KANSAS - How A Simple Fingerpicking Exercise Landed The Band Their Only Top 10 Hit; PROFESSOR OF ROCK Investigates (Video)
December 20, 2024, 23 hours ago
Professor Of Rock has shared the new video below, along with the following message:
"Today’s classic band, Kansas, was coming off a massive rock hit 'Carry On Wayward Son' and album Leftoveture and needed to keep the momentum going. And the answer came in one of the most unlikely hits of the 70s, 'Dust In The Wind'. First of all, the song was a simple fingerpicking exercise that the guitarist Kerry Livgren was working on to get more limber. As he was playing it, his wife commented on how great the song was and that’s when Kerry laughed and explained it was just a simple exercise. But his wife told him he should put lyrics to it. Kerry was worried about showing the band this crazy idea, it didn’t fit their sound at all and it wasn’t even really a song! But against his better judgment, he listened to his wife and put some lyrics to it. But not just any lyrics, words from a 6000-year-old book. So he played it for the band and they all knew it had to be their next single. It was not an easy song to record though, it made Kerry's fingers bleed and lead singer Steve Walsh had to pull the emotional vocal from deep in his soul... it was a revelation. It became Kansas’s only Top 10 hit and is one of the most famous songs of all time. Up next, an interview with the band on the unbelievable story."
