In 1980 my brother picked up Styx's Paradise Theater. I was 8 and Styx became the first current (I was already a Beatles/Stevie Wonder/Elvis fan) band I got into.

Years went by and I dismissed the band as cheesy, understandably, after Mr. Roboto. Their style is totally dated, ridiculous, operatic, big lame 70's rock, and I was becoming a cool teenager, with an interest in less over the top styles--like Prince!

I recently drove up top SF from LA and I had nothing to listen to but 25 year old tapes, including the old Paradise Theater. I was laughing at Dennis De Young's vibrato, and the delivery of lyrics like "these are the best...OF TIMES!!!!!"

But I was also struck at how I had to admit I still liked the damn songs. They were really catchy, really well played, produced. I started Youtubing some of their other stuff (Cornerstone, Equinox) and found it's the same. Very cheesy, dated, and fun as hell. Music is still cheesy, but musicians today don't seem to have the technique that Styx did. They wrote decent lyrics, melody, and had great arrangements. I guess it's a little like Broadway for better or worse.

I know they're terrible, but they're fucking awesome!
[Edited 2/1/10 12:32pm]

I love them! Their music is tight as hell and I respect that about them

He does sound like a witch though

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

Or a goat "I a-a-a-am the mo-o-o-odern ma-a-a-an"

I always liked the song "Too Much Time On My Hands"

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

I guess it's a little like Journey, who I was never a fan of. I think the style is cheesy, but a song like Babe is so well constructed, with the guitar solo/key change. It's really effective. And the songs have personality.

It's something not enough artists are willing to try--being ridiculous. I'm tired of artists only being cool.

SoulAlive said:

Yeah that is a great tune!

I thought some of the lines like...
"I've given up hope
for the afternoon soap
and a bottle of cold brew"
...was clever & very catchy.

But I was listening to it thinking "he doesn't know what the line 'is it any wonder' means!

he keeps saying "is it any wonder I'm not a criminal?" "is it any wonder I'm not crazy" which is not the proper use of the phrase. He should be saying "it's a wonder I'm not a criminal." He keeps saying it wrong in the verses until he finally says "is it any wonder I'm null & void?"

But eh I'm just nit-picking.

thanks to this thread,I'm gonna pull out my 'Best of Styx' CD when I get home from work

I'd never heard this one, and it shows how musical these guys were. It's way different from their normal stuff, different instrumentation even, but it's flawless.

Plus you got Tommy Shaw looking like an ugly chick, and Dennis De Young rocking the 'fro & 'stache!


[Edited 2/1/10 12:55pm]

Here you can see where they come across as a poor-man's Queen
notice the horrible harmonies at about 3:30 Awesome!

[Edited 2/1/10 13:02pm]

Styx (the lineup with DeYoung and Shaw) had the best harmonies to rival Queen, i have never heard many others that could go higher than Tommy Shaw. Even the lineup now without DeYoung is very good, Lawrence Gowan is a great musician, as are the rest.

yeah i like them.

Paradise Theatre was IT for me in 1981/ I love Half-Penny/Two-Penny. Just crank that one up during the coda...and it all makes perfect sense.

Hell, ain't nothing wrong with liking Styx, they were great.

80s pop/rock classic of the day: "Too Much Time On My Hands" by Styx (1981)

Some of their stuff goes beyond prog rock. This song almost approaches funky with the horn section, and almost approaches reggae with the beat during the guitar solo.

and again, the horns & beat hint at something in the funk spectrum beyond progressive rock, cool synths in the middle section, ridiculous vibrato from Dennis, who, nevertheless can hit some notes.

fms said:

It helps to sing the lyrics with a fake British accent

"half penny two penny gold krugerrand..."

BEST. BEHIND. THE. MUSIC. EVER!!!!

i was rollin'.

I remember their "Behind the Music" too, funny shit.

But some of their music is actually cool lol

kibbles said:

ah, man I never saw that. I need to see if it's on youtube
what's their drama? They don't like each other? Seems like a pretty scandal-free group to me

Timmy84 said:

it's so over the top cheesy it's easy to overlook that some of it really is good

NDRU said:

Yeah. They have some real cheesy shit. "Mr. Roboto" still sucks lol

Timmy84 said:

yeah it was a huge hit and probably single-handedly ended the prime time of their career.

In fact, it just may be the stupidest song of all time!

Timmy84 said:

You should catch a recent DeYoung interview on YouTube where the interviewer asks about that behind the music. Dennis was basically scumbagged by vh1, they allowed the band seperate updated interviews after hearing what he was saying, which is not the way its done, notice in that Behind the Music, Dennis has one look, and Tommy Shaw in one interview is clean shaven then he has a goatee all of a sudden, a really crappy way to do business on Vh1's part, but hey, MTV owns them and they made that Snooki girl a star, so dont put anything past them

lastdecember said:

Yeah I figured there were some fuck-ups during that show.

Oh, my, watching them try to act that Kilroy shit in front of an angry mob is hilarious

NDRU said:

no, apparently there was all sorts of drama going on.

they used to be a solid rock band, but when dennis came on the scene, they drifted from that to the cheese that we all know and love. yeah, it made them a lot of money, but as tommy(?) said, he had to 'self-medicate' just to get thru the sets. there is also the strong intimation that de young is 'closeted'.

it's hard to explain, but if you do find it on youtube, you'll be sorry you didn't see it before!

kibbles said:

I watched it yesterday. It's a weird position to be in, Dennis was a founding member, gave them their only #1 song, but I can see their point that his stuff can be very syrupy. Was very interesting to learn he'd been briefly fired from the band in 79 or 80

Still I think it's a little unfair, as Tommy did some syrupy stuff himself. I got the feeling they'd actually like to be playing together, but that there is still stupid pride preventing it.

NDRU said:

The stuff about him being all about ballads and stuff was crap, always was. Thats what Vh1 made it to be, this was conflicting ego's, Dennis for the record is one of 3 founding members, the Pannozzo brothers Chuck and John, one passed in 1996, one has been HIV positive since 1998, but this was egos gone wild, and no one able to control the egos. Styx was ready to tour in 1999 for "Brave New World" but anyone who owns or has heard that record knows, that Tommy and Dennis, though on tracks together never were in a studio at all, Dennis was doing a musical and that started the shit again that festered from back in 1984, Tommy and JY like the whole "band" thing, Dennis is more of create it in the studio and let it go, hes a loner, like it was said he is the Brian Wilson of Styx. So though ballads may have caused a little riff, it was not the cause of Dennis getting the boot, because Tommy writes his own share of ballads and did it when Dennis was there, it was the "dictation" from Dennis that didnt sit well.