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== Soviet Union ==

:In October 1986, Joel and his team started planning a trip to the Soviet Union. He became one of the first American rock acts to play there since the Berlin Wall went up.
This isn't in the source. Why the Berlin Wall? The Berlin Wall was constructed in 1961.It seems unlikely that an American rock act played in the USSR before 1961. There just weren't many around back then. And anyway, the Berlin Wall was in East Germany. It had no direct relevance to the Soviet Union and nothing to do with Joel's tour. [https://ew.com/article/1996/08/09/billy-joel-rocked-ussr-1987/ Several rock musicians] went to the USSR before him. [[John Denver]] toured the USSR in 1985. [[Johnny Cash]] recorded a live album, [[Koncert v Praze (In Prague–Live)]], in Czechoslovakia in 1978. I'm sure that other relevant examples could be found. I think we should drop the second sentence altogether, particularly the irrelevant reference to the Berlin Wall.--[[User:Jack Upland|Jack Upland]] ([[User talk:Jack Upland|talk]]) 07:17, 14 December 2019 (UTC)
:Thanks for highlighting this. I did remove the 2nd sentence you mentioned, as well as adding a new one at the end of the paragraph to try & address the whole "first SU rock concert" more accurately. I'm sure it could be written better, but it's certainly a start. ~~[[User:TheDisneyGamer|Tristan ("''TheDisneyGamer''")]] 16:58, 14 December 2019 (UTC)
::Thanks.--[[User:Jack Upland|Jack Upland]] ([[User talk:Jack Upland|talk]]) 06:15, 15 December 2019 (UTC)

Revision as of 02:05, 22 December 2022

Archive 1Archive 2

Geographical References

I've added a "citation needed" link to the part about Angelo's Restaurant. There are numerous claims to Christiano's in Syosset as being the restaurant in "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" including, if I remember correctly, a note on the menus themselves. I'll be visiting the area next week and I'll double-check to see if this is still the case, but does anyone know for sure? Claude (talk) 16:32, 10 February 2008 (UTC)

Pipe organ

Billy also plays pipe organ. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.145.240.19 (talk) 00:08, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

Early Years

Never heard of "deposessed" nor could I find it in the dictionary. It seems that the intended word might be "dispossessed". —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.81.226.30 (talk) 05:47, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

Family Productions

The section of the article about the Piano Man album states: Joel's experiences in Los Angeles connected him with record company executives, who bought out his contract with Ripp with the condition that the "Family Productions" logo be displayed alongside the Columbia logo for the next five albums. The next five albums would have been Piano Man, Streetlife Serenade, Turnstiles, The Stranger, and 52nd Street. But the section about The Bridge says: It was also the last Billy Joel album to carry the "Family Productions" logo. That would seem to mean that the Family Productions logo was kept on Joel's albums for eleven releases instead of the originally scheduled five. Does anyone have an explanation for this? --Metropolitan90 (talk) 01:31, 13 March 2008 (UTC)

Metropolitan90, While it's true Billy was signed to Columbia Records however Family Productions (Artie Ripp) still retained the publishing rights to Billy's songs until 1986-7 thus the family logo's on his releases until then

Citation for Scenes from an Italian Restaurant

This is my first foray into Wikipedia, so be kind until I get the hang of this.

I noticed that there is a note for a citation needed at 20, for the location for Scenes in an Italian Restaurant. I've got a good source, sort of. See, many years ago, one of my buddies who was a DJ at our college found a bootleg tape from one of Joel's concerts. In it, Joel not only premiered the song, but also said it about Christiani's. The problem is, because it's a bootleg, it wasn't labeled as to a date or place, but there is no doubt it's Joel. He and the band were practicing for "The Stranger."

So, is this info good enough for the citation or is it still heresay? I mean, it's a first source, but only kind of.

