

ok, i give him three. Joel has a few decent singles(mostly in the 1970s) and a couple of reputable albums (glass houses and Innocent Man), but mostly his has been a career of light music disguised as Rock. maybe if Billy Joel embraced his schmaltziness the way elton John did, i'd have more respect for the guy. i dont know. he still would've written We didn't start the fire

He can really sing, and the piano playing is wonderful.

I suppose you could say, depending on what genre of music you like, that Billy Joel had a certain talent for songwriting. I suppose, but then I've never been a particular fan of his genre. It used to infuriate me in the late 70's that they used to try to pass off his stuff as Rock Music. This is anti-rock. I'd rather have my teeth pulled out one by one than have to listen to Piano Man ever again.

Billy Joel SUCKS..... If I had the chance, I would like to put a stamp on the Piano Man and send him to Antarctica.

Billy Joel is unequivocally the worst artist of the past fifty years. I credit him for much of world's violence, actually, as each time I am forced to hear any of his fake-ass, real New York wannabe, Paul McCartney wannabe ultrashlock for souless Long Island housewives I want to smash the hell out of things. That Movin Out song has caused me to stab myself multiple times...the part where the motorcyle noise comes in...oh my good lord this is awful...please make it stop. This is a man who pronounces words with perfect diction and claims to be a real rocker whose big influence is Jimi Hendrix. No one in the last fifty years equals his ratio between popularity and schlock with the possible exception of Dave Matthews. I doubt there is one Billy Joel fan out there who should be left alive should I become world dictator. And what makes it worse is that this guy actually thinks he has something to do with rock and roll...

I love the lyrics to Angry Young Man, The Stranger and Piano Man. He doesn't do bad with the women either. Gets extra points for sharing my birthday.

Amazing musician. I hate the way Billy is panned by some. No one has ever been more popular without icon-sized hype. My favorite Joel record is his first, Cold Spring Harbor, which sold about 10 copies when it was first released.

Anyone that would have an accordian in a song, marry a gold digging supermodel and put her in a video (Uptown Girl) or stll wear Wayfarers in 2003 only gets 1 star. Kudos, though, for his taste in real estate, Montauk is awesome!

In my opinion, Billy Joel is both overrated and underrated as an artist. He is overrated in that some of his more successful singles are sophomorish and uninspired; however, he is underrated as many only judge Joel by his more familiar work and discount his songwriting. An example of the latter was provided by Joel early on with "She's Got A Way" as the lead off track from his debut "Cold Spring Harbor" (1971) (as evidenced by one of the kings of cool, Isaac Hayes, choosing to cover this song). Joel followed with the effort which was the genesis of his given handle, "Piano Man" (1973), which not only featured Joel's signature title-track but the underrated "Captain Jack," songs largely that generally dealt with everyday life as opposed to unrequited love. Nevertheless, Joel's first four releases are best sampled via a compilation (eg the aforementioned tracks and the singles "The Entertainer," "Say Goodbye To Hollywood," and "New York State Of Mind"). He hit his artistic peak with "The Stranger" (1977) which has a track list that reads like a "greatest hits" release, as not only does the effort feature some of his best know material (eg "Just The Way You Are" and "Only The Good Die Young") but also "Scenes From An Italian Restaurant" and the title track. "52nd Street" followed in 1978 which was a slight drop from its predecessor (ie the regrettable but popular "My Life" and the over panned "Big Shot") but does include one of his better deep cuts in "Rosalinda's Eyes." Joel finished a rather remarkable four year run with "Glass Houses" (1980) which also has a track list the looks like a compilation (eg the overplayed but still underrated "It's Still Rock & Roll To Me") but also the lesser known "Sometimes A Fantasy" and "All For Leyna." Unfortunately, the 1980's and 90's were not kind to Joel artistically (but very much so commercially) except for the notable singles "The Longest Time," "The Night Is Still Young," and "The River Of Dreams"; therefore, this period is better sampled via a compilation as well. The bottom line is that any popular musical artist with a nom de plume (in this case "the Piano Man") deserves a second look, if not our admiration and respect.

