Editing Billy Joel (section)

===1979–1983: ''Glass Houses'' and ''The Nylon Curtain''===
The success of his piano-driven ballads like "Just the Way You Are", "She's Always a Woman" and "Honesty" led some critics to label Joel a "[[ballad]]eer" and "[[soft rock]]er". He thought these labels were unfair and insulting, and with ''[[Glass Houses (album)|Glass Houses]]'', Joel tried to record an album that proved that he could rock harder than his critics gave him credit for, occasionally imitating and referring to the style of [[New wave music|new wave]] rock music that was starting to become popular. On the album cover, Joel is pictured in a leather jacket, about to throw a rock at a glass house (referring to the adage that "people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones").

''Glass Houses'' spent six weeks at No. 1 on the ''Billboard'' chart and yielded the hits "[[You May Be Right]]" (No. 7, May 1980), "[[It's Still Rock and Roll to Me]]", (No. 1, July 1980), "[[Don't Ask Me Why (Billy Joel song)|Don't Ask Me Why]]" (No. 19, September 1980) and "[[Sometimes a Fantasy]]" (No. 36, November 1980). "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me", Joel's first ''Billboard'' number-one single, spent 11 weeks in the top 10 of the [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]] and was the seventh biggest hit of 1980 according to American Top 40. His five sold-out shows at [[Madison Square Garden]] in 1980 earned him the Garden's [[Madison Square Garden Gold Ticket Award|Gold Ticket Award]] for selling more than 100,000 tickets at the venue.<ref name="BJ Kozak">{{cite magazine |last=Kozak |first=Roman |date=August 9, 1980 |title=Singer Alters Summer Tour: Double LP Set For November? |magazine=Billboard |volume=92 |number=32 |page=35 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eyQEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PAPA4 |via=Google books |access-date=March 30, 2019 |archive-date=May 9, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240509161423/https://books.google.com/books?id=eyQEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PAPA4&l#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="BJ Melhuish">{{cite news |last=Melhuish |first=Martin |title=The Pringle Column |agency=[[Sun Media]] |newspaper=The Interior News |location=Smithers, British Columbia |date=September 10, 1980 |page=b7 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/30084182/the_interior_news/ |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |access-date=March 30, 2019 |archive-date=March 30, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330205924/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/30084182/the_interior_news/ |url-status=live }}{{free access}}</ref>

''Glass Houses'' won the Grammy for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male. It also won the [[American Music Award]] for Favorite Album, Pop/Rock category. The album's closing song, "Through the Long Night" ([[B-side]] of the "It's Still Rock & Roll to Me" single), was a lullaby that featured Joel harmonizing with himself in a song he says was inspired by [[the Beatles]]' "[[Yes It Is]]".<ref name="unauthorized" /> In a recorded Masterclass at the [[University of Pennsylvania]], Joel recalled that he had written to the Beatles asking them how to get started in the music industry. In response, he received a pamphlet about Beatles merchandise. This later led to the idea of Joel conducting Q&A sessions around the world answering questions that people had about the music industry.<ref>{{citation |last1=Joel |first1=Billy |title=Billy Joel – Masterclass concert (Part 1) – 2001 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania}}</ref>

Joel's next release, ''[[Songs in the Attic]]'', was composed of live performances of lesser-known songs from the beginning of his career. It was recorded at larger US arenas and in intimate night club shows in June and July 1980. This release introduced many fans, who discovered Joel when ''The Stranger'' became a smash in 1977, to many of his earlier compositions. The album reached No. 8 on the ''Billboard'' chart and produced two hit singles: "Say Goodbye to Hollywood" (No. 17), and "She's Got a Way" (No. 23). It sold over 3 million copies. Although not as successful as some of his previous albums, it was still considered a success by Joel.<ref name="unauthorized" />

The next wave of Joel's career commenced with the recording of ''[[The Nylon Curtain]]''. With it, Joel became more ambitious with his songwriting, which included highly topical songs like "[[Allentown (song)|Allentown]]" and "[[Goodnight Saigon]]". Joel has stated that he wanted the album to communicate his feelings about [[the American Dream]] and how changes in American politics during the [[Presidency of Ronald Reagan|Reagan administration]] meant that "all of a sudden you weren't going to be able to inherit [the kind of life] your old man had."<ref name="ncvideo">{{cite video |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pqc4U8uWTRU  |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/Pqc4U8uWTRU| archive-date=December 11, 2021 |url-status=live|title=Billy Joel on The Nylon Curtain&nbsp;– from The Complete Albums Collection |via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref> He also tried to be more ambitious in his use of the recording studio. Joel said that he wanted to "create a sonic masterpiece" on ''The Nylon Curtain''. So he spent more time in the studio, crafting the sound of the album, than he had on any previous album.<ref name="ncvideo" /> Production of ''The Nylon Curtain'' began in the fall of 1981. However, production was temporarily delayed when Joel was involved in a serious motorcycle accident on [[Long Island]] on April 15, 1982, severely injuring his hands. Still, Joel quickly recovered from his injuries, and the album ended up being delayed by only a few months.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ultimateclassicrock.com/billy-joel-motorcycle-accident/|title=35 Years Ago: Billy Joel Injures Both Hands in Motorcycle Accident|website=Ultimate Classic Rock|date=April 15, 2017 |access-date=July 14, 2017|archive-date=July 1, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170701011826/http://ultimateclassicrock.com/billy-joel-motorcycle-accident/|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1982, Joel embarked on a brief tour in support of the album. From one of the final shows of the tour, Joel made his first video special, ''Live from Long Island'', which was recorded at the [[Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum]] in [[Uniondale, New York]] on December 29, 1982. It was originally broadcast on [[HBO]] in 1983 before it became available on VHS.

''The Nylon Curtain'' went to No. 7 on the charts, partially due to heavy airplay on MTV for the videos to the singles "Allentown" and "[[Pressure (Billy Joel song)|Pressure]]", both directed by [[Russell Mulcahy]].