Sionell89 (talk) 02:40, 26 August 2008 (UTC)Sionell

I have corrected the reference - as per this from an article in USA Today July 9, 2008:
"There was a restaurant right across the street from Carnegie Hall called Fontana di Trevi. It was for the opera crowd, but the Italian food was really good. They didn't really know who I was, which was fine with me, but sometimes you would have a hard time getting a table. Well, I went there when the tickets had gone on sale for (my dates at) Carnegie Hall, and the owner looks at me and he goes (in an Italian accent), 'Heyyy, youra that guy!' And from then on, I was always able to get a good spot."

NVM.

Where does it say he played trumpet?

The only thing I've ever seen or heard of Joel and Trumpet is his picture on the cover of 52nd Street. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.206.239.241 (talk) 13:43, 6 October 2008 (UTC)

I agree. I will remove from infobox. WWGB (talk) 00:05, 7 October 2008 (UTC)

Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs

There's no note of Chuck Klosterman's analysis of Billy Joel in Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs. He essentially said that music critics were inaccurate since because he had no cool or un-cool image and his songs were so radio-friendly, he came off as edgeless light rock. Any of the regular editors object to adding something along these lines?--Loodog (talk) 14:57, 22 October 2008 (UTC)

What would that add to the article? Asher196 (talk) 21:22, 22 October 2008 (UTC)
Insight into Billy Joel.--Loodog (talk) 21:46, 22 October 2008 (UTC)
Please be more specific. Asher196 (talk) 03:03, 23 October 2008 (UTC)
Insight into the public perception of Billy Joel as light pop rock.--Loodog (talk) 03:12, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

Katie Lee- Culinary Artist?

Seriously? A "culinary artist"? Her page names her as a "chef", as well as television personality. The term "culinary artist" to describe Mrs.Joel is inappropriate, misleading, and pretentious. its not as the term "chef" has any negative connotations that would invite euphamy, or isn't an accurate reflction of either what she does, or for describing one who practices culinary arts. Im changing it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.187.251.194 (talk) 04:47, 27 January 2009 (UTC)

Introduction

There is way Billy Joel is 89 years old! Where did you get this information? He is al least in his 60's thought. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Cooly123 (talk • contribs) 19:41, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

Concerts

No list pof any of his concerts? Why? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Cooly123 (talk • contribs) 22:04, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

Fantasies and Delusions

the style of music in this album is mostly classical/romantic. i'm not a wikipedia expert and i worry i might format it wrong... could someone else add Romantic Music to his genres? ~♫☆PianoWizzy☆♫~ that Elton John obsessed insano (talk) 02:42, 4 July 2009 (UTC)

Phil Woods

Phil Woods played the sax solo on "Just the Way you are" in all its incarnations. It's a famous jazz world story; it was a first take, and Phil was offered either a percentage of the song or $600, and took the latter (he'd never heard of Billy Joel, having been called in as a session guy.). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.6.159.136 (talk) 06:00, 11 July 2009 (UTC)

genres

Billy also composes classical music, alright if I add that to his bio? Tmmulv (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 23:29, 16 July 2009 (UTC).

Photo

Can someone find a more flattering photo of the man? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Zpql (talk • contribs) 05:03, 29 July 2009 (UTC)

"Flattering" is not a term one normally associates with photos of Billy Joel ;-) WWGB (talk) 05:47, 29 July 2009 (UTC)

There are plenty of good recent photos on the web. Including on his own site. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Zpql (talk • contribs) 13:59, 1 August 2009 (UTC)
But why do we want a recent photo? Doesn't it just reinforce the image everyone has of this guy who wrote soft rock songs once, and is now a nostalgia act with big white teeth and a big round belly? Joel was a rocker when he was younger, and I feel it would be more appropriate to have a picture from the late seventies. (82.36.196.108 (talk) 01:09, 30 August 2009 (UTC))

Joel is only 60, and the standard on Wikipedia is to put current, decent photos at the top until he passes away. Only then will we reflect on his life and may come to the conclusion that the 1970's Billy Joel is the one that mattered the most; but we shouldn't be making that determination while he is still young (see WP:CRYSTAL). Additionally, we only may use what photos are available in the creative commons. -->David Shankbone 13:46, 28 September 2009 (UTC)

