Editing Billy Joel (section)

===1983–1988: ''An Innocent Man'' and ''The Bridge'' ===
Joel's next album moved away from the serious themes of ''The Nylon Curtain'' and struck a much lighter tone. ''[[An Innocent Man]]'' was Joel's tribute to [[Rhythm and blues|R&B]] and [[doo wop]] music of the 1950s and 1960s and resulted in Joel's second ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' number-one hit, "[[Tell Her About It]]", which was the first single off the album in the summer of 1983. The album itself reached No. 4 on the charts and No. 2 in UK. It also boasted six top-30 singles, the most of any album in Joel's catalog. The album was well received by critics, with [[Stephen Thomas Erlewine]], senior editor for AllMusic, describing Joel as being "in top form as a craftsman throughout the record, effortlessly spinning out infectious, memorable melodies in a variety of styles."<ref>{{cite web |last=Thomas |first=Stephen |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/an-innocent-man-mw0000190510 |title=An Innocent Man&nbsp;– Billy Joel : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards |publisher=AllMusic |access-date=September 12, 2012 |archive-date=August 28, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120828050638/http://www.allmusic.com/album/an-innocent-man-mw0000190510 |url-status=live }}</ref>

At the time that the album was released, [[WCBS-FM]] began playing "[[Uptown Girl]]" both in regular rotation and on the ''Doo Wop Live''.<ref>YouTube (uploaded April 6, 2008).</ref><ref>Billy Joel's Interview on Howard Stern. 2011.{{which|date=October 2012}}</ref> The song became a worldwide hit upon its release. The music video of the song, originally written about then-girlfriend [[Elle MacPherson]], featured [[Christie Brinkley]] as a high-society girl who pulls her car into the gas station where Joel's character is working. At the end of the video, Joel's "grease monkey" character drives off with his "uptown girl" on the back of a motorcycle. When Brinkley went to visit Joel after being asked to star in the video, the first thing Joel said to her upon opening his door was "I don't dance". Brinkley had to walk him through the basic steps he does in the video. Their work together on this video shoot sparked a relationship between the two which led to their marriage in 1985.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/girlinsongtruest0000heat |title=The Girl in the Song: The Real Stories Behind 50 Rock Classics |first1=Michael |last1=Heatley |author-link=Michael Heatley |first2=Frank |last2=Hopkinson |pages=138–139 |date=2011 |publisher=[[Chicago Review Press]] |access-date=February 1, 2025 |isbn=978-1-56976-530-2}}</ref>

In December, [[An Innocent Man (song)|the title song]] was released as a single and it peaked at No. 10 in the U.S. and No. 8 in the UK, early in 1984. That March, "[[The Longest Time]]" was released as a single, peaking at No. 14 on the Hot 100 and No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart. That summer, "[[Leave a Tender Moment Alone]]" was released and it hit No. 27 while "[[Keeping the Faith (song)|Keeping the Faith]]" peaked at No. 18 in January 1985. In the video for "Keeping the Faith", Brinkley also plays the "redhead girl in a Chevrolet". ''An Innocent Man'' was also nominated for the Album of the Year Grammy, but lost to [[Michael Jackson]]'s ''[[Thriller (Michael Jackson album)|Thriller]]''.

[[File:USA For Africa 1985 (US Press Kit 001).jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|left|Joel (second row, second from left) with other musicians for the recording of "[[We Are the World]]", January 1985]]
Joel participated in the USA for Africa "[[We Are the World]]" project in 1985.

Following ''An Innocent Man'', Joel was asked about releasing an album of his most successful singles. This was not the first time this topic had come up, but Joel had initially considered "Greatest Hits" albums as marking the end of one's career. This time he agreed, and ''[[Greatest Hits (Billy Joel albums)|Greatest Hits Vol. 1 and 2]]'' was released as a four-sided album and two-CD set, with the songs in the order in which they were released. The new songs "[[You're Only Human (Second Wind)]]" and "[[The Night Is Still Young (Billy Joel song)|The Night Is Still Young]]" were recorded and released as singles to support the album; both reached the top 40, peaking at No. 9 and No. 34, respectively. ''Greatest Hits'' was highly successful and it has since been certified [[Diamond album|double diamond]] by the [[RIAA]], with over 11.5&nbsp;million copies (23&nbsp;million units) sold. It is one of the [[List of best-selling albums in the United States|best-selling albums in American music history]], according to the RIAA.

Coinciding with the ''Greatest Hits'' album release, Joel released a two-volume ''Video Album'' that was a compilation of the promotional videos he had recorded from 1977 to that time. Along with videos for the new singles off the ''Greatest Hits'' album, Joel also recorded a video for his first hit, "Piano Man", for this project.

