Are musicians just naturally cool? And, are they cooler when they sit on stage with a cig dangling from their lips, or when they have the ability to play any style of music that they can think of?

Kansas is one of the greatest rock bands of all time. And the group belongs to the latter category, creating sophisticated, complex music that wasn’t always easy for casual listeners to digest. 

The group is responsible for two of the greatest radio rock songs of all time. That much is not up for debate. But, I think, the rest of the group’s legacy deserves further investigation. Here are the real highlights by this often misunderstood band.

The 10 Greatest Songs by Kansas

10. ”People of the South Wind”

Just what kind of band was Kansas? How would you sell it to a radio show broadcaster back in the 1970s? The name might fool you into thinking this is a country-rock band. You hear the first notes, and you think of Genesis and Jethro Tull. Yet, you dig deeper, and the band can boogie like the best of them.

”People of the South Wind” almost sounds like a prog-rock disco song. The keyboards dominate the arrangement, but they’re glossy. The guitar and vocal melodies are pleasant, but slippery. And, the words and structure make this sound like a radio pop song. 

This song (likely) about Native American tribes kept the band on the charts, and can now be appreciated in the context of a fascinating discography.  

9. ”No One Together”

To Kansas and Kerry Livgren, by the time Kansas was no longer a platinum-selling probability, the group had firmly embraced its Genesis obsession, at a time when even their British prog-rock heroes were making a move to commercial pop. 

Other bands, like Marillion, were doing this as well. However, Fish brought theatricality to “No One Together,” which adds spiritual tones to the music. It’s a song best enjoyed for its complexity, and best suited for classic prog-rock admirers. 

8. ”Fight Fire with Fire” 

Every band that transitioned from guitar-powered hard rock of the 1970s into the following decade was forced to find a new route. And for almost everyone, this included making a kind of synth-pop-rock hybrid.

It’s no coincidence that the 1983 Kansas release was titled “Drastic Measures.” Yes, “Fight Fire with Fire” is a blatant attempt at creating pop music that radio programmers would notice. But this is the strongest cut of the album and, dated production aside, is a snappy single. 

7. ”Sparks of the Tempest” 

Everything came together for Kansas on “Point of Know Return,” the one album by the band that you certainly should know and own. The band had been working for a while on whipping their prog-rock tendencies into shape and into something approaching crunchy classic rock. “Sparks of the Tempest” with its melodic guitar lines and muscular vocals captured that blend very well, indeed. 

6. ”What’s On My Mind”

By the second part of the 1970s, technical proficiency could very well be a musician’s calling card for success. Kansas possessed plenty of this, along with a desire to create larger-than-life prog-rock concept albums on par with their British counterparts. 

However, “What’s on My Mind,” from the band’s 1976 album “Leftoverture,” captures the moment when the group truly learned how to incorporate punchy hard-rock into its compositions. It’s no wonder that this was the band’s first best-selling album.  

5. ”Play the Game Tonight”

It’s unfair to say that Kansas sold out. But, on the other hand, you might’ve found it hard to notice in 1983 that “Play the Game Tonight” belonged to Kansas and not any other American hard-rock band trying to bait radio play. 

Still, it’s worth noting that here the group again finds a way of balancing the sophisticated arrangements with the crunchy riffs and sing-along vocals, something that helped to prolong the band’s career. 

4. ”Portrait (He Knew)”

For a while, Steve Walsh and Kerry Livgren were locked in perfect sync. They weren’t rock n’ roll bad boys. No, they were dedicated musos. And, Livgren was becoming a card-carrying Christian around this time. 

All of this is reflected in the ode to Albert Einstein and the teachings of Christ, “Portrait (He Knew).” This was released as a single at the peak of the band’s commercial abilities. And, for a while, audiences in the U.S. were completely charmed by the band’s capacity to marry prog, pop and hard-rock. 

3. ”Point of Know Return”

I’ll admit that my first hesitation with Kansas was that the band, at least in its late 1970s heyday, sounds just too-damn good. The playing is excellent, the singing is in tune, and everything is sweet and well-measured. 

However, all of these are judged in a different light and are unique qualities. In fact, in 1977, the public decided that no other band could translate the Yes-inspired prog sound to U.S. audiences quite like Kansas. “Point of Know Return” is one of the band’s best singles. 

2. ”Carry on Wayward Son”

Rock n’ roll immortality is a two-edged sword. Sure, the intro to “Carry on Wayward Son” is one of the most recognisable sounds on classic rock radio. Yes, every kid who picks up an electric guitar aims to learn that main riff. But, it also means that a lot of people simply know the band through this rocker and one of the band’s equally famous ballads. 

It’s unfair, sure. But that’s what you get for writing something as catchy yet complex as this. Few songs that contain this level of proficiency are part of popular culture like this is. After years of hard work, Kansas hit the jackpot with “Leftoverture,” and, especially, with this song.

1. ”Dust in the Wind”

It’s a beauty, isn’t it? This is a song that somehow always feels like it existed somewhere in the stratosphere, and also, like one whose qualities have never been equalled. 

And, yes, in many ways, this sounds nothing like any other song by Kansas. The group never tried to duplicate this epochal power ballad. 

The key to the song is the philosophical lyrics, some of the darkest of any hit song of the 1970s, together with that supremely imaginative, picked guitar arrangement. 

This was a Top 10 in the U.S. and is often covered by performers trying to express their more tender side. But, in truthfulness, I think that the original performance captured on record is lightning in a bottle, something so special that it can never be duplicated. “Dust in the Wind” was the greatest song by Kansas, and it remains a real gem of a song.