STYX through the years

Wooden Nickel years


The band's Wooden Nickel recordings, Styx (1972), Styx II (1973), The Serpent Is Rising (also 1973) and Man of Miracles (1974), were a mixture of straight-ahead rock with some dramatic prog-rock flourishes and art-rock aspirations. The Serpent Is Rising would foreshadow later endeavors by the group—the so-called concept album would be a medium upon which Styx would rely heavily by the 1980s.
On the strength of these releases and constant playing in local
clubs and schools, the band established a fan base in the Chicago area,
but was unable to break into the mainstream until an earlier song, the power ballad "Lady" (from Styx II), began to earn some radio time, first on WLS
in Chicago and then nationwide. In the spring of 1975, nearly two years
after the album had been released, "Lady" hit the top ten, and Styx II went gold soon after.

Styx II is the second album by Styx, released in 1972 (see 1972 in music). After Styx moved to A&M Records and achieved national success in the United States, the album was reissued in 1980 by their prior label, Wooden Nickel, under the title Lady in with new artwork--which is not to be confused with a Styx compilation album that was later released with the same name. (LADY hit # 6 on the charts in 1975)

STYX - "You Need Love"/"Lady"
(1. "You Need Love" (DeYoung) -- 3:44 & 2. "Lady" (DeYoung) -- 2:56


Styx - Lady (2007??) still rocking better than ever!

Man of Miracles is the fourth album by Styx, released in 1974. (Pre-Tommy Shaw days)
It was reissued in 1980 with new artwork and a new title, Miracles. In
addition, the track listing changed, with the cover song "Lies" being
replaced with a previously unreleased DeYoung composition entitled
"Unfinished Song".

"Christopher, Mr. Christopher" (D. DeYoung) – 4:02
(This first 1:35 minute part of this video, about Criss Angel, includes a section of this song About St. Christopher)




Styx - Man of miracles

Equinox is the fifth album by Styx, released in 1975 (see 1975 in music).

Equinox was released in December of 1975.

The album was the band's first release for A&M Records(whom they signed to earlier in 1975 after the unexpected success of the single "Lady").

The album also marked the final appearance of original Styx guitarist John Curulewski who left abruptly following the release of Equinox. The band went into a frantic search to find a replacement for their upcoming tour to
support Equinox. Soon after, they found Tommy Shaw.

The album's biggest hit was the track "Lorelei" which was Styx's second US Top 30 hit. Its most famous song was "Suite Madame Blue" which was written about the upcoming Bicentennial of the US and the track would be a staple for all Styx tours with Dennis DeYoung save the 1981/82 Paradise Theater tour.

Although Equinox stalled at #58, it would go Gold in 1977 shortly before the release of The Grand Illusion.

Styx Lorelei from the Return to Paradise tour 1996



Styx - Suite Madame Blue Live 1996

Crystal Ball is the sixth album by Styx, released in 1976 (see 1976 in music).

This album marked the recording debut of new guitarist Tommy Shaw. The track "Mademoiselle" was Tommy Shaw's vocal debut and the album's Top 40 hit.

The album's title track would become a concert staple for the band as it was performed on every subsequent Styx tour that Shaw was involved with.

"Shooz" was co-written by Shaw and James Young. The bluesy rocker had Shaw on slide guitar while Young contributed a Hendrix-like solo to the middle of the track after Shaw's slide solo.

"This Old Man" was a song that DeYoung wrote for his father and the impact his dad had on his life.

Debussy's classical piece "Clair De Lune" was served as the intro to the album's closing track Ballerina. The version of "Clair De Lune" on Crystal Ball just had DeYoung on piano and changed the key from D flat to C as the next track ("Ballerina") started in C minor.

Although the album stalled at #66 upon its 1976 release, it would go Gold in 1978 after the success of the next album The Grand Illusion.


The styx song "Mademoiselle" with pictures of Paris and London




STYX [ JENNIFER ] AUDIO-TRACK.




Styx - Crystal Ball Live 1996

The Grand Illusion is the seventh album by Styx, released in 1977 (see 1977 in music). It became the band's first Triple Platinum album, and spawned the Top 10 hit "Come Sail Away" and the Top 30 hit "Fooling Yourself".

The album was the subject of an episode of the US radio show In the Studio with Redbeard featuring interviews with several band members. According to lead singer Dennis DeYoung, the album's theme was the struggle to overcome self-deluding superficiality in order to affirm one's genuine value. This theme was reflected in the lyrics of the album's title track:

so if you think your life's complete confusion
'cause your neighbor's got it made
just remember that it's a grand illusion
and deep inside we're all the same

DeYoung also revealed that the title of The Grand Illusion had been considered dating back to the 1975 album Equinox.