New alternative photos for article

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categories

does anyone know why there are categories called "Category:Billy Joel songs" and "Category:Songs written by Billy Joel"? seems kinda redundant... --Viennaiswaiting (talk) 02:35, 6 January 2010 (UTC)

Pronunciation

I've variously heard Billy's surname pronounced as /ˈdʒəʊəl/, matching the usual pronunciation of the name, or as /dʒəʊˈɛl/. Can we find a credible source on which is correct? -- Smjg (talk) 00:07, 25 June 2010 (UTC)

aka "Piano Man"?=

The infobox states Mr. Joel is also known as "Piano Man". Has he ever really been been known by this name? Additionally, shouldn't "Bill Martin" be added as he performed under this name while playing piano bars in LA? Wkharrisjr (talk) 13:28, 23 November 2010 (UTC)

Merging individual song articles with their albums?

I notice a fairly widespread problem. There are a ton of stub song articles, some of which haven't been touched in years. I looked at the advice from the notability criteria for songs, and this caught my eye.

Notability aside, a separate article on a song is only appropriate when there is enough verifiable material to warrant a reasonably detailed article; articles unlikely ever to grow beyond stubs should be merged to articles about an artist or album.

I feel that most of the individual song articles are unlikely to ever grow beyond stubs. The early ones, especially, probably don't have any newspaper coverage, since Billy wasn't really known then.

A contemporaneous problem is that many of the albums are in fairly poor shape. The simple solution would be merging a lot of these stub articles into the album articles, thus getting rid of the stubs and making the albums better.

Certainly, some of the songs are notable (particularly the ones that people actually know in everyday life, like Piano Man, Just the Way You Are, Uptown Girl, Tell Her About It, Still Rock and Roll to Me, We Didn't Start the Fire). A great majority, however, no one knows about but true Billy Joel fans.

Below is a list of the song articles, organized by album (which themselves are in bad shape). Bolded means they were not a single. Given what poor shape the albums are in, I really feel this should be discussed. ♫ Hurricanehink (talk) 06:23, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

Weren't healthy young amateur boxers draft eligible during the Vietnam War?

Any first question that needs to be asked and addressed about Billy Joel is: Weren't healthy, young, virile amateur boxers eligible for the draft during the Vietnam war, and if so, how did this walking morsel of shit -- boarded by the heartfelt charity of his manager and yet sneak-screwed his manager's wife while others Joel's age and educational status were fighting and dying in 'Nam -- dodge his military obligation?

Although I really like Billy Joel's music and acknowledge his enormous talent, throughout my four year enlistment and thirteen month Tet Offensive tour in Vietnam (1967-68), I've met dozens of talented American musicians in pickup bands -- marines, sailors, airmen and soldiers alike -- on R&R in Hong Kong and Singapore that were as good as or even better than Billy Joel...some of them dead at the tender ages of between 18 and 21.

Billy Joel's layabout shiftlessness as a high school dropout in particular is what has me going here. I think there should be something mentioned in here about Joel's draft status (dodged or exempted) showing that John Fogarty's music of the same genre and same era might not see totally eye-to-eye with Joel's Favorite Son fortune in Levittown.

97.100.162.215 (talk) 13:12, 19 November 2010 (UTC) Carlo Rossi 

    Deltona, Florida
Methinks the explanation given at snopes appears to be correct; it is consistent with our own article about the Draft lottery: his draft number simply never came up. Until October 17, 2009, the article contained a different explanation that was then removed after it had been unsourced for more than 18 months.[1] Lupo 12:42, 6 January 2011 (UTC)

Billy Joel trademarked his name

Billy Joel(tm) trademarked his name in the early 1980s in three filings with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (www.uspto.gov). Not many artists do this - is it worth mentioning in the main article? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 97.113.108.153 (talk) 15:50, 5 February 2011 (UTC)

youtube atheist reference

There is a ref for his claim to be an atheist that links to a Howard Stern interview on youtube. This should be removed for copyright reasons. See wp:youtube. I would remove the url, but I'm not sure how to maintain the reference. I never cited a radio show before. Thanks. --CutOffTies (talk) 00:40, 19 February 2011 (UTC)

Lawsuit?

