Styx (band)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about the band Styx. For other uses of the term, see Styx (disambiguation).
| Styx | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Roseland, Illinois |
| Genre(s) | Rock, progressive rock, hard rock |
| Years active | 1963 – 1984, 1990-1991, 1995 – present |
| Label(s) | A&M Records Interscope Records |
| Website | www.styxworld.com |
| Members | |
| James "J.Y." Young Tommy Shaw Todd Sucherman Lawrence Gowan Ricky Phillips Chuck Panozzo |
|
| Former members | |
| Dennis DeYoung John Panozzo John Curulewski Glen Burtnik |
|
Styx is an American rock band that has been popular since the 1970s, with such hits as "Come Sail Away", "Babe", "Lady", "Mr. Roboto", and "Renegade." Styx is the first band to have four consecutive albums certified multi-platinum by the RIAA.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Early years
The band originally formed in the Chicago, Illinois area in 1961 as "The Tradewinds". The band played local bars while attending Chicago State University. This early line-up included brothers Chuck Panozzo and John Panozzo on guitar and drums, respectively; and Dennis DeYoung on vocals and keyboards. Changing their name briefly to "TW4", Chuck switched to bass guitar and the band added guitarists/vocalists James "J.Y." Young and John Curulewski.
The band members decided to choose a new name when they signed to Wooden Nickel Records; several suggestions were made and, says DeYoung, Styx was chosen because it was "the only one that none of us hated". [1]
[edit] The 1970s
[edit] 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.
[edit] Move to A&M and enter Tommy Shaw
On the heels of its belated hit single, Styx signed with A&M Records and released Equinox (1975), which sold well and yielded minor hits in "Lorelei" and "Light Up". Following the move to A&M, Curulewski suddenly left the band just before they were to embark on a nationwide tour. After a frantic last-minute search, the band brought on singer, songwriter, and guitarist Tommy Shaw as Curulewski's replacement.
The first album with Shaw, Crystal Ball (1976), was moderately successful and also includes Shaw's "Mademoiselle" and DeYoung's "This Old Man".
[edit] Breakthrough
The Grand Illusion (1977) became the group's breakthrough album, reaching triple platinum certification and spawning a top-ten hit and AOR radio staple in the DeYoung-penned "Come Sail Away," as well as a second radio hit, Shaw's "Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)".
Through the late 1970s the band enjoyed its greatest success. The album Pieces of Eight (1978) found the group moving in a more straight-ahead pop-rock direction and spawned the Shaw-penned hit singles "Renegade," and "Blue Collar Man (Long Nights)," plus a minor hit in the release "Sing for the Day" that stopped just short of the Top Forty at #41.[2]
Cornerstone (1979) yielded the group's first number one hit, the DeYoung ballad "Babe" [3]. By early 1980 "Babe" had become the band's biggest international hit and first million-selling single, reaching number six in the United Kingdom [4]). The album also included the DeYoung single "Why Me", and "Borrowed Time" which was co-written with Shaw, plus Shaw's "Boat on the River". Styx was nominated for the twenty-second Grammy Awards[5] for Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group. Cornerstone's engineers Gary Loizzo and Rob Kingsland were nominated for a Grammy[6] at the 22nd Grammy Awards for Best Engineered Recording.
[edit] Stardom in the 1980s
[edit] Paradise Theatre
In January 1981, Styx released Paradise Theatre, a loose concept album that became their biggest hit, reaching number one on the Billboard pop albums chart and yielding five singles, including the top ten hits "The Best of Times" by DeYoung (#3) and "Too Much Time on My Hands" by Shaw (#8). Paradise Theater became the band's fourth consecutive multi-platinum album.
The band was accused by a California religious group and later the P.M.R.C of backmasking Satanic messages in their anti-cocaine anthem, "Snowblind."[citation needed] James Young has refuted this charge during his concert introduction for "Snowblind". Dennis DeYoung responded on In the Studio with Redbeard: "we had enough trouble to make the music sound right forward."
The popularity of the album helped win the band a People's Choice Award in 1981.
Throughout the 1980s, the band would use the album's opening track, "Rockin' the Paradise" to open their shows.
