"I was born in '49 / A cold war kid in McCarthy time." Many artists have succeeded, but few have won the hearts of Russia. Years before the notorious 1991 Metallica show in Moscow, Billy Joel made history on Soviet Union soil. In 1987, the "Piano Man" singer brought a full-scale American rock concert to the Motherland at the height of the Cold War. An attempt at cultural diplomacy, the show was a chance to connect the East and West bloc during Gorbachev's era of "glasnost" and "perestroika." But much like Metallica's show four years later, things didn't go quite according to plan. What began as a lukewarm reception grew into enthusiastic applause — only to spiral downward again, ultimately leading to Joel's name being criticized back home. Still, despite the controversy and regardless of how the show ended, Joel successfully won the hearts of the people on the other side of the Iron Curtain.
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