Billy Joel is very talented and has good songwriting skills and a sense of melody, but to earn 4 or 5 stars from me, I actually have to like his songs, and I don't. So he gets 3 stars.

The worst musician in the world. He didnt go to high school and says bad words now thats not a roll model.hes a big loser

Another one who started off well, ran out of gas early, and coasted for the next quarter of a century on his celebrity rather than his talent. Wrote a pile of crap after, say, 1978: like "My Life," "Big Shot," "Uptown Girl, "Still Rock and Roll to Me," "For The Longest Time," all of which should have been written on toilet paper. Total garbage, all of it. "We Didn't Start The Fire" was a total rip-off of earlier songs by Dylan, and to a lesser extent, Paul Simon. He was a fine piano player until he smashed his hand in a motorcycle accident, the stupid schmuck, and hasn't been the same since, the turd. Extremely overrated. Bland, unchallenging and muzak-like 3/4 of the time.

What can i say, Billy Joel has the total package: amazing singer, inspirational songwriter, dynamic stage presence, lasting fame, great sense of humor, the list goes on! He'll go down as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century.

Billy is the best!

This guy has written more standards then any songwriter of his generation. Very talented. But currently wasting his talent on 'serious' music. As if being a great songwriter wasn't good enough.

I really like Billy Joel. My favorite song is Piano Man. I used to hate him when I was a kid, but now I really love his music.

Billy Joel is awsome! That person that said he sucks, well you're wrong. Talent is talent... anyone who can suceed in the music industry that long has got pure unflinching talent. Billy Joel deserves to be recognized in the Rock and Roll hall of fame... undoubtedly! A lot of credit also goes to his band, the piano isnt the only thing that makes his music great. Lib is an awsome drummer! And the sax player, its amazing the music these people make. P.S. if you don't like Billy Joel, it's pointless to post on a site dedicated to him! Go post on John Lennon's site then!

Certainly better than the Bangles. He is a real musician for gosh sakes.

He is my all time favorite artist. firstr off, he writes ALL of the lyrics and music for his songs. I think, along with many others, that And So It Goes is the best written song of all time. It's beautiful. He did The Essentail Billy Joel and when I got that, I havn't stopped listening to it. There are only to songs that I skip and that is Captain Jack and River of Dreams. The rest are wonderful and he amazes me everytime. No one will ever beat Billy Joel in my mind.

He's talented but his music just doesn't appeal to me.

FINE MUSICIAN---GREAT SONGS. HE'LL GO DOWN IN HISTORY AS ONE OF THE GREAT ONES.

I'm not very big on "popular" music, but I can recognize talent when I hear it. Billy Joel has pheonominal songwriting skills and has written many chart-topping songs, each from a slightly different angle. He seems to be a very mature songwriter, and secure in his talents. His singing voice is strong, confident and never less than masculine. I've seen him on television performing a live studio show or two, and he is quite witty and charming as well as intelligent.

mr piano man was very good on glass house

This soul-less arrogant buffoon started out horrible, then got worse. Unbelievably bad.

I think I loved Billy Joel soon after I was born. LOL Best music ever.

on tour with EJ he is great solo not quite but still good!

great on the piano

I've liked Billy Joel ever since I heard my father's reel-to-reel copy of 52nd Street. Crank up such classics as "Innocent Man," "Only the Good Die Young," "Tell Her About It," or any of the other gems on his three CD's of greatest hits, and you'll know that the man can belt out a tune that'll bring the house down. Maybe it's just me, but I've always thought that Billy Joel's music is very "New York." I grew up in northern New Jersey in the shadow of NYC, so Billy Joel's sound is for me a touch of home.

Is it just me, or was "Piano Man," Joel's first big hit, the most insufferably narcissistic pop tune ever to hit the charts (at least until the Rap movement turned braggadocio into an art form)? Listen to the lyric -- supposedly describing all the characters he sees in this bar, it's really all about him, and the people are important only for their response to him: "The manager gives me a smile", "'Man what are you doin' here?'" I think his narcissism and superior attitude infect much of his work (notably "Keepin' the Faith"). He's good at what he does, but lacks a likeable persona.