Styx At The White House?

I had a sinking feeling when I woke up this morning and turned on CNN. In a scroll across the bottom of the tube it said Styx had been to the White House. For a president who is known to be a fan of more substantial music-- Dylan, Stevie Wonder, the Stones, Miles Davis, Sheryl Crow, Charlie Parker, Springsteen, Marvin Gaye, Fugees, U2-- and who once mentioned that his favorite album is Kulanjan, an album by Taj Mahal & Toumani Diabate that traces the roots of American blues to its origins in Mali-- it was a little disheartening to wake up and imagine him partying down with one of the worst of the over-wrought, overtly commercialist arena bands of a decade better forgotten, other than sickening so many people with its vapid musical output that it saw a musical rebirth through artists like The Ramones, Patti Smith, Television, Talking Heads and the Sex Pistols. OK, they're from his hometown and they sold enough "product" to have been awarded multiple gold and platinum awards. On the other hand, the most recent eBay auction for one of their gold records fetched an embarrassing $180.27.


I was relieved when I ran downstairs and checked Google News and found out they only visited the White House, the same way that countless other Midwest tourists with a little juice do. Still, I'd stick with Tony Hawks. They got a guided tour and hung out with some journalists but never got to meet the president. Hopefully Obama was too busy dealing with health care reform in a serious way to meet the Styx remnants.



If you want to hear it, music critic Michael Snyder has a "Mr. Roboto" clip up on his Mog.