Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Styx At The White House?

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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.

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6 Comments:

At 9:21 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Styx is a good band.FU FU FU FU
The band you noted as worthy doesn't even have a record so F OFF

 
At 9:38 AM, Blogger DownWithTyranny said...

You're entitled to your opinion and your own taste. Styx is certainly popular and has many fans, as I noted. But the same could be-- and often is-- said of McDonald's and Wendy's and Burger King. Styx, at least, isn't nearly as lethal as they are.

 
At 12:20 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

He would have been better to choose REO Speedwagon or Cheap Trick if he wanted a band with Chi-town connections from that era

 
At 8:51 AM, Anonymous Gerry Mosby said...

My goodness! Yet another trash talk review of Styx, who have outlasted and outsold so many of their 70s and 80s peers. Something tells me that you are simply too ignorant a reviewer to know that there are some VERY good songs in the Styx canon. Whatever. They will go down in music history, while you'll just disappear into the ether of time: unloved; unread; unable to express anything but clique-ish, mawkish drivel. The only difference between you and Perez Hilton is that HE got his JUST dessert, while you await yours. But that's because nobody cares about you. Your comments are too vapid to care about.

 
At 7:28 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

What a radical extremist bunch of Blue Progressive hater's you are, and u have no right to critize anyone when u r a bunch of brown nosers to the Prez. Go put your head in the sand and stay there.

 
At 7:34 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

U blue dog dem's are a disgrace to our country. Wait until your Messiah screws you over. Your savior is worthless.

 

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