[edit] Kilroy was Here and breakup
On the successes of the ballad "Babe" and the Paradise Theatre album, Styx founder DeYoung began pushing for a more theatrical direction, while Shaw and Young favored a harder-edged approach.
The band followed DeYoung's lead with their next project, Kilroy Was Here (1983), another, more fully-realized concept album, embracing the rock opera form. Set in a future where music itself has been outlawed, Kilroy featured Dennis DeYoung in the part of Kilroy, an unjustly imprisoned rock star. Tommy Shaw played the part of Jonathan Chance, a younger rocker who fights for Kilroy's freedom.
Part of the impetus for the Kilroy story was the band's reaction to accusations of including backwards satanic messages embedded in their prior releases. The album included James Young's song "Heavy Metal Poisoning", which includes lyrics sarcastically mocking the allegations against the group. Its introduction intentionally included a backward message, the Latin phrase, "annuit coeptis novus ordo seclorum," from the Great Seal of the United States. It is translated to "God has favored our undertakings. A new order for the ages."
Kilroy went platinum in 1983, boasting two Top Ten hits, the synthesizer-based "Mr. Roboto" and power ballad "Don't Let It End." The album earned a nomination as Best Engineered Recording for engineer and long-time friend Gary Loizzo, and fellow engineers on the album Will Rascati and Rob Kingslad, for the twenty-sixth Grammy Awards (1983)[7]
Late in 1983, the band mounted an ambitious stage show in support of Kilroy featuring theatrical presentations of several songs utilizing instrumental backing tracks, including "Mr. Roboto" ,which featured DeYoung singing live while costumed as a robot, and "Heavy Metal Poisoning" with James Young as the evil Dr. Righteous singing while the Panozzo brothers acted as his henchmen on stage. The elaborate show was expensive to produce and became a financial disaster for the band.
Kilroy brought the creative and competitive tensions within the band to a breaking point. In 1984, the band released its first live album, Caught in the Act. Taken from both the Paradise Theatre and Kilroy Was Here tours, the project featured one studio track, "Music Time", which became a Top 40 hit. However, by the time of the album's release, the band had already parted ways.
[edit] Solo careers
Dennis DeYoung and Tommy Shaw released a string of solo albums, beginning with DeYoung's Desert Moon and Shaw's Girls with Guns in 1984. Both Shaw and DeYoung generated a moderate amount of interest with their first solo albums. DeYoung, in particular, scored a Top 10 hit with the title track, "Desert Moon", which was also heavily featured on MTV. Shaw also cracked the Top Forty with "Girls with Guns" and "Lonely School", and he made a cameo appearance on the NBC television series, Miami Vice. DeYoung's follow up single "Don't Wait for Heroes" also featured a video that was heavily featured on MTV, but it failed to generate significant radio airplay, and only peaking at #83. During the filming of the video, DeYoung injured his back, causing him to back out of opening a North American concert tour for Huey Lewis & the News.
Shaw's 1985 album What If and DeYoung's 1986 album Back to the World also charted, along with singles from film soundtracks. Shaw's "What If (Remo's Theme)" from Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins entered the Billboard Hot 100, while DeYoung's "This Is the Time" from Karate Kid II was featured for a short while on MTV. The first single from DeYoung's Back to the World, "Call Me", peaked at number six on the Adult Contemporary chart and was a modest pop hit, peaking at #44 on the Billboard Hot 100.
However, by the late 1980s, both Styx members' solo careers gradually simmered down to a modest but loyal fan base. Neither DeYoung's Boomchild nor Shaw's Ambition achieved nearly the same levels of earlier albums, although Shaw's cover of Jim Peterik's "Ever Since the World Began" charted briefly. Shaw also recorded sessions with Peterik's group, Survivor, on 1986's When Seconds Count.
Meanwhile, James Young collaborated with Jan Hammer and recorded his own solo album, City Slicker.
In 1988, Tommy Shaw formed Damn Yankees with Ted Nugent, Jack Blades and Michael Cartellone. Meanwhile, the remaining members of Styx made plans for a comeback in the new decade.
