History YMMV / BillyJoel

** "Allentown" is a melancholy song about the economic decline of the eponymous Pennsylvania city, brought on by the collapse of Bethlehem Steel Corporation and other blue-collar industries in the area. By the end of the '00s, however, the area's fortunes had changed dramatically, as increasingly-unaffordable rents in New York City made Allentown attractive as a cheap "bedroom community" for commuters, coupled with an influx of Latino immigrants that reversed the shrinking population trends.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids: Billy is seen as a family-friendly singer due to goofy novelty songs like "We Didn't Start the Fire" and "It's Still Rock and Roll To Me", along with his reputation for singing AC-friendly ballads, however a lot of his material, especially in his earlier albums, is not that family-friendly (the line "But don't come bitchin' to me" in "Big Shot" would have earned 52nd Street a Parental Advisory sticker had it been released in modern times).

** "Piano Man" has the exact same meter as the Creator/HPLovecraft poem "Nemesis," with a similar effect as Creator/EmilyDickinson and the ''Series/GilligansIsland'' theme.

* SignatureSong: "Piano Man" takes the cake, but "Uptown Girl", "We Didn't Start the Fire", "Just the Way You Are" and "She's Always a Woman" definitely count as well, and "Vienna" has pretty much become his quintessential album track. Going by album:
** ''Cold Spring Harbor'': "She's Got a Way" (also counts for the ''Songs in the Attic'' live album, which helped popularizing the song).
** ''Piano Man'': the TitleTrack, of course. Another very appreciated track is "Captain Jack".

** ''Turnstiles'': "New York State of Mind".

** "Movin' Out" is a mostly harmless song, but the sound effects of screeching tires can be heard in the middle of the song...which is not exactly a kind thing for drivers to hear on the radio.

** ''52nd Street'': "My Life". "Honesty" is not far behind, though.
** ''Glass Houses'': "It's Still Rock & Roll to Me", followed by "You May Be Right".
** ''The Nylon Curtain'': "Allentown" or "Goodnight Saigon".
** ''An Innocent Man'': several songs on it are very well-known, but "Uptown Girl" is Joel's best known song besides "Piano Man", very probably. "The Longest Time" is also very popular, while "Tell Her About It" was a huge hit, but nowadays is not as recognized, and was almost immediately dropped from concerts after a few times it was played next to its release.

** ''Storm Front'': has many well-known songs, but "We Didn't Start the Fire" stands out. "The Downeaster 'Alexa'" is very appreciated, while "I Go to Extremes" was a hit at the time, but lost a bit of popularity.

** Billy Joel vs. Spamton[[labelnote:Explanation]]Following the release of Chapter 2 of ''VideoGame/{{Deltarune}}'', fans quickly picked up on the phrase "BIG SHOT" due to it being both the {{catchphrase}} of Spamton, a highly popular character in the game, and the title of the song that plays during [[spoiler:the [[{{Superboss}} Spamton NEO]] fight]]. In the wake of that, music fans dug up the Billy Joel track of the same name and began jokingly tying him with Spamton, be it through depicting each figure as the other or getting in mock arguments about which one of the two is better.[[/labelnote]]

** In "Zanzibar", Joel sings that Pete Rose "is such a credit to the game". He's been banned from baseball for gambling on his own team.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: [[https://storygirl000.tumblr.com/post/663597981366370304/spacegay-yx-skeleton-richard-mooncustafer Someone]] has suggested that the narrator of "Piano Man" is unknowingly playing at [[WhereEverybodyKnowsYourFlame a gay bar]], the patrons have a betting pool running on when he'll figure it out, and that John keps getting him free drinks because he has a crush on him.

* NightmareFuel: The video for "Pressure". The cover of the ''Piano Man'' album is a bit freaky as well.

* RealLifeWritesThePlot:
** "Piano Man" is very biographical. He was supporting himself by playing in a piano bar while waiting out a bad record deal and thought no one would believe his story, so he wrote a song about it. Everyone in the song is based on a real person.
** ''An Innocent Man'', an upbeat and nostalgic album reflected Billy's bachelorhood and newfound romances with Christie Brinkley and Creator/ElleMacPherson. He would write "And So It Goes" about his and [=MacPherson=]'s relationship, knowing it couldn't last. ''River Of Dreams'' reflected Billy and Christie's marital woes and eventual divorce, along with Billy's legal issues (his ex-brother-in-law, who managed Billy's finances, was found to have cheated him for millions of dollars).
** ''Turnstiles'' was written and recorded at a time when Billy and his first wife relocated to [[BigApplesauce New York City]] after leaving California, and songs like "New York State Of Mind", "Say Goodbye To Hollywood" and "Summer, Highland Falls" (as well as the album cover, shot in an abandoned NYC subway station) reflect the move. "Summer, Highland Falls" also reflects the depression both were facing at the time.

** As two of the biggest artists hailing from the New York Metropolitan region, Billy Joel fans and Music/BruceSpringsteen fans often overlap. They've even performed onstage with each other a number of times.

