Billy Joel - even if he’s not properly prepared.
“Wake Up Wendy” was always my favorite, though “Cheddar Cheese Girl” was a close second. 
Elton John is one of only two singer/musicians that are my absolute favorites. The other is Donald Fagen. For me, to try to pick my favorite among the two of them would be like asking which is my favorite child.
I figure I’ll be the first one to say how much I hate Billy Joel. I mean, there’s no accounting for tastes and all, so I don’t want to offend anybody… But man I hate Billy Joel. (Actually, I kind of like that song “Moving Out” but its only okay.)
Elton John is awsome, but I don’t like much of his music after about… oh, 1977 or so. But “Rocketman”, “Benny and the Jets”, “Tiny Dancer”, “Daniel”… compared with “Uptown Girl” or “Piano Man”? I just can’t believe this is even a close contest. For my money, Elton wins by a landslide.
:dubious: Erm, those aren’t exactly the most balanced comparisons, are they? Hey I know, let’s compare “Pressure,” “Captain Jack,” “Miami 2017,” “My Life,” “Angry Young Man,” “Downeaster Alexa,” “Only the Good Die Young” and “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant” with, I dunno, “I’m Still Standing” and “Can You Feel the Love Tonight.” Methinks Billy wins easily in that match-up!
Seriously, I think they’re both great, but I’ll go with Billy Joel. First, 'cause we Long Islanders gotta represent! But most important, because as much as I like Elton John, I find Joel much more flexible, varied and interesting. BJ’s down-to-earth style wins over EJ’s bravura showmanship.
I’m another that really can’t choose. I love them both and feel they are two of the most talented musicians out there.
I can’t stand either of them but the fact that the ditty “Uptown girl” ever exisited means his royal sucky “candle in the wind” wins…barely.
I just had a flash back of Di’s funeral, Billy Joel wins.
You can’t stand either of them so you opened and posted in a thread with both their names in the title? 
Close; Oakland, Calif.
My take on the “Candle in the Wind” comment, is to Di’s funeral. If you can’t do better than to change a line in a Marilyn Monroe tribute…then don’t bother.
As to the OP: I like 'em both.
I don’t quite hate Billy Joel (one or two songs are listenable), but otherwise I tend to agree. I don’t think it’s close.
**Hi, Im new to the Staright Dope Message Board, and I wanted to start out with this question:
**
Welcome to the boards!
Which Artist do you like better: Billy Joel or Elton John?
Billy Joel.
Which Artist plays the piano better?
Billy Joel.
Which Artist has sold more cd’s?
Dunno - doesn’t matter too much to me, to be honest.
It’s hard for me to see how people hate Billy Joel because he has so many different styles. I can see not liking some of his songs, but many of his songs sound vastly different from the other ones. But to each his own!
Didn’t Elton also nearly go bankrupt a while back and have to do endorsements for American Express? I mean, he’s a prolific artist who has to have made hundreds of millions of dollars, if not a billion, and he gets swindled and bankrupted?
Billy Joel, however, has managed to stay solvent, even with a pretty well publicized drug habit.
Actually, Billy went broke (or nearly so) at least twice: His first record contract was so exploitative that he was partially paying his own way on a contractually-required tour (legal steps he took after that is why you can’t easily find a copy of “Cold Spring Harbor” nowadays) and he had a manager (his ex-brother-in-law) walk off with most of his fortune and mis-invest the rest at one point. For Billy’s catharsis on both of these events, listen to Getting Closer from The Bridge.
I love both Billy and Elton, but I’d have to go with Billy. On every album, there’s at least two songs that sound like they were written with my life in mind. Elton’s songs sound like they’d resonate like that for someone, but usually not me.
I don’t believe he was bankrupted or even close. He sued a long time manager (and I think former lover) for around 30 million pounds a few years back, and during the trial evidence was put forth as to how Elton is a profligate spender, but if memory serves correctly he wasn’t even close to being bankrupt.
Someone spoke above about how if Elton had applied himself more strenuously he would most cetainly have surpassed Billy Joel, but I think one of the great things about Elton is that he doesn’t take himself all that seriously and that he has a tremendous zest for and love of life. I don’t know what demons, if any, are still knocking around in his head, but he seems like someone to me who leads a very full, interesting and satisfying life.
And I guess I may as well go ahead and say that I really don’t get the comparison between Elton and Billy Joel either. I like Joel fine as both a performer and as a person, but I would never have thought of him as being in the same league with Elton in terms of musicianship.
Dude, Willy Wonka is more down-to-earth than Elton.
But I’m backing Elton is this thread anyway, unless I can write in Randy Newman.
Well, yeah, but if you left off the “in the movie Amadeus”, the sentence would still have been spot on.
As for the question: Elton John.
Elton was great until around 1977. He’s sucked ever since. Don’t know what happened to him. Maybe it was the drugs.
For my money, Billy Joel has put together a better overall body of work.
Billy Joel, without a doubt.
Beyond what others has said about him, with Billy you get a real feel of his infulences and of musical history - especially American musical history - in general. Listen to his stuff, and you’ll hear jazz (of all sorts), blues, R&B, classical, 50’s rock n’roll, 60’s brit-pop, doo-wop and gospel. Some of his best songs are those in which he commits entirely to a specific form, like Big Man on Mulberry Street, Baby Grand, or The Longest Time. With Elton John, the only influences I’ve heard are John Lennon, Paul McCarntny, and Elton John… though I’m much less familiar with his material, so there may be a lot I’m missing.
Plus, Billy Joel wrote Vienna. That alone should rest my case.
Elton John is by far the greater artist. Not even close. If we exclude the dreck both have produced, Elton’s best is so much more complex and clever than Joel’s. Billy Joel at his best is a precocious, serviceable tune smith. Elton at his best is Beatlesque.
Well I’ve never spent a dime on Billy Joel…
I’ll go see Elton John if he’s within a 100 miles of wherever I’m at.