


Sunday night will go down in history as the day that music died (sorry Don McLean) when CBS cut the feed to their coverage of Billy Joel's concert at Madison Square Garden during one of his most iconic songs, "Piano Man." Halfway through his hit masterpiece, millions of viewers across the world saw their screens go black, and some had their local news come on. Joel was performing the 100th concert of his residency at the Garden in New York City when the feed was cut due to the network's earlier coverage of the PGA's Masters Tournament that ran long.
Needless to say, the millions of people watching were slightly perturbed to see Billy Joel cut off in the middle of singling "Piano Man." The reactions on social media were not shy about their displeasure to see one of America's national treasures treated in such a fashion. The general consensus from the viewers was not good, with absolutely no mercy shown to CBS for their heinous act.
Warning: profanity in some of the tweets.
The network is taking heat not from just the average viewer; local network news anchors and sportscasters also jumped into the fray.
I have a bias here, as I grew up listening to a wide range of music courtesy of my late father. We listened to bands like Boston, Led Zeppelin, Chicago, and more in the classic rock genre, as well as crooners like Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. But Billy Joel was a staple in my household growing up, and it still is. His music and songs speak to me at times and bring me back to memories I had with my dad before he died of ALS in 2009.
Listening to Billy Joel sing and even seeing him perform and sing live is something that cannot be replicated nor understated. A few years back, I had the pleasure of seeing him live at the Hollywood Bowl with my wife, along with my mother-in-law and late father-in-law. It was truly a sight to see, so CBS has some serious explaining to do as to why they'd let such a legendary song being performed by its legendary creator get cut off.