We Burnt These Cities With Rock and Roll: 10 Great Songs about City Destruction

By Lauren Maas
October 3rd, 2008

Here’s a list of what happens when rock takes aim at your favorite town.

“London Calling” by The Clash

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City Destroyed: London, England
Method of Destruction: Environmental–predictions of impending ice age, floods, nuclear error, etc–all triggered by underground punk rock movement. Without question, the seminal song of a city on the verge of extinction.

“Miami 2017 (I’ve Seen The Lights Go Out on Broadway)” by Billy Joel

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City Destroyed: New York, New York
Method of Destruction: Borough-by-borough implosions/explosions for unclear reasons. He later performed it live for a 9/11 tribute concert, telling the crowd “I wrote that song 25 years ago. I thought it was going to be a science fiction song; I never thought it would happen. But unlike the end of that song, we ain’t going anywhere!”

“The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” by The Band

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City Destroyed: Richmond and Petersburg, Virginia
Method of Destruction: The Civil War. The Band revisits actual historical event with extreme nostalgia and Richard Manuel’s piano chords. The South Will Rise Again!

“California Earthquake” by Mama Cass

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City Destroyed: Los Angeles, California
Method of Destruction: Mama calls for the crumbling of the City of Angels with a hearty tip of the Richter scale. She also imagines her own demise, with the repeated chorus “So that may be/ that may be/what’s gonna happen to me/ that’s the way it appears.” A country-flavored tour-de-force, it ends with eerie sirens and wails of the tremor’s victims.

“Godzilla” by Blue Oyster Cult

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City Destroyed: Tokyo, Japan
Method of Destruction: Go-go-godzilla! The giant green lizard throws Tokyo into a tailspin. And teaches us a good moral lesson: “History shows again and again/how nature points out the folly of men.”

“Panic” by The Smiths

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City Destroyed: Multi-city destruction in the UK and Ireland (London, Birmingham, Leeds, Carlisle, Dublin, Dundee, Humberside).
Method of Destruction: Arson/ New Wave riots led by Morrissey. In particular, the hanging of all dee-jays who play songs that say nothing about our lives. The first time self-involvement managed to join forces under the banner of musical revolution.

“My City Was Gone” by The Pretenders

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City Destroyed: Akron, Ohio
Method of Destruction: Over-development and pollution. Chrissy Hynde returns to her native town to find that not just the expected landmarks and familiar faces, but her family and her childhood home, have vanished. Rush Limbaugh later adopted this song as the intro for his radio program.

“Paris is Burning” by St. Vincent

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City Destroyed: Paris, France
Method of Destruction: Burning (obviously), during WWII, but whether by the hands of Nazis or Parisian citizens is up for debate in the lyrics: “We are sorry to report/dear Paris is burning after all.”

“Attack of the Giant Ants” by Blondie

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City Destroyed: Tokyo, Japan (again)
Method of Destruction: GIANT ANTS!!! Poor Tokyo can’t catch a break when it comes to mutant creatures from another planet. By far the most fun and chipper song to ever include the words: “The world is holocaust/Everything is lost/Mankind is destroyed/Sprinkled in the void/Lalalalalalalalalala.”

“Werewolves of London” by Warren Zevon

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City Destroyed: London, England (with specific mention of neighborhoods Mayfair and Kent)
Method of Destruction: Although he’ll “rip your lungs out,” this is one cool “hairy-handed gent” that’s terrorizing London. I mean, how many times have you seen a werewolf drinking a pina colada at Trader Vic’s with perfectly styled hair?

Honorable Mentions: “Enola Gay” OMD, “Atlantic City” Bruce Springsteen, “Cities in Dust” Siouxsie and the Banshees, “Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll” Blue Oyster Cult, “My Old School” Steely Dan, “Istanbul (Not Constantinople)” The Four Lads, “Russians” Sting, “Spanish Bombs” The Clash, “Blitzkreig Bop” The Ramones.

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COMMENTS (7)

Rion said:

You forgot the Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky

Joshua Ludd said:

Oh come on… Aenima by Tool, obviously.

Steve Elliott (alapoet) said:

Fun list!

I’d somehow missed that Mama Cass song, and I’m a fan of hers. I must find it!

Daytripper69 said:

You didn;t mention “If You’re Going to San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Some Flowers In Your Hair)” By Scott McKenzie. That song has done more to ruin the street environment of San Francisco than anything else in the last century including the Earthquake of 1906. Ever since, the City of St. Francis has been paying for John Phillips (and McKenzie’s) LA visions of “Summertime be[ing] a love-in there” and “you’re gonna meet some gentle people there”- The Summer of Love was no more than a misguided self-promotion that backfired for a few San Francisco bands, & hey, the people here get as grumpy as they do anyplace else, especially when these people (two whole generations worth, by now) keep coming here, camping on the stoops and streets, some came in the sixties and never left, and have evolved into shopping-cart shoving chronic homeless. Please, universe, know how much we San Franciscans despise Mr. Phillips and McKenzie for helping to create our urine-soaked sidewalks and our syringe-riddled parks! OK?

AB said:

“Werewolves of London”? Really? That one’s not about the destruction of London; it’s about a werewolf strutting around London without destroying it.

Otherwise, nice list. “Arson/New Wave riots led by Morrissey” — think that might be the best one-line summary of a Smiths song I’ve ever come across.

design said:

London calling a great song by the Clash.

Ian said:

You forgot the song that you took the name of this list from (somewhat)..”Cities on Fire with Rock and Roll” - Blue Oyster Cult