30 Day Music Challenge: Day 24

A song by a band you wish was still together.

I spent some time thinking about this. My first thought was “Blood and Roses” by The Smithereens…but they’re still together. So I guess I should be happy about that, but perhaps it just means that I really don’t care about them if they’re together as much as I did when I thought they had broken up. Which should cast doubt on anything I subsequently pick today: If I can pick a Smithereens song because I thought they were broken up, it means I wish they were still together, presumably because I miss their stuff…only to realize they’re still around, so I don’t really miss it as much as I thought.

So, I went back to a band I KNOW is long gone. The band I’m going with was essentially engineered into life, but unlike so many created bands, they changed everything. Malcolm McLaren, a visionary in his own right, saw the oncoming Punk scene, and harnessed it. Punk as a movement began as a rejection of the establishment at a time that (here in the US) the establishment represented involvement in Vietnam and Watergate. It was the rejection of the mainstream and glam rock. I suppose it was perfectly predictable that a band built on such anti-social principles would implode, but it would have been interesting to see just how the Sex Pistols would have evolved, how they would have behaved: would they continue to reject the establishment or would they become the establishment, like Green Day?

My pick is “Anarchy In The UK,” a song I to this day will blare while driving, only these days I’m driving a late model Swedish sedan…kind of a perfect exemplar of the reason you can’t remain anti-establishment for very long.

Wisdom of Crowds picks:

“Bohemian Rhapsody” Queen

“Love Ballad” LTD

“Voodoo Child” Stevie Ray Vaughn

“People of the Sun” Rage Against the Machine

“And I love her”  The Beatles

“In The Evening” Led Zeppelin

“ The Old Apartment” Barenaked Ladies

“Queen Of The Reich” Queensryche

“Brothers in Arms” Dire Straits

“Songbird” Fleetwood Mac

“Planetary (GO!)” My Chemical Romance