The Star Wars Cantina Band Is Underrated

It seems that every time a handful of musical acts within a genre do something remotely similar, a new subgenre is created, giving someone a chance to come up with a badass name that compartmentalizes their particular interest. This week it's chillwave and glowrock, next week it might be post-folk. Our label-obsessed culture has reached a remarkable point at which there are more subgenres than worthwhile songs.

Yet no band is truly distinctive enough to warrant an entirely new genre of music, with the possible exception of the Star Wars Cantina Band.

In spite of its distinctly futuristic sound, this remarkable group came into being a long time ago. Their instruments were state-of-the-art wonders, yet wholly analog. They worked out their sound in dive bars, but were never far from intergalactic ports. I suppose that made them proto-classical techno-lo-fi garage multi-world music.

It's unfortunate that the Star Wars Cantina Band's many contributions to the musical world have been largely overlooked. Sure, we've all seen their brief appearance in A New Hope and found ourselves wanting more, clawing at our armrests until our fingernails cracked and bled. Beyond that, however, how much do you really know?

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