I think there should be a section on Billy Joels page regarding the lawsuit against his former brother-in-law. Apparently his former brother-in-law was his business manager, and stole over $10 million from Joel. Joel was not able to recover most of it and has stated that he had basically had to start from scratch in the 1990's. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 198.136.161.35 (talk) 15:11, 14 March 2011 (UTC)

Additional Primary Source - BJ Interview 1982

I just came across a fascinating series of YouTube videos from a Question & Answer session broadcast on MTV in 1982, where Billy Joel is in front of a large crowd from which he takes questions, and discusses things like how he writes music, starting out in the business, etc. Editors may want to review the series of four videos beginning at Billy Joel Night School part 1 of 4 to find additional information for the article. -- Eliyahu S Talk 11:35, 28 March 2011 (UTC)

Billy joels child hood

Many of you know about the famous Billy Joel. He is in fact stil playing today. Most people said he was the new Ray Charles. However Billy joel wasn't his real name which is William Martin Joel.

Billy, While he was a kid at the age of four took up piano lessons until he was 14. Billy told us that his dad and mom both had musical influeneces in his life.Billy said that his dad although being an electrician with General electric wouldn't let him Quit his piano lessons.

After a long period of time Billy's parents Divorced and their mom was granted custody of both him and his sister Judy. His mom was now stuck with supporting them both so she became a secretary/book keeper. Joel not having a father figure in his life looked to his grandfather as one. [[Image:<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/rZ1_M_L_RSI"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/rZ1_M_L_RSI" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>]]

A biased and poorly worded short worded summary with no refrences to reliable sources isn't appropriate for Wiki. Eatspie (talk) 11:32, 14 April 2008 (UTC)
Feel better about yourself now, jerk? You could have stated the obvious in a less than haughty manner. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 130.156.160.65 (talk) 19:32, 30 March 2011 (UTC)

No mention of bankruptcy or other financial troubles??

How come none of Billy's financial problems are mentioned? Were they deleted for some reason or has anyone ever added this info to the article? I've read that he has filed bankruptcy multiple times, but I don't see any dates of these filings on the web & nothing is mentioned in the article about that. Even if he hasn't filed BK, he has surely had financial troubles that ought to be mentioned if this is a true encyclopedia article & not a fanzine page. PhilOSophocle (talk) 21:24, 29 October 2011 (UTC)

Photos from 1970s and/or 1980s

The vast majority of photographs of Joel in this article are all essentially from the past 6 or 7 years. It would be great to see people post a photo or two of Joel from his 1970s-1980s heyday (the only older photos appear to be from way back in the 1960s before Joel "made it").Jpcohen (talk) 15:27, 10 August 2012 (UTC)

Agreed! Until then, could we use some of the images of albums and singles that feature Joel's picture prominently instead? GoingBatty (talk) 00:09, 14 August 2012 (UTC)
Album cover photos that include Joel's face would be good (Piano Man cover, Turnstiles cover). However, I think that the recent photos added by User:EditorE were more of the same (i.e. very recent photos) and poor quality. After I removed them, EditorE put them back up again. And I've removed them once again and am now referring the editing dispute to the talk page so this doesn't result in an edit war. You can see EditorE's photos by viewing his edit history on the Billy Joel page (though he doesn't clearly indicate that he added photos in his edit summaries).Jpcohen (talk) 01:28, 14 August 2012 (UTC)
I have added singles covers that have pictures of Joel from the 1970s and 80s per this conversation. Jpcohen (talk) 21:59, 20 January 2013 (UTC)

Greatest Hits Vol 1 + 2

You say in the article, and you are right, that a couple of the songs ("My life" "Just the Way You Are" etc.) are shortened in the set. However, the included booklet does not provide the full-length lyrics.Tmmulv (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 23:36, 16 July 2009 (UTC).


