The Unexpected Reason Anthony Bourdain Would Fire His Employees In The Kitchen

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In the "Cook's Tour" episode in which he famously eats a cobra heart, Anthony Bourdain can be seen wearing a Jane's Addiction t-shirt. He wore a Ramones cutoff tee while boating down the Mekong River in Vietnam in another episode, and later dedicated his 2006 book "The Nasty Bits" to Joey, Johnny, and Dee Dee Ramone. Throughout the course of his decades-long on-screen career, Bourdain used his platform to further elevate his favorite musicians, dining with Anton Newcombe of The Brian Jonestown Massacre and breaking bread with Iggy Pop. Morgan Neville's 2021 Bourdain biopic is even titled "Roadrunner" after an eponymous Modern Lovers song beloved by the chef. Neville followed the film's release with a 302-track playlist of more of Bourdain's personal favorite tunes, from Plastic Bertrand to Curtis Mayfield to Johnny Thunders. Despite a heavy inclination toward punk, Bourdain had a decidedly eclectic music taste — but no (we repeat, no) Billy Joel, ever.

While Bourdain worked as an executive chef, grooving out to Billy Joel songs in his kitchen was considered a fireable offense. As the chef-slash-writer shared in an episode of Canadian talk program "The Marilyn Denis Show" (season 7 episode 40), "I had this 'Billy Joel rule' that, if you worked in my kitchen, I heard you visibly enjoying Billy Joel, you were fired," spoken smilingly but matter-of-factly. "That's just a long-term, festering problem that has to be nipped in the bud," Bourdain punctuates. "I just can't work with you."

While he was likely being facetious about any actual firing, Bourdain is quick to admit that, since publicly sharing his "rule," he had met Billy Joel and "We're friendly. We've had dinner and drinks a few times, and he knows [about the rule]." He goes on to share a story in which the singer reportedly "kept naming songs" to verify Bourdain's animus ("'You don't like 'Uptown Girl?” No, I hate that song").

In a Reddit thread postulating about Bourdain's outspoken disinclination toward Joel's music, one fan points out, "[M]any New Yorkers despise Joel because of his overexposure and plainly obvious efforts to be a mascot for the city. Which, if you know anything about New Yorkers, that kind of ingratiating behavior will land you on the s**t list." Others agree, noting that Billy Joel was "played non stop in the 70's and 80's."

Meanwhile, Bourdain wrote a piece titled "Eat to the Beat" for Spin magazine in 2007, detailing his firsthand experience of Punk Volume One exploding across New York City's East Village in the 1970s. His tastes lied elsewhere. Friends even teased Bourdain for his smooth-rock aversion. "Questlove made a playlist for Anthony Bourdain, because Bourdain would come on the show all the time and he would say, 'Dude, don't play any of this yacht rock crap when I come out,'" Jimmy Fallon shared in 2018 (via Parade). "And then Questlove would just play, like, Billy Joel."