howardpark/classic rock

When most people think of hugely successful albums, they think of Michael Jackson's Thriller, which spent 37 weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart. What they may not know is that Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon spent 14 years (yes, years) on the Hot 100. It may not have been #1 all that time, but no album has had greater longevity. It's the difference between a "hit" and a "classic." (By the way, I love Michael Jackson, especially when one of his old hits comes up on the dance floor.)

"Forward!" he cried from the rear
And the front rank died.
The generals sat, and the lines on the map
Moved from side to side.
....
With, without.
And who'll deny it's what the fighting's all about?

This song ("Us and Them") was written during a war in which the U.S. government invented an excuse to invade a much weaker country, caused massive death and destruction among the people they were supposedly "liberating," and got chased out by insurgents after losing thousands of soldiers, wasting hundreds of billions of dollars, and making a few military contractors very, very wealthy. Will we never learn?