Under Christie Brinkley and Innocent Man 

"WCBS-FM began playing "The Longest Time" both in regular rotation and on the Doo Wop Live.[31][32] The song became a worldwide hit upon its release, #3 in the U.S. and Joel's sole #1 in the United Kingdom." ..... this is incorrect, Uptown Girl was No 1 in the UK, Im not sure Longest Time was (sorry if this is in the wrong place)  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 95.122.30.139 (talk) 11:05, 9 May 2013 (UTC)

Inappropriate tone

Bits of this read like PR crap, e.g. "Joel's infectious spirit and talent galvanized the band into a tight performing unit". Provide a cite for that? There's a lot of claims, particularly about his career in the 70s and how wonderful he was, that aren't referenced at all. --Colapeninsula (talk) 10:00, 5 September 2013 (UTC)

I've made some changes. Tell me what you think. — Preceding unsigned comment added by A7592 (talk • contribs) 23:12, 7 September 2013 (UTC)

Clarify this..

can someone clarify this sentence

He is also a six-time Grammy Award winner, a 23-time Grammy award winning artist and ...

is it 6 or 23?

85.87.240.116 (talk) 11:55, 21 September 2013 (UTC)DrJBN

Leader of the Pack

The link 404s. Here's the URI for the Wayback Machine copy - http://web.archive.org/web/20120205200121/http://www.limusichalloffame.org/lirock/shadow04.html 17:00, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

Every kind of music

A friend of mine said he likes Joel for trying to show he's the best in any genre. Piano man, Root Beer Rag and The Longest Time seem to be prove that, but did he ever say so? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Joepnl (talk • contribs) 00:34, 8 November 2013 (UTC)

WHY??

Wondering why the division titled "Christine Brinkley, An Innocent Man . . ." is thus titled? Ms Brinkley is only mentioned in passing with no clear connection made between herself and Mr. Joel. It would seem to me that a stronger connection should be made or her name should be removed from the title as unwarranted. Thoughts?THX1136 (talk) 16:08, 8 November 2013 (UTC)

themes in his lyrics

The article used to mention Joel's tendency to sing about life in NYC and working-class themes. This seems almost undisputable, but probably removed because it was original research. Still, it's useful information. Thoughts? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.83.186.192 (talk) 17:03, 12 April 2014 (UTC)

Where's Billy Joels article on Disneys cartoon movie Oliver and Company?

To the wiki user in charge of Billy Joels page.

I just wanted to let you know that during the 1980s Billy Joel did participate as a voice actor in the 1988 Disney cartoon movie Oliver and Company. He voiced as the cartoon dog named Dodge and he sang the song "Why should you worry"

Please add this Disney cartoon article because he really worked on the Disney movie Oliver and Company. There are Internet sources you can find concerning Billy Joel singing and voice acting in Disneys Oliver and Company. CrosswalkX (talk) 03:51, 4 May 2014 (UTC)

@CrosswalkX: The film is already mentioned in the article - see Billy Joel#Other ventures. GoingBatty (talk) 04:32, 4 May 2014 (UTC)

Sorry about that, I didn't pay close attention but I see it now, I'm all done now with Billy Joel thanks. CrosswalkX (talk) 04:41, 4 May 2014 (UTC)

add guitar to instruments

This man obviously has performed with a guitar in his hand in several concerts. In fact, at almost every "We didn't start the fire" Concert he is seen playing guitar — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.159.80.156 (talk) 16:02, 26 April 2015 (UTC)

Hello, and thanks for bringing this here. The infobox is meant to list only those instruments which the artist is primarily known to play, otherwise the list would get too long for many artists. Although Joel does play guitar on occasion, it's not an instrument that he's known for. For more information, see the infobox guidelines. Regards, Orange Suede Sofa (talk) 16:20, 26 April 2015 (UTC)
(edit conflict) Oppose - The guitar is not his primary instrument and should not be listed in the infobox per Template:Infobox musical artist#instrument. His guitar playing can easily be brought up in WP:PROSE. Mlpearc (open channel) 16:21, 26 April 2015 (UTC)

