THE BAND ISN'T STYX WITHOUT DENNIS DEYOUNG
I've noticed that both of our local TV stations here where I live have been running ads promoting the upcoming concert appearance in a nearby community of one of the most popular - and, for many years, one of my top two or three favorite - rock bands of the 1970s and early '80s.
Had such an opportunity presented itself, oh, say, 20 years ago or so, I might have been one of those fans counting his pennies and nickels in hope of buying tickets for this concert. But not today. The world has changed, I've changed - and the musical act which currently tours and records under the name "Styx" is little more than a pale imitation of the band that so many members of my generation loved all those years ago.
To a lot of kids growing up in the Chicago area during those years - especially those harboring their own musical dreams - Styx was more than just a rock group. They were "hometown heroes." The band first formed in 1961 when three kids living on the south side of Chicago - Dennis DeYoung and twin brothers Chuck and John Panozzo - got together in one of their parents' garage to play their music. Two other members - James Young and John Curelewski - eventually joined the lineup and the band paid its dues for a number of years, playing a lot of local talent shows, frat parties and high school sock hops in the area.
In 1972 they signed with Wooden Nickel Records to record the first of four albums for that label; a song off the second album, "Lady," became a huge hit after Chicago's WLS-AM began receiving a number of requests for the tune. The band soon jumped to A&M Records and Curelewski left, replaced by transplanted Alabaman Tommy Shaw. (It was around this same time that they played what must have been one of their last sock hops, at the high school I would start attending two years later; my best friend's older sister interviewed a couple of the band's members for the school yearbook.)
Styx went on to record many hits and became the first recording act ever to have four consecutive albums - THE GRAND ILLUSION, PIECES OF EIGHT, CORNERSTONE and PARADISE THEATRE - certified multi-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. The group split up in 1984 due to creative and personal conflicts, staged a couple of reunions over the next decade (with Glen Burtnik taking Shaw's place on the 1990 album EDGE OF THE CENTURY and Todd Sucherman replacing John Panozzo as drummer following Panozzo's death in 1996), and in 1999 set about working on its first new studio album in almost a decade, BRAVE NEW WORLD.
The album was not a success, due in no small part to long-simmering troubles between band members that finally came to a full boil. Disagreements over such things as the album's cover art and the order of songs were aggravated by the decision of Shaw and Young (both of whom had apparently long resented both DeYoung's leadership role and his sense of musical direction) to omit DeYoung's vocals and keyboards from several of their tracks. In addition, DeYoung suffered a viral illness around this time that prevented him from joining the rest of the group on tour. Rather than grant his request to delay the tour in order to recover, Shaw and Young gave DeYoung the boot and replaced him with a fair-to-middling Canadian musician named Lawrence Gowan.
Shaw and Young claim that fans can't tell the difference between DeYoung's vocals and playing and those of Gowan. I say anyone who can't tell the difference isn’t listening very close (and I know a lot of fans who agree with me). Musical talent aside, the fact remains that, in firing Dennis DeYoung, Styx lost more than one of its founders; it lost its strongest songwriting voice, its acclaimed sense of taste and its musical identity - the very qualities that propelled the band to success in the first place.
Now to be as fair as possible let me point out that I don't dislike Tommy Shaw, who some have villified as being most responsible for DeYoung's ouster. Fact is, he wrote and sang lead on two of my all-time favorite Styx songs: "Crystal Ball" and "Boat On The River," which is one my my favorite songs by any rock group because its more folk-like feel. (Bear in mind that I'm a lifelong fan of such groups as The Kingston Trio and that folk is my most favorite of all musical genres.) I was also a huge fan of "Renegade" when it first came out, although I will admit that it was played so often on the radio at the time it was a hit that I quickly grew tired of it; all these years later it's just finally starting to grow on me again.
All that said, I think it was grossly unfair of Shaw and Young (who I'll admit he was always my least favorite member of the group and his songs the least favorite of the group's output) to have treated DeYoung so poorly. As far as their differences in opinion with regards to the band's musical direction, it has always seemed to me that the success of PARADISE THEATRE demonstrated quite well that there was ample audience support for both DeYoung's unique sense of theatricality and the Shaw-Young "hard rocking" approach.