The track "Miss America" was guitarist James Young's scathing attack on the Miss America pageants. Young, in his interview on the In the Studio program, said the track came to him in the middle of the night and that its riff was inspired by the Jethro Tull song "Minstrel in the Gallery".


Styx - Grand Illusion Live 1996



Styx - Fooling Yourself Live 1996



Styx - Dennis DeYoung "Come Sail Away" 1983




Styx - Come Sail Away Live 1996




Styx 1981 - Miss America




Styx - Miss America Live 1996




Man in the Wilderness




Castle Walls - Styx - Dark Crystal Footage

Throughout high school, Styx was the band for my boyfriend and me...especially Babe!

Pieces of Eight is the eighth album by Styx, released September 1, 1978 (see 1978 in music).

The album was the band's follow-up to their Triple Platinum selling The Grand Illusion album. The band members produced the album and recorded it (like their previous three efforts) at Paragon Studios in Chicago with recording engineer Barry Mraz and mixing engineer Rob Kingsland.

The theme of the album, as Dennis DeYoung explained on In the Studio with Redbeard which devoted an entire episode to Pieces of Eight, was about "not giving up your dreams just for the pursuit of money and material
possessions".

Eight of the album's ten tracks have vocals, and it features two instrumentals, the DeYoung synthesizer showcase "The Message" and Tommy Shaw's closing "Aku-Aku" (although for the latter, there was one lyric spoken, the title of the song).

The album's cover was done by Hipgnosis.

DeYoung stated in the same 1991 interview with Redbeard on the In the
Studio episode for the album that he initially hated the cover but grew
to like it as he got older.

The album peaked at #6 on the Billboard album chart, and like its predecessor would go Triple Platinum.

STYX - "GREAT WHITE HOPE"




Sing for the Day/Lights live PA 2001 (Lights from another album)




Styx - Blue Collar Man Live 1996




STYX - "Queen of Spades"




Styx: Renegade LIVE!




Dennis DeYoung formerly of Styx "Pieces of Eight" (2006)

They are one of my all time favorate bands!

Mostly when Tommy Shaw joined them.

I am trying to stay away from song versions that have Dennis DeYoung's replacement. DDY started the band and when he had healh issues, in 1999, the group went on without him. Some of these show where he got back together with the group for a special concert.

Cornerstone is the ninth album by Styx, released in 1979 (see 1979 in music).

Cornerstone was Styx's follow-up to the Top 10 selling Triple Platinum album, 1978's Pieces of Eight.

Like the four previous Styx effort, the band produced the album themselves. However, the band started using a new recording studio Pumpkin Studios in Oak Lawn, Illinois and shied away from the art-rock/prog-rock influences that dominated their first eight studio albums.

The album was the band's first move towards pop/rock direction.

Dennis DeYoung had two ballads on the album. The first was the album's first single and Styx's only US #1 single "Babe" which Dennis wrote for his wife Suzanne. The track performed as demo with just him and the Panozzo brothers but then James Young and Tommy Shaw heard the track and decided to put it on Cornerstone with Shaw overdubbing a guitar solo in the song's middle section. Another ballad was "First Time" which was intended to be Cornerstone's second single until Shaw complained and threated to leave the band. "Borrowed Time" was released instead, reaching #63 on the charts. DeYoung also wrote the Top 30 hit, the poppish "Why Me", which was the third single release from the album. Dennis pre-dominantly used a Fender Rhodes electric piano on half of the tracks.

DeYoung and Shaw co-wrote two tracks. The opening "Lights" was music by DeYoung and lyrics by Shaw (who sang the track). The rocking "Borrowed Time" had music by Shaw with lyrics from DeYoung (who sang this track). "Borrowed Time" would open concerts on the group's tour in support of Cornerstone nicknamed The Grand Decathlon tour.

Shaw's famous song on the album was the folkish sounding "Boat on the River" which became the band's biggest European hit. He also penned the poppish "Never Say Never" and the epic closer "Love in the Midnight," which has been sampled to create the hip-hop song "The Streets been good to me" by the artist Maino, on the album "Death before Dishonor".

JY contributed the rocker "Eddie" which was a homage to Edward Kennedy.

Cornerstone became Styx's first US Top 5 album peaking at #2 on the Billboard album chart and is currently sitting at Double Platinum according to the R.I.A.A. although A&M said it went Triple Platinum (3 million copies sold in the US).

"Lights" - see earlier song group.