Unsuccessful edit

Tried to remove the unnecessary "the" in the following sentence - His compilation album Greatest Hits Vol. 1 & 2 is the one of the best-selling albums in the United States by discs shipped - but was unable to do so. Is the page protected? If so, would someone who can do the edit do so? Thanks.THX1136 (talk) 19:47, 14 August 2015 (UTC)

 Done. Not sure why it didn't work for you; the page isn't protected. Regards, Orange Suede Sofa (talk) 19:51, 14 August 2015 (UTC)

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American accordionists

We have this comment in the infobox when people try to add additional instruments: 

instrument = Vocals, piano <!--- If you think an instrument should be listed, a discussion to reach consensus is needed first --->

Yet this article is part of Category:American accordionists and Category:American harmonica players. I usually don't care about categories but what about the rest of y'all? Orange Suede Sofa (talk) 04:20, 26 October 2015 (UTC)

Unsourced/redundant genres

The genres I've been trying to remove are either unsourced, redundant, or both. Soft rock and piano rock are both sub-genres of rock, which then, it does not need to be there. And, they are unsourced. Pop is unsourced as well. Yet the reverting editor, you continue to revert, not following what you even told me when you stated "Changes to genre's require reliable sources..." when there isn't sources for the genres in the first place. -- Joseph Prasad (talk) 23:24, 3 January 2016 (UTC)

I'm against changing genre's without reliable sources backing up the change. Yes, the genre's you're trying to change are sub's but, I see them as more descriptive to the average reader, IMHO. Mlpearc (open channel) 18:59, 4 January 2016 (UTC)
Yes, Mlpearc, but the genres I removed were not sourced. If sub-genres are what's preferred, remove rock then, and find sources for the other genres. They should be removed until sources can be found. -- Joseph Prasad (talk) 02:10, 6 January 2016 (UTC)

Notable media appearances (section)

This is a joke right ? This is a list of jobs. How is even one of these entries notable ? Mlpearc (open channel) 05:34, 7 January 2016 (UTC)

Joel's intrests

Joel stated the fact that he liked to read and both write books. He at first wanted to become a history teacher. Billy was also in trouble a lot of school for skipping. Billy said that he was doing that because of bullies. Billy told us that he also Idolized bands such as the beatles.


Their is alot more about billy joel but i'm too tired to write any more but you cna find out about him at this URL http://billyjoel.8k.com/billyjoel.htm

Politics

I added the bit about his politics based on his campaign donations. 18986486545 16:13, 23 August 2008 user:Wesley M. Curtus

Riverside in "New York State of Mind" is a Manhattan Reference, not a Queens Reference

I always took the line in "New York State of Mind" that goes "Don't care if it's Chinatown or on Riverside" to mean Riverside Drive in Manhattan, not Riverside Queens like the author of this article suggests. Joel is making references to Manhattan with Chinatown, not to the other boroughs in that part of the song.

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Billy Joel summer replacement TV show

I remember Billy Joel had a summer replacement variety show on one of the big three networks in the late '70s or early '80s - this article (and IMDB, for that matter) makes no mention of the show - it's almost like it's deliberately suppressed! I remember he had contemporary guests , and each week he'd have a little dramatic vignette introduced with "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant". I can find absolutely nothing regarding this, but I know I watched it! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.94.168.206 (talk) 02:04, 17 March 2016 (UTC)

I believe this is what you're looking for. It was an HBO special called Billy Joel -- A TV First, and it dates from 1983.
Billmckern (talk) 23:40, 2 June 2016 (UTC)