And it goes without saying that most of the songs fans first think of when they think of Styx tend to be DeYoung's: "Lady," "Come Sail Away," "Babe," "Mr. Roboto," "Show Me The Way." (All of these songs turn up on those TV ads for the upcoming concert I mentioned before.) Shaw definitely made his share of worthwhile contributions and they should not be overlooked - but it was the contrast between his style and DeYoung's that really helped to propel the group to superstar status in the first place. Their styles actually complimented one another quite well - and without that interaction to play off of, the group has lost more in the eyes of a great many longtime fans than it might have gained in the eyes of Shaw and Young.
The proof, as they say, is on the record. The albums Styx has released in the post-DeYoung era have ranged from mediocre to downright lousy; the first, 2003's CYCLORAMA, contained several songs which were little more than a thinly veiled attacks on DeYoung. The group's original material in recent years reflect a singular lack of the talent and vision DeYoung's presence brought to the act. It is probably no accident that the only real hit single the group has had since firing DeYoung was its tolerable but pointless cover version of the Beatles' "I Am The Walrus"; the album on which that song appeared, BIG BANG THEORY, was made up entirely of remakes of older songs - including an inferior new version of the Shaw-penned 1978 Styx hit "Blue Collar Man" that has to rank as one of the absolutely WORST recordings of all time. (This becomes especially obvious when played back-to-back with the original version from 1979's PIECES OF EIGHT.) The more recent concert album ONE WITH EVERYTHING (2006), was a bit of an improvement but (to these ears, anyway) still paled in comparison to DeYoung's 2005 concert album THE MUSIC OF STYX - LIVE WITH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA.
And that, I suppose, is the good news for those of us who are Dennis DeYoung fans. DeYoung is still out there making his music his way and gathering new fans; just as his solo albums of the 1980s were the best of the various group members' efforts of that period (Shaw's were okay, but Young's just plain sucked - there's just no other way to say it - and their sales reflected that), so too have his post-Styx endeavors been far superior than anything his erstwhile - and apparently ungrateful - partners have managed to churn out.
History has shown that many musical acts have managed to enjoy continued success despite the departure of one or more of its founding members. In my opinion this is not such an instance. Styx may have prospered better after Shaw joined the line-up (no offense intended to John Curelewski, who also passed away a few years back), but without DeYoung the band is little more than just one more nostalgia act milking whatever it can from its past successes.
So if you happen to be headed to Durant, Oklahoma, on the evening of March 21, you can tell Tommy Shaw for me that, with all due respect, the band just isn't Styx without Dennis DeYoung.
(Copyright 2009, by John A. Small)
Had such an opportunity presented itself, oh, say, 20 years ago or so, I might have been one of those fans counting his pennies and nickels in hope of buying tickets for this concert. But not today. The world has changed, I've changed - and the musical act which currently tours and records under the name "Styx" is little more than a pale imitation of the band that so many members of my generation loved all those years ago.
To a lot of kids growing up in the Chicago area during those years - especially those harboring their own musical dreams - Styx was more than just a rock group. They were "hometown heroes." The band first formed in 1961 when three kids living on the south side of Chicago - Dennis DeYoung and twin brothers Chuck and John Panozzo - got together in one of their parents' garage to play their music. Two other members - James Young and John Curelewski - eventually joined the lineup and the band paid its dues for a number of years, playing a lot of local talent shows, frat parties and high school sock hops in the area.
In 1972 they signed with Wooden Nickel Records to record the first of four albums for that label; a song off the second album, "Lady," became a huge hit after Chicago's WLS-AM began receiving a number of requests for the tune. The band soon jumped to A&M Records and Curelewski left, replaced by transplanted Alabaman Tommy Shaw. (It was around this same time that they played what must have been one of their last sock hops, at the high school I would start attending two years later; my best friend's older sister interviewed a couple of the band's members for the school yearbook.)
Styx went on to record many hits and became the first recording act ever to have four consecutive albums - THE GRAND ILLUSION, PIECES OF EIGHT, CORNERSTONE and PARADISE THEATRE - certified multi-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. The group split up in 1984 due to creative and personal conflicts, staged a couple of reunions over the next decade (with Glen Burtnik taking Shaw's place on the 1990 album EDGE OF THE CENTURY and Todd Sucherman replacing John Panozzo as drummer following Panozzo's death in 1996), and in 1999 set about working on its first new studio album in almost a decade, BRAVE NEW WORLD.
