Why Kansas’ ‘Dust in the Wind’ Was Controversial
TL;DR:
- Kansas’ “Dust in the Wind” was controversial in the 1970s.
- The band’s song “Carry On Wayward Son” received pushback for the same reason as “Dust in the Wind.”
- “Dust in the Wind” and “Carry On Wayward Son” were both big hits.
Some classic rock songs were controversial upon their first release. For example, Kansas’ “Dust in the Wind” received negative press in the 1970s. A member of the band felt the criticism wasn’t legitimate.
Richard Williams said Kansas’ ‘Dust in the Wind’ was a change of pace for the group
During a 2023 interview with Billboard, Kansas’ Richard Williams was asked if “Dust in the Wind” felt like a departure for the band. “Yeah, it was outside of the box of what we had done before,” he said. “It’s an acoustic song — no drums, just acoustic guitar, violin and voice. But we knew it was a great song.
“What’s funny in retrospect is that song and ‘[Carry On] Wayward Son,’ we got a lot of heat from the press as far as, ‘Oh, Kansas has sold out,'” Williams recalled. “By definition, selling out would be jumping on the mainstream trend and mimicking it. What about ‘Dust in the Wind’ was mimicking anything to do with the mainstream?”
Richard Williams said Kansas experimented with their sound and ‘stumbled into some hits’
Williams defended “Dust in the Wind.” “It was an absolute fluke that it was a big hit, extremely lucky,” he said. “Yeah, there was a much more progressive side to the band, but this was just a different type of song for us, and we liked that. Even ‘Wayward Son’ wasn’t emulating [any other] music of that time. We just stumbled into some hits.”
“Dust in the Wind” and “Carry On Wayward Son” seemed to have worked out for the band in the end. Today, those tracks are the most famous songs in Kansas’ discography by far. While the band had some other minor hits, “Dust in the Wind” and “Carry On Wayward Son” are their only hits to receive heavy airplay on classic rock stations. They’re as ubiquitous as songs by other groups of the era that were much more successful on the pop charts.
How ‘Dust in the Wind’ and ‘Carry On Wayward Son’ performed on the pop charts
Kansas’ “Dust in the Wind” reached No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the group’s sole top 10 single. The tune lasted on the chart for 20 weeks. Kansas included “Dust in the Wind” on the album Point of Know Return. That record reached No. 4 on the Billboard 200 and stayed on the chart for 51 weeks.
“Carry On Wayward Son” was slightly less popular. It hit No. 11 and stayed on the chart for 20 weeks. The song’s parent album, Leftoverture, climbed to No. 5 on the Billboard 200, remaining on the chart for 42 weeks.
“Dust in the Wind” and “Carry On Wayward Son” are both great songs even if they inspired some controversy when they were new.