Styx - Babe (original '79)

Spoiler:

Styx - Boat On The River Live 1996



Styx 81 - Borrowed Time




STYX - First Time



Shaw/Blades Love in the Midnight

so classic!

Thought you would like it that I finally got to the record that Babe was on.

Paradise Theatre is a concept album released by the rock band Styx in January 1981 (see 1981 in music).

The album, a fictional account of Chicago's Paradise Theater from its opening to closing (and eventual abandonment), is used as a metaphor for America's changing times from the late 1970s into the 1980s.

The signature song, "The Best Of Times" (written by group leader Dennis DeYoung), was a Top Five hit.

The song "Snowblind" (written by DeYoung and James Young) was an attack on drug addiction. The track would come under fire for supposedly having backward messages and be branded by reactionary fundamentalists and Tipper Gore's PMRC as "Satanistic." JY and DeYoung refuted this on the Paradise Theatre episode of In the Studio with Redbeard.[citation needed]

The track "Half Penny, Two Penny" was a commentary on the financial problems the US had in the late 1970s. In the song was the lyric "Yes Mrs. Cleaver your son's home to stay" which was referring to Eldridge Cleaver (this was confirmed by James Young on In the Studio with Redbeard).

Paradise Theatre became Styx's first, and to date only US #1 album, as well the band's fourth consecutive triple-platinum album.



Track listing

1. "A.D. 1928" (DeYoung) – 1:07
* Lead vocals: Dennis DeYoung
2. "Rockin' the Paradise" (DeYoung, Shaw, Young) – 3:35
* Lead vocals: Dennis DeYoung, lead guitar: Tommy Shaw
3. "Too Much Time on My Hands" (Shaw) – 4:31
* Lead vocals and lead guitar: Tommy Shaw
4. "Nothing Ever Goes As Planned" (DeYoung) – 4:46
* Lead vocals: Dennis DeYoung, lead guitar: James Young (first solo) and Tommy Shaw (middle solo), sax solo: Steve Eisen
5. "The Best of Times" (DeYoung) – 4:17
* Lead vocals: Dennis DeYoung, lead guitar: Tommy Shaw
6. "Lonely People" (DeYoung) – 5:22
* Lead vocals: Dennis DeYoung, lead guitar: James Young
7. "She Cares" (Shaw) – 4:18
* Lead vocals and lead guitar: Tommy Shaw, saxophone solo: Steve Eisen
8. "Snowblind" (DeYoung, Young) – 4:48
* Co-Lead vocals and lead guitar: James Young, co-lead vocals: Tommy Shaw
9. "Half-Penny, Two-Penny" (Brandle, Young) – 4:34 (initial CD pressing), – 5:59 (subsequent CD pressing, see previous section for details)
* Lead vocals: James Young, lead guitar: Tommy Shaw
10. "A.D. 1958" (DeYoung) – 2:31 (initial CD pressing), – 1:06 (subsequent CD pressing, see previous section for details)
* Lead vocals: Dennis DeYoung, sax solos: Steve Eisen, lead guitar: James Young
11. "State Street Sadie" (DeYoung) – 0:27
* Instrumental


Styx - 1 &2 "AD 1928" / "Rockin The Paradise"
(Styx at Capital Centre, Largo, MD in 1981)




Styx - 3 "Too Much Time On My Hands"




Styx - 4 "Nothing Ever Goes As Planned"



Styx - 5 "Best Of Times" 1983

Best of Times!

Paradise Theatre continued

Styx - 6 "Lonely People" (not found yet)


STYX - 7 "She Cares"




Styx - 8 "Snow Blind" 1996
(about the dangers of cocaine usage)




Snowblind (Live)





Styx 81 - 9 Half Penney Two Penney / #10 AD 1958 / #11 State Street Sadie





Styx 1982 Half Penny, Two Penny / AD 1958 / State Street Sadie
(Live at Budokan)

Album - Billboard (North America)
YearChartPosition

1981	Pop Albums	1

Singles - Billboard (North America)

YearSingleChartPosition

1981	"Nothing Ever Goes As Planned"	Pop Singles	54
1981	"Rockin' the Paradise"	Mainstream Rock	8
1981	"Snowblind"	Mainstream Rock	22
1981	"Too Much Time on My Hands"	Mainstream Rock	2
1981	"Too Much Time on My Hands"	Pop Singles	9
1981	"The Best of Times"	Mainstream Rock	16
1981	"The Best of Times"	Pop Singles	3

Kilroy Was Here is a rock opera/concept album by the rock band Styx. It was released in February 1983. The title comes from a famous graffiti saying "Kilroy was here".