The album was not a success, due in no small part to long-simmering troubles between band members that finally came to a full boil. Disagreements over such things as the album's cover art and the order of songs were aggravated by the decision of Shaw and Young (both of whom had apparently long resented both DeYoung's leadership role and his sense of musical direction) to omit DeYoung's vocals and keyboards from several of their tracks. In addition, DeYoung suffered a viral illness around this time that prevented him from joining the rest of the group on tour. Rather than grant his request to delay the tour in order to recover, Shaw and Young gave DeYoung the boot and replaced him with a fair-to-middling Canadian musician named Lawrence Gowan.
Shaw and Young claim that fans can't tell the difference between DeYoung's vocals and playing and those of Gowan. I say anyone who can't tell the difference isn’t listening very close (and I know a lot of fans who agree with me). Musical talent aside, the fact remains that, in firing Dennis DeYoung, Styx lost more than one of its founders; it lost its strongest songwriting voice, its acclaimed sense of taste and its musical identity - the very qualities that propelled the band to success in the first place.
Now to be as fair as possible let me point out that I don't dislike Tommy Shaw, who some have villified as being most responsible for DeYoung's ouster. Fact is, he wrote and sang lead on two of my all-time favorite Styx songs: "Crystal Ball" and "Boat On The River," which is one my my favorite songs by any rock group because its more folk-like feel. (Bear in mind that I'm a lifelong fan of such groups as The Kingston Trio and that folk is my most favorite of all musical genres.) I was also a huge fan of "Renegade" when it first came out, although I will admit that it was played so often on the radio at the time it was a hit that I quickly grew tired of it; all these years later it's just finally starting to grow on me again.
All that said, I think it was grossly unfair of Shaw and Young (who I'll admit he was always my least favorite member of the group and his songs the least favorite of the group's output) to have treated DeYoung so poorly. As far as their differences in opinion with regards to the band's musical direction, it has always seemed to me that the success of PARADISE THEATRE demonstrated quite well that there was ample audience support for both DeYoung's unique sense of theatricality and the Shaw-Young "hard rocking" approach.
And it goes without saying that most of the songs fans first think of when they think of Styx tend to be DeYoung's: "Lady," "Come Sail Away," "Babe," "Mr. Roboto," "Show Me The Way." (All of these songs turn up on those TV ads for the upcoming concert I mentioned before.) Shaw definitely made his share of worthwhile contributions and they should not be overlooked - but it was the contrast between his style and DeYoung's that really helped to propel the group to superstar status in the first place. Their styles actually complimented one another quite well - and without that interaction to play off of, the group has lost more in the eyes of a great many longtime fans than it might have gained in the eyes of Shaw and Young.
The proof, as they say, is on the record. The albums Styx has released in the post-DeYoung era have ranged from mediocre to downright lousy; the first, 2003's CYCLORAMA, contained several songs which were little more than a thinly veiled attacks on DeYoung. The group's original material in recent years reflect a singular lack of the talent and vision DeYoung's presence brought to the act. It is probably no accident that the only real hit single the group has had since firing DeYoung was its tolerable but pointless cover version of the Beatles' "I Am The Walrus"; the album on which that song appeared, BIG BANG THEORY, was made up entirely of remakes of older songs - including an inferior new version of the Shaw-penned 1978 Styx hit "Blue Collar Man" that has to rank as one of the absolutely WORST recordings of all time. (This becomes especially obvious when played back-to-back with the original version from 1979's PIECES OF EIGHT.) The more recent concert album ONE WITH EVERYTHING (2006), was a bit of an improvement but (to these ears, anyway) still paled in comparison to DeYoung's 2005 concert album THE MUSIC OF STYX - LIVE WITH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA.
And that, I suppose, is the good news for those of us who are Dennis DeYoung fans. DeYoung is still out there making his music his way and gathering new fans; just as his solo albums of the 1980s were the best of the various group members' efforts of that period (Shaw's were okay, but Young's just plain sucked - there's just no other way to say it - and their sales reflected that), so too have his post-Styx endeavors been far superior than anything his erstwhile - and apparently ungrateful - partners have managed to churn out.
History has shown that many musical acts have managed to enjoy continued success despite the departure of one or more of its founding members. In my opinion this is not such an instance. Styx may have prospered better after Shaw joined the line-up (no offense intended to John Curelewski, who also passed away a few years back), but without DeYoung the band is little more than just one more nostalgia act milking whatever it can from its past successes.
So if you happen to be headed to Durant, Oklahoma, on the evening of March 21, you can tell Tommy Shaw for me that, with all due respect, the band just isn't Styx without Dennis DeYoung.
(Copyright 2009, by John A. Small)
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