# First reaction: "The band played on." **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 23, 2016, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-reaction-the-band-played-on/769505 "2016-10-23T18:39:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-reaction-the-band-played-on/769505/21 "2016-10-24T01:40:51Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > The Randy Shilts book about the early days of the AIDS epidemic. This, > [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](#): > > “…He’d glide cross the floor with the girl he adored, > And the band played on…” and then, this. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-reaction-the-band-played-on/769505/22 "2016-10-24T01:57:00Z")
The sinking of the _Titanic._ ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-reaction-the-band-played-on/769505/23 "2016-10-24T02:19:40Z")
> [@Baal\_Houtham](#): > > That’s my answer. Very good book. I guess it helped to… be there. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-reaction-the-band-played-on/769505/24 "2016-10-24T02:38:23Z")
> [@Reluctant\_A](#): > > None of the above: my first reaction is that scene from _Titanic_. Same here; I’ve been a Titanic buff since the 7th Grade, where our school library had a copy of Walter Lord’s _A Night To Remember._ I’ve of course heard of the actual meaning of the term since then, but to me, the first/foremost recall is the Titanic’s band. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-reaction-the-band-played-on/769505/25 "2016-10-24T02:57:23Z")
The Ramdy Shilts book (and nothing else). ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-reaction-the-band-played-on/769505/26 "2016-10-24T03:53:41Z")
First thing that came to mind was “And the band played on as the helicopters whirred. Drunk on the lawn in a nuclear dawn, my senses finally blurred.” Apparently that’s the beginning of “The Drinking Song” by Moxy Fruvous. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-reaction-the-band-played-on/769505/27 "2016-10-24T04:07:40Z")
The Randy Shilts book is the _second_ thing I think of, and if you’d asked me back in the 80s or 90s, closer to the time the book came out, it’d probably be the first thing. In college, I did a lot of AIDS activism. I remember when the “=” sign on people cars wasn’t just a generic gay rights thing, but part of the statement “Silence = Death.” I came out as bisexual when I was 21, and went to the GLB (that’s as far as the letters went then) group on campus, so I had a lot of gay male friends. I also had a lesbian friend who was HIV+ and had sex with one boy in high school in 1981. They were both virgins, but the AIDS counselor insisted he must have lied to her, and that was where she got AIDS, in spite of the fact that her last girlfriend was already dead from AIDS. The counselor said she (the girlfriend, that is) must have gotten it from a man as well, and it was just a coincidence that both had it. This was like, 1989. The bad ol’ days. ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-reaction-the-band-played-on/769505/28 "2016-10-24T04:18:46Z")
Love and Rockets cover of “Ball of Confusion”. (One of my favorite bands during college.) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/NcfXWtI7ML0/maxresdefault.jpg "Love and Rockets - Ball Of Confusion. HD") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcfXWtI7ML0) ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-reaction-the-band-played-on/769505/29 "2016-10-24T06:10:48Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > The Randy Shilts book about the early days of the AIDS epidemic. My first thought as well. If I start to muse on why Shilts chose that particular title, an image of the _Titanic_ would come to mind. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-reaction-the-band-played-on/769505/30 "2016-10-24T08:02:10Z")
Titanic. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-reaction-the-band-played-on/769505/31 "2016-10-24T11:01:30Z")
Ball of Confusion. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-reaction-the-band-played-on/769505/32 "2016-10-24T11:40:07Z")
In my mind I hear the song and picture a ship sinking - not really the scene from the movie but my own vision of it. However \*now \*I have _Ball of Confusion_ stuck in my head, so thanks all for that :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![MikeF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-reaction-the-band-played-on/769505/33 "2016-10-24T18:09:44Z")
Another “vote” for Ball of Confusion. I’m surprised it wasn’t an option in the poll. ---
**Author:** ![that\_darn\_cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/59ef9b/32.png) [@that\_darn\_cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/that_darn_cat)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-reaction-the-band-played-on/769505/34 "2016-10-24T18:13:07Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > First thing that came to mind was “And the band played on as the helicopters whirred. > Drunk on the lawn in a nuclear dawn, my senses finally blurred.” > > Apparently that’s the beginning of “The Drinking Song” by Moxy Fruvous. This. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-reaction-the-band-played-on/769505/35 "2016-10-24T19:34:51Z")
The Randy Shilts book. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-reaction-the-band-played-on/769505/36 "2016-10-24T19:42:23Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > First thing that came to mind was “And the band played on as the helicopters whirred. > Drunk on the lawn in a nuclear dawn, my senses finally blurred.” > > Apparently that’s the beginning of “The Drinking Song” by Moxy Fruvous. Thank you. That’s just the thing that first came to my mind, but I couldn’t figure out where it was from. The next thing that came to mind was the Randy Shilts book. ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-reaction-the-band-played-on/769505/37 "2016-10-24T22:30:43Z")
The Randy Shilts book, though I wasn’t really near the LGBT community. Honestly, I think It was more a shared outrage over the Neocons and the Reagan Revolution. ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-reaction-the-band-played-on/769505/38 "2016-10-25T18:06:31Z")
Ball of Confusion. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-reaction-the-band-played-on/769505/39 "2016-10-25T19:00:59Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > Second reaction after [“Ball of Confusion.”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmRsWdK0PRI) My first reaction, “Ball of Confusion”. I heard the original Temptations song for the first time ever last week, I’d always thought it was just Love and Rockets. (don’t hit me, I was too young for the original). ---
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-reaction-the-band-played-on/769505/40 "2016-10-25T22:07:11Z")
> [@Pai325](#): > > I immediately think of Casey Would Waltz with the Strawberry Blonde. Me too. Never heard of any of the other choices that have been mentioned here. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-reaction-the-band-played-on/769505.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-reaction-the-band-played-on/769505.md?page=3)