It wasn’t perfect, but Chris Bandy, Cory Blackmon, Cooper Case, Mark Denman, John Frederick, and JP Stephens uploaded their home performance of Billy Joel’s classic “The Longest Time” in 2016 in order to share their love of music.

In fact, that’s the beauty of the Internet – you can perform to your heart’s content without needing an agent, a record deal, or even formal training. You just need a YouTube account.

The young men performed their a cappella cover 3 years ago, but it’s been viewed a stunning 2.2 million times, despite it being an amateur production.

Chris Bandy, who uploaded the video, explained to viewers on just how the performance came to be:

“The idea to do this originated in May 2016, when some of the guys got ahold of the arrangement and wanted to sing it for fun. I suggested that we record it since I had all the gear. We met up at my house and had 4 hours to learn and perform it from scratch. All the vocals are our actual voices. The audio is a mix of live singing and re-tracks. In post, I added snaps and claps, and did the best that I could to make everything line up, which wasn’t an easy task.”

He dubbed the vocals later, which resulted in some lag time in the video, but it was no big deal.

Of course, YouTube commenters live to pick apart every little flaw.

“I knew that the timing was a little off even before I read 500+ comments telling me that it was off,” Bandy insisted.

Frankly, it’s a great performance for a group of guys who don’t sing or edit videos professionally. But Bandy felt obligated to defend his fellow singers against some sharp criticism.

“If it sounds like one of the soloists is out of time, it is NOT his fault. All of us are able to keep rhythm, but our time constraints kept us from learning this to the point where we could perform it straight through live.”

The group got lots of kudos as well though – because they are, in fact, pretty darn good.

“Fellow music teacher here and this makes me cry. I love it! I know full well how much hard work went into this, and I know you know how far they have to go but they are doing a great job for this age!! I’ve got your back!”

After all, they were simply trying to share their appreciation for the Piano Man.

“I posted this video, not because I thought it was perfect, but because we all enjoy music, and I wanted these hard-working and talented guys to see the fruits of their labor,” Bandy said.

The rock legend’s original song is not a capella, but it’s close. The doo-wop single was released in 1984 on the album “An Innocent Man,” and according to Song Facts: “…it contains only one actual instrument – a bass guitar. Everything else is voice, finger snaps and claps.”

Since then, it’s become a popular a cappella piece and arrangements are readily available online.

The blue-clad high school students might have been a little awkward, but that’s ok – show us a group of teenagers who aren’t!

And while we’re not sure about the rest of the group, Bandy is still singing and posting ever-improving performances on his YouTube channel.

Be sure to scroll down below to see the performance for yourself.

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Source: Chris Bandy via YouTube, Song Facts