For the life of me, I can’t think of one.
Someone earlier told me that he’s one of the rare singers that she likes every song by. I find that’s true for me, too.
Anyone here not like one of his songs (and if so, which one)?
All of them?
Can’t stand the man or his music.
Look, you’d be hard-pressed to find a bigger fan of Billy Joel than me. He’s the reason I started playing piano, he’s the reason I started writing songs, and he’s the reason I’ve been married three times (that last one’s a joke). Having said that, “This is the Time” has got to be one of the worst songs not only by Billy Joel, but by anyone anywhere.
P.S. I do wonder why you’d start this thread though, as Billy is constantly being skewered by critics and everyone seems to love to hate him. I have no doubt most of the answers in this thread will mirror silenus’s “contribution”.
Huh. Well consider me in the dark about that, then. I wasn’t aware he was disliked by critics and I hadn’t noticed a huge dislike for him on here. I guess this will be the topic for it, if it exists. : p
Had the OP posted “Who here loves Billy Joel?” I never would have even opened the thread. But the question wasn’t posed that way, and my answer was a straight-forward response to the OP as stated. So you can take those quotation marks and forward them to Mr. Joel. 
“We Didn’t Start the Fire”. Bleh.
“Leave a Tender Moment Alone”. About the ONLY Joel song I dislike, and I’m a HUGE Joel fan.
The absolute nadir, IMO, though I’m not a fan.
With a skilled but conventional songwriter like Joel, the problem is more boring songs than “bad” songs. The only full album I’ve got by the man is Glass Houses, and the last 3 songs on the album are comparatively weak. I’ve probably listened to them 10-15 times in the past 15 years and they haven’t stuck in my mind at all.
I just listened to right now for test purposes.
C’etat Toi (You were the one)– meh.
Close To the Borderline – meh.
Through the Long Night – It’s the album closer and has a touch more hook than the other two, but still meh.
As for the rest of the album, I’m very fond on All for Lenya, Sleeping With the Television On, and Sometimes a Fantasy. (All of which rock somewhat…)
And the just okay stuff: It’s Still Rock n’ Roll to Me, Don’t Ask Me Why, I Don’t Want To Be Alone Anymore.
Billy Joel has a whole album of bad songs. It’s called “California Flash,” and it’s from his old early days in a band called “Attila.” I know this is true because my spouse, who’s a Billy Joel fan, owns the album. It’s really, really bad.
I am a fan. I previously only had his 3 greatest hits CDs, but now I am starting to acquire the rest, in order. So far I am only on the 70s albums. I’d say “Streetlife Serenader” is probably my least favorite song so far, although I think the whole album was fairly “meh.”
I’m puzzled by the OP - is it possible that Billy Joel had bad songs that no longer exist because they were teleported into another dimension?
We can dream.
Among his non-good songs is “She’s Always A Woman”, which I found reassuring in that it would be horrifying to have a girlfriend who suddenly metamorphosed into a rabid raccoon.
I’m a huge fan too, and I could live without “the Entertainer”.
I also hate that awful synth solo in “Angry Young Man”, especially since the song’s piano intro may be the best music he ever wrote.
Stranger is particularly awful, and that wound up on his Greatest Hits disc. But The Entertainer is awesome.
I like the great majority of his songs, but “Leningrad” is cloying and just awful.
I like a lot of his stuff, love a couple and absolutely hate some others. Among the ones I hate:
*Easy Money
Uptown Girl
Careless Talk
Christie Lee
That’s Not Her Style
Storm Front*
Most, if not all, of River of Dreams
Most of The Nylon Curtain
The ones I hate are bad. He has other bad songs that I like notwithstanding the fact that they’re so bad, but I like them because of the memories that they evoke from a time or place that I enjoyed and the song was playing at the time. It doesn’t mean they’re not bad, though.
Hey, you were completely within your rights to respond that way; I didn’t mean to imply otherwise. It’s a valid point of view, and one I’ve heard many times before. It just wasn’t exactly what the OP was looking for, and you know it.
Ha, tell me about it. His work with The Hassles wasn’t much better. You know you’re a true fan if you can handle “The Tough Boy” and “Enough is Enough”.
I’m not a huge fan, but wasn’t his first studio album (solo) recorded at the wrong speed?
Ha, yes. Wikipedia, is there anything you don’t know? It was Cold Spring Harbor. See here. "According to a long standing rumor, when Joel first heard the finished product, he “ripped it off the turntable, ran out of the house, and threw [the record] down the street.” So there’s one guy at least that thinks Billy Joel had some bad songs.
Yes, even on the Greatest Hits albums.
Give me any artist with 100s(?) of published works, and I’m sure that at least 10% of them (probably more) could qualify as “bad,” no matter who it was. I’m looking at you, Mozart!
As a casual radio listener, I would nominate “Big Shot,” “Uptown Girl,” “The Longest Time,” “Tell Her About It,” and “Keeping the Faith.” And “We Didn’t Start The Fire” only has novelty value, IMO.