Long before “Piano Man” became an anthem for closing-time crowds everywhere, Billy Joel took a sharp detour into heavy metal. In 1970, Joel co-founded Attila, a two-piece proto-metal band with Hassles drummer Jon Small. The setup was unconventional by any measure: Joel ran a Hammond B-3 organ through wah-wah pedals and a Marshall stack, coaxing a distorted, aggressive sound from an instrument most associated with gospel and jazz. The result was something genuinely strange and genuinely loud.

The band released their self-titled debut album in late July 1970, complete with a cover photo of Joel and Small dressed as Huns in a meat locker. It was not a commercial success. Critics were baffled, audiences were sparse, and Attila dissolved not long after. Joel himself has since described the album as an embarrassment, though it remains a fascinating artifact of an artist still figuring out who he was.

The episode says something worth remembering about creative careers: the path to an iconic sound is rarely straight. Kyle Martin’s Piano Man pays tribute to the Billy Joel who emerged on the other side of that experiment — the songwriter who found his voice at the piano and never looked back. That journey from distorted organ riffs to the keys of Carnegie Hall is part of what makes the music resonate the way it does.