Background

"Kilroy Was Here" was conceived by lead singer Dennis DeYoung as an album and accompanying stage show, which opened with a short film of the same name. While the supporting tour was a financial disaster, the album sold over 2 million copies and peaked at #3 in the US.

The album's somewhat rock-operatic story tells of a future where rock music is outlawed by a hyperconservative government and the "MMM (the Majority for Musical Morality)". The story's protagonist, Kilroy, is a former rock star who has been imprisoned by MMM leader Dr. Righteous. He escapes using a disguise (according to the album's famous song Mr. Roboto) when he becomes aware that a young musician, Jonathan Chance, is on a mission to bring rock music back.

The album spawned two hit singles, "Mr. Roboto" and "Don't Let It End".

The Story (from the album insert of "Kilroy Was Here")

T H E P A S T "Dr. Everett Righteous, founder and leader of the MMM (the Majority for Musical Morality) became influential in American politics through the use of his own cable/TV network. He spoke about the evils of Rock 'N Roll Music and how its permissive attitudes were responsible for the moral and economic decline of America. He was charismatic, entertaining, and above all, he understood the media. The MMM soon gained enough power to have Rock N Roll banned."

"Robert Orin Charles Kilroy was a world famous Rock N Roll star. As this new law was passed, Kilroy and his band were finishing a national tour. Their last performance at the Paradise Theater would serve as the test case. On the night of the concert, as Kilroy played to a packed house, the MMM marched in and stormed the stage. When it was over, an MMM protester was dead. Kilroy was convicted of the murder and sent to a prison ship with other Rock N Roll misfits."

T H E P R E S E N T "... is a future where Japanese manufactured robots, designed to work cheaply and endlessly, are the caretakers of society. Mr. Robotos are everywhere, serving as manual labor in jobs that were once held by humans."

"Dr. Righteous enforces his own morality by holding nightly rallies where crowds hurl Rock N Roll records and electric guitars into huge bonfires. Jonathan Chance, the rebel leader of an underground movement to bring back Rock N Roll, has made Kilroy the symbol of his cause. Meanwhile, Kilroy has spent a number of years in prison. With no hope of release, he is subjected to the humiliation of mind control via the MMM cable network. In an attempt to contact Kilroy, Jonathan jams the airwaves of the MMM network, replacing a mind control session with outlawed footage of a Kilroy concert. Inspired by Jonathan's message, Kilroy plots his escape. Late one night he makes a daring attempt to free himself by overpowering a Roboto guard. Disguised as a Roboto, Kilroy moves freely throughout the city leaving graffiti coded messages for Jonathan. Jonathan discovers the rock code which leads him to the old Paradise Theater, now the site of Dr. Righteous Museum of Rock Pathology. There he sees the last Kilroy concert mechanically depicted by Kilroy look alike robots as the violent end of Rock N Roll... and there he and Kilroy meet for the first time."


Track listing

1. "Mr. Roboto" (DeYoung) – 5:28
* Lead vocals: Dennis DeYoung
2. "Cold War" (Shaw) – 4:27
* Lead vocals and lead guitar: Tommy Shaw
3. "Don't Let It End" (DeYoung) – 4:56
* Lead vocals: Dennis DeYoung, lead guitar: Tommy Shaw
4. "High Time" (DeYoung) – 4:33
* Lead vocals: Dennis DeYoung, lead guitar: James Young
5. "Heavy Metal Poisoning" (Young) – 4:57
* Lead vocals and guitar synthesizer solo: James Young, guitar solo: Tommy Shaw
6. "Just Get Through This Night" (Shaw) – 6:06
* Lead vocals and lead guitar: Tommy Shaw
7. "Double Life" (Young) – 3:46
* Lead vocals and synthesizer guitar solo: James Young
8. "Haven't We Been Here Before?" (Shaw) – 4:06
* Lead vocals: Tommy Shaw and Dennis DeYoung, lead guitar: Tommy Shaw and James Young
9. "Don't Let It End (Reprise)" (Shaw/DeYoung) – 2:22
* Lead vocals: Tommy Shaw and Dennis DeYoung, lead guitar: James Young

The Kilroy Was Here Production!
1 - Styx - Kilroy Movie




2 - Styx - Mr Roboto



3 - Styx - Rockin' The Paradise





4 - Styx - Blue Collar Man (Long Nights)











5 - Styx - Snowblind




6 - Styx - Too Much Time On Your Hands



7 - Styx - Don't Let It End




8 - Styx - Heavy Metal Poisoning




9 - Styx - Cold War



10 - Styx - The Best Of Times




11 - Styx - Come Sail Away




12 - Styx - Renegade




13 - Styx - Haven't We Been Here Before