Joel's next album, ''[[The Bridge (Billy Joel album)|The Bridge]]'' (1986), did not achieve the level of success of his previous albums, but it yielded the hits "[[A Matter of Trust]]" and "[[Modern Woman]]" (both No. 10) from the film ''[[Ruthless People]]'', a dark comedy from the directors of ''[[Airplane!]]''. The ballad "[[This Is the Time (song)|This is the Time]]" also charted, peaking at No. 18. On November 18, 1986, an extended version of "[[Big Man on Mulberry Street]]" was used on a Season 3 episode of ''[[Moonlighting (TV series)|Moonlighting]]''.''The Bridge'' was Joel's last album to carry the Family Productions logo, after which he severed his ties with Artie Ripp. Joel has also stated in many interviews, most recently in a 2008 interview in ''Performing Songwriter'' magazine, that he does not think ''The Bridge'' is a good album.

In October 1986, Joel and his team started planning a trip to the Soviet Union.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/24/arts/extra/24artsextra-joel.html |title=At Garden, Billy Joel Is Out to Prove He's in Control |first=Laura |last=Sinagra |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=April 18, 2014 |date=January 24, 2006 |archive-date=May 9, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240509161449/https://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/24/arts/extra/at-garden-billy-joel-is-out-to-prove-hes-in-control.html |url-status=live }}</ref> There were live performances at indoor arenas in Moscow, [[Saint Petersburg|Leningrad]] and [[Tbilisi]]. Joel, his family (including young daughter Alexa), and his full touring band made the trip in July 1987.<ref name=":0"/> The entourage was filmed for television and video to offset the cost of the trip, and the concerts were simulcast on radio around the world. Joel's Russian tour was the first live rock radio broadcast in Soviet history.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.hewlettanderson.com/bio.html|title=Pete Hewlett| last=Hewlett| first=Anderson| website=Hewlett Anderson: Bios| access-date=July 11, 2020| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304082859/http://www.hewlettanderson.com/bio.html| archive-date=March 4, 2016}}</ref> The tour was later cited frequently as one of the first fully staged pop rock shows to come to the Soviet Union, although in reality other artists had previously toured in the country<!-- not a stadium shows! -->, including Elton John, [[James Taylor]] and [[Bonnie Raitt]].<ref name="Rocked the USSR">{{cite magazine| title=Billy Joel rocked the USSR in 1987| url=https://ew.com/article/1996/08/09/billy-joel-rocked-ussr-1987/| first=Michael| last=Sauter| date=August 9, 1996| magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]]| access-date=December 14, 2019| archive-date=December 14, 2019| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191214073359/https://ew.com/article/1996/08/09/billy-joel-rocked-ussr-1987/| url-status=live}}</ref>

Most of that audience took a long while to warm up to Joel's energetic show, something that had never happened in other countries he had performed in. According to Joel, each time the fans were hit with the bright lights, anybody who seemed to be enjoying themselves froze. In addition, people who were "overreacting" were removed by security.<ref name=SeattelWeekly>{{cite web |title=Letters to the Editor |date=November 14, 2007 |url=http://www.seattleweekly.com/2007-11-14/news/letters-to-the-editor.php?page=full |newspaper=[[Seattle Weekly]] |access-date=December 8, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080117165213/http://www.seattleweekly.com/2007-11-14/news/letters-to-the-editor.php?page=full |archive-date=January 17, 2008}}</ref> During this concert Joel, enraged by the bright lights, flipped his electric piano and snapped a microphone stand while continuing to sing.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-07-27-mn-4135-story.html |title=Billy Joel Blows His Cool, Upsets Piano in Moscow |agency=Associated Press |date=July 27, 1987 |work=Los Angeles Times |access-date=June 3, 2013 |archive-date=December 6, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131206022907/http://articles.latimes.com/1987-07-27/news/mn-4135_1_billy-joel |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=":0">{{cite web| url=https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/bjxq74/30-years-ago-billy-joel-had-a-meltdown-in-moscow| title=30 Years Ago, Billy Joel Had a Meltdown in Moscow| last=Ozzi| first=Dan| date=July 27, 2017| magazine=[[Vice (magazine)|Vice]]| language=en-US| access-date=May 6, 2019| archive-date=May 6, 2019| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190506231555/https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/bjxq74/30-years-ago-billy-joel-had-a-meltdown-in-moscow| url-status=live}}</ref> He later apologized for the incident.<ref name=":0" />

The album ''[[Kontsert|КОНЦЕРТ]]'' (Russian for "Concert") was released in October 1987. Singer Pete Hewlett was brought in to hit the high notes on his most vocally challenging songs, like "An Innocent Man". Joel also did versions of the Beatles' classic "[[Back in the U.S.S.R.]]" and [[Bob Dylan]]'s "[[The Times They Are a-Changin' (song)|The Times They Are a-Changin]]". It has been estimated that Joel lost more than US$1&nbsp;million of his own money on the trip and concerts, but he has said the goodwill he was shown there was well worth it.<ref name="unauthorized" />