Rolling Stone Recognizes El Paso Band, But Not With the Song You’d Expect

If you read Rolling Stone's list of the top 200 Greatest Songs of the 21st Century So Far, you'll find a myriad of great names that deserve to be included. One of the biggest surprises, in my opinion, is seeing one of El Paso's most well-known bands to make the list.

El Paso's At The Drive-In made the Top 200 Greatest Songs of the 21st Century

Makes total sense in our opinion. Their most popular album, Relationship of Command, was released on September 14, 2000. The band was featured on David Letterman & Conan O'Brien, the album itself made several greatest album lists from Kerrang!, Decibel, MTV2.

So it's not surprising that Rolling Stone would pick a song from this album Right? Maybe "One Armed Scissor" ? Arguably the song most people associate with the album, and it even made appearances in several video games.

Well... not quite!

It was a surprise to see that the ATDI song that ACTUALLY made the list was "Arcarsenal", which appeared at No. 166.

Rolling Stone described the song as one that "truly felt like a band firing on all cylinders...offers the best introduction to the power coursing through the album, functioning as a forceful call to action to break from societal conformity.".

Honestly...after listening to the whole album many times...I absolutely agree. It's a really good choice.

What Other El Paso Bands Would We Have Loved to See on Rolling Stone's Top 200 List?

I personally love that At the Drive-In made the list...but oh, we definitely have a few of our own picks! One band that immediately comes to mind is The Mars Volta. I think "The Widow" would've been a surefire addition, considering it reached No. 95 on the Billboard Hot 100. Another great contender would've been "Wax Simulacra," which won the Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance in 2009.

Sparta would've been another great inclusion. My personal pick would've been "Taking Back Control," which was featured in the movie The Invisible.

Of course, these are just our opinions! We still want to thank Rolling Stone for recognizing an El Paso band in its list. Seeing a band from the Sun City receive that kind of recognition is something worth celebrating, and we'd love to see more of it!

If you were putting together a list of the greatest rock songs of the 21st century, which El Paso band and song would YOU include? Let us know through our mobile app!