* FriendlyFandoms: Reflecting their real-life friendship, Billy Joel's fans tend to be fans of Music/EltonJohn since both of them are pop/rock pianists who became popular around the same time and are staples of oldies radio.

** ''Piano Man'': the TitleTrack, of course.

** ''The Stranger'': "She's Always a Woman", "Just the Way You Are", "Only the Good Die Young" and "Movin' Out" are the hit singles and are still very popular; however, "Vienna" and "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" count as well. While they never were released as singles, the former has become ridiculously popular in later years on streaming services, especially among younger people, and is a firm fan favorite and one of Joel's favorite songs overall; the latter is well-known for being Joel's longest composition, is widely regarded as one of Joel's best songs - and, indeed, it ''is his personal favorite song''.

** ''An Innocent Man'': several songs on it are very well-known, but "Uptown Girl" is Joel's best known song besides "Piano Man", very probably. "The Longest Time" is also very popular.

** ''Storm Front'': has many well-known songs, but "We Didn't Start the Fire" stands out.
** ''The River of Dreams'': the TitleTrack.

* HarsherInHindsight: "Miami 2017 (Seen The Lights Go Out On Broadway)" is about the violent destruction of New York, written to mock the doomsaying [re: the skyrocketing crime rate and plummeting property values] of the time of its writing. Joel sang the song at a number of 9/11 tribute concerts to defy the trope. His performance of it at the Concert For New York City, held less than a month after 9/11, actually turned it into a SugarWiki/{{Heartwarming Moment|s}},[[note]]"I wrote that song 25 years ago, I thought it was gonna be a science fiction song... I never thought it would actually happen. But unlike the end of that song, we ain't going nowhere!"[[/note]] and he sang it again at an NBC benefit concert telethon for victims of Hurricane Sandy in 2012. In the latter he even changed one line of lyrics to reference the serious damage sustained by Staten Island in the storm.

** It's hard not to think of ''Film/ThelmaAndLouise'' when listening to "Stop In Nevada".
** "Piano Man": "And the waitress is practicing politics". U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had worked as a bartender in New York prior to running for Congress.
** "We Didn't Start the Fire": The "trouble in the Suez" line takes on a whole new meaning after a cargo ship got stuck in the Suez Canal in March of 2021.

* HarsherInHindsight: "Miami 2017 (Seen The Lights Go Out On Broadway)" is about the violent destruction of New York, written to mock the doomsaying [re: the skyrocketing crime rate and plummeting property values] of the time of its writing. Joel sang the song at a number of 9/11 tribute concerts to defy the trope. His performance of it at the Concert For New York City, held less than a month after 9/11, actually turned it into a SugarWiki/{{Heartwarming Moment|s}},[[note]]"I wrote that song 25 years ago, I thought it was gonna be a science fiction song...[[FunnyAneurysmMoment I never thought it would actually happen.]] But unlike the end of that song, we ain't going nowhere!"[[/note]] and he sang it again at an NBC benefit concert telethon for victims of Hurricane Sandy in 2012. In the latter he even changed one line of lyrics to reference the serious damage sustained by Staten Island in the storm.
* HilariousInHindsight: In "Uptown Girl", "I bet she never had [[Music/BackstreetBoys a backstreet guy]]..."
** In the music video for "Tell Her About It", [[https://youtu.be/p0pM5dm--yQ?t=84 there's a girl]] who looks just like Music/TaylorSwift...and she's breaking up with someone.

* SignatureSong: "Piano Man" takes the cake, but "Uptown Girl", "We Didn't Start the Fire" and "She's Always a Woman" definitely count as well. Going by album:

** ''The Stranger'': "She's Always a Woman", "Just the Way You Are", "Only the Good Die Young", "Movin' Out" are the hit singles and are still very popular; however, "Vienna" and "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" count as well. While they never were released as singles, the former has become ridiculously popular in later years on streaming services, especially among younger people, and is a firm fan favorite and one of Joel's favorite songs overall; the latter is well-known for being Joel's longest composition, is widely regarded as one of Joel's best songs - and, indeed, it ''is his personal favorite song''.
** ''52nd Street'': "My Life".

** ''An Innocent Man'': several songs on it are very well-known, but "Uptown Girl" is Joel's best known song besides "Piano Man", very probably.

** ''An Innocent Man'', an upbeat and nostalgic album reflected Billy's bachelorhood and newfound romances with Christie Brinkley and Creator/ElleMacPherson. ''River Of Dreams'' reflected Billy and Christie's marital woes and eventual divorce, along with Billy's legal issues (his ex-brother-in-law, who managed Billy's finances, was found to have cheated him for millions of dollars).

* ParanoiaFuel:
** "Movin' Out" is a mostly harmless song, but the sound effects of screeching tires can be heard in the middle of the song...which is not exactly a kind thing for drivers to hear on the radio.
** Discussed in "Pressure".

* SignatureSong: "Piano Man" takes the cake, but "Uptown Girl", "We Didn't Start the Fire" and "She's Always a Woman" definitely count as well.

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: "Second Wind", both the song and the video, are pretty obvious and perhaps cheesy about teen suicide, but that doesn't make them any less powerful.