User:Linds Eggs/sandbox

Billy Joel in Russia, 1987
The 1980s marked a pivotal decade in world history, as tensions slowly began to ease at the resolution of a decades-long Cold War between the United States and Soviet Union. Years of seclusion limited the two country's exposure to each other's cultures and lifestyles, but slowly but surely, performances from figures in pop culture helped expedite the healing process between the two peoples.

One of these figures was Billy Joel, an American pop music icon who, at the invitation of the Soviets, had spent $1 million of his own money to perform in Russia. With rock and roll being a foreign, non-Soviet art form, the heavily-controlling government in Russia forbade their people from accessing such music.

Given the years of distrust that had been brewing between the American and Soviet people, Billy Joel thought it would be important to bring his band and family to Russia in an effort to express his trust.

In hindsight, Billy Joel's tour in Russia proved to be a monumental visit, as it introduced the Russians to an element of Western culture that was otherwise absent, all while paving the way for other American artists to visit the country to do the same.