American Motors – “Marlboro Miles”

When I was in high school, a Marlboro beach towel or jean jacket was the mark of a real scumbag. If one of your friends had something like that, it was proof that they'd saved up their Marlboro Miles — coupons that came with each pack of smokes, which you could cash in for all sorts of scuzzy merch. Camel had something similar with Camel Cash, but Marlboro Reds were the true bad-kid cigarettes. Our society gone downhill since then in all sorts of ways, but at least tobacco companies don't have such an easy time marketing their wares to children who wanted to broadcast their rebelliousness. (If there's a vape-cartridge equivalent for Marlboro Miles, I am blissfully unaware of it.)Next month, the Lancaster, Pennsylvania band American Motors will release Functional Music, the new album of noisy, ominous music that they recorded with Jawbox legend J Robbins. We already posted lead single "No Horses," which made it onto one of our weekly best-songs lists. Today, the band shares their clangorous, laconic new song "Marlboro Miles," which glows with its own kind of dangerous appeal. Here's what band member Dustin White says about it:A single without a chorus? Why not, baby. In the times be...