History Music / Kansas

* RefrainFromAssuming: Its "Carry On Wayward Son", not "Carry On ''My'' Wayward Son".

* NotChristianRock: Some of Kerry Livgren's work before his spiritual rebirth follow this, most notably "Incomudro--Hymn to the Atman" from ''Song for America''.

* OrchestralBombing: Present in every song on the symphonic rock albums ''Works in Progress'' and ''Always Never the Same''. Very prevalent in "The Wall" on the former and "Miracles out of Nowhere" on the latter (not counting the non-rock sections, such as the preamble to "Song for America" or the orchestral, instrumental medley of Kansas songs), with both originally violin-heavy songs having [[UpToEleven even more violin usage]] plus other classical instruments.

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent: "Works in Progress" and "Always Never the Same" are much, much more symphonic than most of their work. (Normally, their style limits it to a few instruments not associated with non-progressive rock such as a violin, saxophone, or flute.)

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: Ranges from 1 ("Dust in the Wind") to 5 ("Carry On Wayward Son", "Portrait (He Knew)") with even a few 6's ("Lightning's Hand" comes to mind). "Icarus II" gets up to 7, with two heavy metal sections, as do many songs from the ''Freaks of Nature'' album.
** The opening jam the band played live before 'Child of Innocence' (a level 6 song) creeps up into level 7 territory as well, with it's proto-NWOBHM galloping rhythm and feel.

* ProgressiveRock: Perhaps most famous example to come from the United States.

* StepUpToTheMicrophone: Billy Greer on "Look at the Time" on ''Somewhere to Elsewhere'' and "Summer" on ''The Prelude Implicit'', his only lead vocals in studio [[note]]Unless you count a single line on "Cheyenne Anthem" from ''Always Never The Same''[[/note]] (see Vocal Tag Team). Robby Steinhardt has stepped away from the band on a full time basis, but does show up to sing and play violin on a couple of shows per tour.

* {{Instrumentals}}: "The Spider" from ''Point of Know Return'', "Musicatto" from ''Power'', "T.O. Witcher" from ''In The Spirit Of Things'', "Section 60" from ''The Prelude Implicit''

* EyepatchOfPower: Rich Williams wears one. [[http://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large-5/rich-williams-kansas-don-olea.jpg Behold.]]

** The opening jam the band played before 'Child of Innocence' (a level 6 song) creeps up into level 7 territory as well, with a proto-NWOBHM galloping rhythm.

* DownerEnding: "Point of Know Return" ends with the singer finding a letter from a friend from his sailing expedition. The friend "cried with fear" upon seeing the titular point of no return, and presumably disappeared into it.

* LyricsDissonance: "Point of Know Return" is a lively, up-tempo song about a sailor learning that the archaic belief that one can sail off the ends of the Earth [[AllMythsAreTrue is fact]] and evidently an extremely horrific thing to witness.

Kansas is an American ProgressiveRock band [[CaptainObvious from Topeka, Kansas.]] The band formed in 1973 and still tours in North America and Europe, though the lineup has changed over the years. They debuted with a SelfTitledAlbum in 1974 and have since become quite popular, becoming a staple on classic rock radio and having their songs played in movies and TV shows.

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: Ranges from 1 ("Dust in the Wind") to 5 ("Carry On Wayward Son", "Portrait (He Knew)") with even a few 6's ("Lightning's Hand" comes to mind). "Icarus II" gets up to 7, with two heavy metal sections.

* RefrainFromAssuming: Its "Carry On Wayward Son", not "Carry On My Wayward Son".

* CoverVersion: "Bringing It Back"[[note]]By J.J. Cale[[/note]] on ''Kansas'', "[[Music/TheBeatles Eleanor Rigby]]"[[note]]By The Beatles[[/note]] on ''Always Never The Same''. "Belexes" is an odd example. It was a song originally by Kerry Livgren's first band (also named Kansas, but the name was changed to Proto-Kaw when it was revived in the mid-naughties) and was featured on Kansas's first album. Both Kansas and Proto-Kaw play the song regularly nowadays, though the Proto-Kaw version has slightly different lyrics, and the Kansas version usually includes parts of "Lightning's Hand" when played live.

* StepUpToTheMicrophone: Billy Greer on "Look at the Time" on ''Somewhere to Elsewhere'' and "Summer" on ''The Prelude Implicit'', his only lead vocals in studio (see Vocal Tag Team). Robby Steinhardt has stepped away from the band on a full time basis, but does show up to sing and play violin on a couple of shows per tour.

* CanonDiscontinuity
** Very few "Best Of" compilations acknowledge anything past ''Drastic Measures''. Some don't acknowledge the Elefante era either. This is also reflected in their live shows. Aside from "Icarus II" and songs from the recent ''The Prelude Implicit'', you'd be hard pressed to hear them play any song later than "Fight Fire With Fire". They do make exceptions, however. ''Device Voice Drum'' featured "The Preacher" from ''In the Spirit of Things'' with a choir accompanying the chorus, and ''There's Know Place Like Home'' featured a guest appearance by Steve Morse and had some songs from albums he played in.