First CD myth

52nd Street was not the first commercial CD, no matter how many times that is erroneously mentioned in the press. Sony released 50 titles simultaneously on October 1, 1982; 52nd Street just had the lowest catalog number of the Western pop releases. I've removed that from the article. Here's a list of the first 50 CDs, all released at the same time. —Torc. (Talk.) 23:29, 2 June 2016 (UTC)

Here are some additional sources: Sony by John Nathan, PC World article, and Independent UK article. —Torc. (Talk.) 20:19, 12 June 2016 (UTC)
All chapters in a book are published at the same time, but one chapter is still considered to be the first. WWGB (talk) 10:57, 13 June 2016 (UTC)
A chapter is only "first" in the order a reader is intended to read it, but not "first" in the sense that it was somehow released before the rest of the book (unless it was published in installments in a magazine). That's what was being falsely claimed. The ordering of releases on the list of 50 was arbitrary, but even if you want to argue that having a catalog number "-1" was significant, five other October 1, 1982 releases also had it: "A Long Vacation" was 35DH-1, "Soul Shadows" was 358H-1, Beethoven's 5th was 38DC-1, Julio Iglasias was 358P-1, and collection of steam locomotive recordings was 38DG-1. —Torc. (Talk.) 19:20, 13 June 2016 (UTC)
The book/chapter analogy is hilariously invalid. I support removal of the claim. Orange Suede Sofa (talk) 19:40, 13 June 2016 (UTC)

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Some other broken citations

  • citation 7: wnyc article no longer available
  • citation 8: The Villager article no longer available

Jokretzmer (talk) 18:45, 17 October 2016 (UTC)

Some biased websites

  • Brother Alexander Joel's personal promotional website
  • Classicbands.com is a personal blog, not fact-checked blog
  • sing365.com also is not trustworthy--it is some information compiled by unknown contributors and has no info page to learn more about the website.

Jokretzmer (talk) 18:45, 17 October 2016 (UTC)

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 3 external links on Billy Joel. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

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Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 13:17, 20 July 2017 (UTC)

Vague Information

  • Billy Joel took up piano at an early age...specific age was not mentioned
  • It cannot be said for sure that Piano Man was the last song Joel played at every concert.

Generally, many facts are not cited or have broken citation links. There is a lot of stuff that could be either made more specific or removed (seems conversational rather than factual). A lot of the music sites seem unreliable and not fact-checked.

Jokretzmer (talk) 18:45, 17 October 2016 (UTC)

Lead Section--Citation and Accuracy Issues

The lead has several citation issues:

  • Citation 3 is taken from a non-neutral source, Billy Joel's own promotional site. Several sentences cite the RIAA, which is biased because it profits from sales of Billy Joel's music.
  • The final paragraph of the lead has no citations at all despite listing dates for awards and inductions into various music halls of fame.
  • The statement that Billy Joel became one of the best-selling artists of all time's citation does not link to the article. Article may no longer be online.
  • Unsubstantiated claims about Joel no longer writing music and that he continues to play music from his entire career (seems to general to be able to state).

Jokretzmer (talk) 18:45, 17 October 2016 (UTC)

I've added a citation for the Johnny Mercer award Educationhousejavert (talk) 13:22, 21 July 2017 (UTC)

Tenor or Baritone?

Joel was a tenor in his younger days, but his voice has richened with age, and I believe he is more of a baritone now, which is why I added the baritone category. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.18.225.208 (talk) 00:10, 1 August 2017 (UTC)

Billy Joel (non-existant) filmography section/article

I've noticed that my recent edit to the Billy Joel §Other ventures article in regards to his 1988 appearance on Sesame Street (with Marlee Matlin) has been reverted. I wish to open a discussion on this topic.

I am not aware of how many different film and television appearances Billy Joel has had. If reasonable, I would like to recommend creating such a new section, or separate article, to include such information. I agree that with such limited information presently on his movie and TV appearances, adding his Sesame Street appearance could be considered trivial otherwise (I was hoping it wouldn't).

