The Origins of Dueling Pianos

In the waning days of the mullet, just before Reagan b*#ch-slapped Gorbachev into doing some interior decorating in Berlin and car phones were way cool, Beatles, Billy Joel and Bob Seger songs on pianos along with adults singing loudly reverberated throughout the cobblestone streets of the big easy. And it was there, amongst the hanging ferns and bourbon-barrels, the dueling pianos concept was born. From that moment people knew this would be big, not because of anything bacchanal or a way of culturally thrusting the dagger in the recently assailed disco beast but this was going to be big because this was adult romper-room and musical therapy all rolled into one.

And perhaps it’s that so many adults were forced into piano lessons, or that everyone secretly fancies themselves singers, that singing along to a piano just seems to connect with everyone. So it’s not surprising that dueling pianos ignited like a gasoline soaked brushfire and quickly spread coast to coast across America into her bars, entertainment venues and nightclubs where many establishments presented dueling pianos 5 nights a week. No song was immune to our ‘adult’-erations either; many familiar songs were ‘slanted’ with hilarious double-entendres and blue innuendos; sides split and the man-child rejoiced.