Carry On, My Wayward Son, Dust In The Wind, And Other Unpleasantness

We had a few beers after work today to celebrate another successful 24 Death Pool, and to my astonishment the future Commish took the position that Kansas was a great rock group and Carry On, My Wayward Son and Dust in the Wind are great rock songs. I have to admit this caused my considerable respect for the future Commish to plummet, because any right-thinking rock music fan knows that those are two of the worst songs ever recorded by one of the most overrated rock bands ever to feign a power chord. The pompous lyrics, the droning music, the uninspired guitar work featured in Dust in the Wind and Carry On, My Wayward Son are like the ’70s “power rock” equivalent of the worst George Harrison sitar songs of the ’60s. There’s a reason that Dust in the Wind was mentioned to Socrates in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, and it wasn’t because it was a great song — it was because it was a joke, then and now.

I hated Kansas albums, Dust in the Wind, and Carry On, My Wayward Son back in the ’70s when they were first released because they were like a stereo tooth drilling, without Novocaine. They haven’t improved with age.