Season 7's "Built to Kill: Part 1" is the type of Vegas-centric thriller episode only CSI could deliver. For example, one of the episode's cases involves a flower delivery woman somehow crushed to death during a Cirque du Soleil performance. Honestly, it's the usual vision of Sin City seen through the twisted imagination of CSI. And we'd initially think that with such a direct link to the entertainment business in the episode, the case somehow involves Mayer as perhaps a suspect or a witness who happened to be at the wrong place at the right time. None of that occurs for the artist, as he only appears as himself playing in a Vegas bar where CSI members Catherine Willows (Marg Helgenberger) and Nick Stokes (George Eads) happen to be blowing off some steam.
The two characters share a dance while Mayer plays "Waiting on the World to Change." Mayer also follows up that song with a deep-cut performance of "Slow Dancing in a Burning Room." Both tracks appear on Mayer's third album, "Continuum," which was released the same month and year "Built to Kill" aired. That timing might explain Mayer's discreet appearance. As some fans on YouTube reminisced, the scene served as an excellent introduction for "CSI" fans to Mayer's music.
With "CSI" as a ratings juggernaut for CBS during the early aughts, having your music played in the show was a clever use of some entertainment cross-promotion. Also, let's factor in that "Built to Kill" was the Season 7 premiere episode, which was guaranteed to have many fans watching. We're already starting to see where some of the sales of "Continuum" might have come from.