[edit] 1990s
[edit] Edge of the Century
In 1990, with Shaw achieving some success with Damn Yankees, Styx reformed with Glen Burtnik taking Shaw's vacated position.
The new line-up released one album, Edge of the Century, featuring the Dennis DeYoung ballad "Show Me the Way", which received an additional boost just prior to the first Persian Gulf War. Some radio stations edited the Top Three smash to include the voices of children whose parents were deployed in Saudi Arabia between 1990 and 1991. That contributed to the song's longevity at Adult Contemporary radio, where the song also peaked at #3 and notably remained in the top 40 for an impressive thirty-one weeks.
Burtnik's songwriting also helped buoy Edge of the Century, contributing to the hits "Love at First Sight" (#25 Billboard Hot 100 Charts, #13 Adult Contemporary) and "Love Is the Ritual" (#80 Billboard Hot 100, #9 Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks), as well as album tracks "All In a Day's Work", "World Tonite" and the title track. On the strength of the singles, particularly "Show Me the Way", Edge of the Century peaked at number sixty-three on the Billboard album chart and was certified Gold.
Styx toured across the U.S. before once again disbanding. Despite the success of the album and its two Top 40 hit singles, the band was dropped after A&M Records was purchased by PolyGram Records. A set of demos internally titled "Son Of Edge" were completed and shopped to other record labels, but with Grunge music now dominating the rock press, video channels and airwaves, and with singles being phased out, there was little interest from major record companies. Portions of the "Son of Edge" demos have resurfaced in various forms over the years in Styx, DeYoung, and Burtnik anthologies.
In 1994, DeYoung recorded 10 on Broadway, an album of showtunes. A single "On the Street Where You Live" received limited airplay.
[edit] Reunion with classic lineup
The band reunited in 1995 to re-record "Lady" for Styx Greatest Hits and a 1996 tour, but John Panozzo was unable to participate due to declining health caused by problems with alcohol, which killed him soon after.
The band continued with Todd Sucherman replacing Panozzo. The 1996 "Return to Paradise" tour was also a success. They documented the reunion tour with a two-disc live set, 1997's Return to Paradise, which featured three new studio tracks: "On My Way", "Paradise" (a soft rock hit that also appears in another version on Dennis DeYoung's Hunchback of Notre Dame album) and "Dear John", a tribute to the late Styx drummer John Panozzo that has become a cult favorite among Styx fans. Return to Paradise was a surprise hit in 1997, achieving gold status, with the single "Paradise" peaking at number twenty-seven on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. Return to Paradise was the first gold album for Styx's new record company, CMC.
[edit] Brave New World and split
Two years later, in 1999, the band released its first new studio album in almost a decade: Brave New World. The album received a lukewarm reception, sold very slowly, and the single, "Everything Is Cool", failed to chart.
Once again, during work on the album, personality conflicts drove the band members apart. While Tommy Shaw and James Young's material followed a hard rock vein, Dennis DeYoung's penchant for Broadway styles infuriated his bandmates, and the dramatic differences in styles were evident on Brave New World.
Arguments over which songs to release as singles, the album's artwork, the track sequencing, and the omission of DeYoung's vocals and keyboards from many of the Shaw/JY tracks fueled the fire. The band was further hindered by a viral illness contracted by DeYoung which temporarily made his eyes sensitive to light. DeYoung asked his bandmates to delay touring.
Chuck Panozzo left the band in 1998 after revealing to his bandmates that he was gay and battling HIV. His public explanation came in 2001 at the annual Human Rights Campaign banquet.
Later that year, DeYoung was permanently replaced by Lawrence Gowan, though no official statement regarding a firing or replacement had been made. As a result of the replacement, DeYoung filed a lawsuit, charging that the remaining members of the band were using the Styx name without his consent, and he in turn was countersued by Shaw & JY for using the billing of "Dennis DeYoung, the voice of Styx" in his solo concerts. The suit was eventually settled on the grounds that DeYoung could bill himself as "performing the music of Styx" or "formerly of Styx", but not as "the voice of Styx", and Styx continued on with Shaw & JY at the helm.