I would like to see this changed however. Marlee Matlin's simultaneous appearance was non-trivial enough for inclusion, so what makes Billy Joel different? Can we develop a consensus along these lines?
Christopher, Sheridan, OR (talk) 02:17, 28 August 2017 (UTC)

I reverted your edit as trivial (thank you for starting this discussion) and will have to stand on that unless convinced otherwise. - FlightTime (open channel) 02:29, 28 August 2017 (UTC)

"He still keeps contact with one living niece, Lea, in Hollywood, FL."

This is a trivial piece of information oddly placed in its own paragraph near the top of Mr. Joel's bio. How is it noteworthy that a 68 year old man keeps in contact with a niece?

And since Billy keeps in contact with this person, how reassuring to be informed that she is in fact "living."

minus Removed. WWGB (talk) 02:23, 28 September 2017 (UTC)

WMMR

I would like to change "During the spring of 1972, the Philadelphia radio station WMMR-FM began playing a concert recording of "Captain Jack", which became an underground hit on the East Coast." to "In April 1972, Billy performed live on Philadelphia radio station WMMR-FM. After one of the disk jockeys began regularly playing "Captain Jack" from that session it became a popular call in request, even spreading to sister Metromedia station WNEW in New York City". It's clearer and more specific than just "popular on the east coast". Could someone tell me what citation would be good enough to use as a source. I've read several references to this on the net but I'm hesitant to use web links as citations. RMoribayashi (talk) 23:35, 18 October 2018 (UTC)

Sourcing from Billy Joel Channel?

I'm enjoying the Billy Joel Channel on Sirius XM, especially when Billy talks about the inspiration for his songs or albums. Could we use this information as sources for the various Billy Joel articles on Wikipedia? If so, how would we cite it? GoingBatty (talk) 22:36, 10 November 2018 (UTC)

How can others' verify the cites ? - FlightTime Phone (open channel) 22:46, 10 November 2018 (UTC)
@FlightTime Phone: That's the problem - hence the question. GoingBatty (talk) 21:58, 17 November 2018 (UTC)
@GoingBatty: I don't see a problem, if it's un-verifiable, it can not be used. - FlightTime Phone (open channel) 22:30, 17 November 2018 (UTC)
Actually if it were verifiable, it would most likely deemed non-Encyclopedic trivia anyway. - FlightTime Phone (open channel) 22:31, 17 November 2018 (UTC)

Korea?

Billy Joel would have been very young in 1953, when the Korean War ended, but it is prominently mentioned in We didn't start the fire and Leningrad (song). Is there information missing from the article which would explain this connection? If so, could it be added in?--Jack Upland (talk) 19:26, 16 June 2019 (UTC)

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment

This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Peer reviewers: Jokretzmer.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 15:43, 16 January 2022 (UTC)

Soviet Union

In October 1986, Joel and his team started planning a trip to the Soviet Union. He became one of the first American rock acts to play there since the Berlin Wall went up.

This isn't in the source. Why the Berlin Wall? The Berlin Wall was constructed in 1961.It seems unlikely that an American rock act played in the USSR before 1961. There just weren't many around back then. And anyway, the Berlin Wall was in East Germany. It had no direct relevance to the Soviet Union and nothing to do with Joel's tour. Several rock musicians went to the USSR before him. John Denver toured the USSR in 1985. Johnny Cash recorded a live album, Koncert v Praze (In Prague–Live), in Czechoslovakia in 1978. I'm sure that other relevant examples could be found. I think we should drop the second sentence altogether, particularly the irrelevant reference to the Berlin Wall.--Jack Upland (talk) 07:17, 14 December 2019 (UTC)

Thanks for highlighting this. I did remove the 2nd sentence you mentioned, as well as adding a new one at the end of the paragraph to try & address the whole "first SU rock concert" more accurately. I'm sure it could be written better, but it's certainly a start. ~~Tristan ("TheDisneyGamer") 16:58, 14 December 2019 (UTC)
Thanks.--Jack Upland (talk) 06:15, 15 December 2019 (UTC)
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