[edit] Cyclorama and beyond
With Chuck Panozzo focusing on his health concerns, Glen Burtnik returned to fill Chuck's bass duties, with Chuck participating on a part-time basis, sitting in as his health permitted.
Styx's new lineup released several live albums and released the studio album Cyclorama in February, 2003, which reached #127 on the Billboard 200 album charts. Styx toured extensively during this period and released additional live albums.
Burtnik left Styx in 2003 and recorded a solo album, Welcome to Hollywood. He was replaced by Ricky Phillips, formerly of The Babys and Bad English.
DeYoung continued his solo career by re-arranging and performing his Styx hits with a symphony orchestra. In 2005, DeYoung released a CD of re-recorded Styx hits from a solo concert with a symphony orchestra (titled The Music of Styx - Live with Symphony Orchestra. The album also contained three new DeYoung songs. DeYoung's CD became a modest hit in Canada, selling 30,000 copies there. Ironically, Burtnik now often appears with DeYoung in his solo shows.
As of April 21, 2006, according to the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) which awards artists and groups gold/platinum status, Styx ranks number 127 with 17.5 million records sold within the United States. [8]. The blurb on Amazon.com about Chuck Panozzo's book "The Grand Illusion: Love, Lies, and My Life with Styx" states that Styx has sold over 54 million records, providing another conflicting sales figure.
On April 16, 2007, Def Leppard announced a 2007 Tour|50-date, which includes Styx and Foreigner as supporting acts.[9]
As of August 27, 2007 Dennis DeYoung's single "100 Years From Now" was #1 on Quebec's Top 100.
On October 16, 2007 Styx received the "Lifetime Achievement Award" from IEBA (International Entertainment Buyers Association) in Nashville, Tennessee.
During the summer of 2008 Styx has been scheduled to appear on a double bill with a revamped line up of Boston.
[edit] Members
[edit] Current line-up
- James "J.Y." Young – vocals, guitar, keyboards (1970–present)
- Tommy Shaw – vocals, guitar, mandolin (1975–1983, 1995–present)
- Todd Sucherman – drums, percussion (1996–present)
- Lawrence Gowan – vocals, keyboards, guitar (1999–present)
- Ricky Phillips – bass guitar, vocals (2004–present)
- Chuck Panozzo – bass guitar, bass pedals (1961–present; is currently a part-time member, appearing as a "guest musician" every so often)
[edit] Former members
- Dennis DeYoung – vocals, keyboards, accordion (1961–1999)
- John Panozzo – drums, percussion (1961–1996)
- John Curulewski – guitar, vocals (1970–1975)
- Glen Burtnik – guitar, vocals (1990–1991) / bass guitar, vocals (1999–2004)
[edit] Discography
[edit] Studio albums
- Styx (1971)
- Styx II (1972) (RIAA: Gold)
- The Serpent Is Rising (1973)
- Man of Miracles (1974)
- Equinox (1975) (RIAA: Gold)
- Crystal Ball (1976) (RIAA: Gold)
- The Grand Illusion (1977) (RIAA: Multi-Platinum)
- Pieces of Eight (1978) (RIAA: Multi-Platinum)
- Cornerstone (1979) (RIAA: Multi-Platinum)
- Paradise Theatre (1981) (RIAA: Multi-Platinum)
- Kilroy Was Here (1983) (RIAA: Platinum)
- Edge of the Century (1990) (RIAA: Gold)
- Brave New World (1999)
- Cyclorama (2003)
- Big Bang Theory (2005)
[edit] Singles
Styx has had a total of eight Billboard Top Ten singles, seven written and sung by Dennis DeYoung and one written and sung by Tommy Shaw. One of those singles, "Babe", hit number one for two weeks.
They have had a total of sixteen Billboard Top 40 singles and twenty-three Billboard Hot 100 singles.
Styx is one of a handful of acts that had Billboard Top Ten singles in three decades (70s, 80s, 90s) and under four different presidential administrations (Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush).
Styx has two one-million selling singles: "Babe" and "Mr. Roboto", both written and sung by DeYoung.
[edit] Consecutive multi-platinum albums
From 1977 to 1981, Styx released four consecutive albums that have been certified Multi-Platinum (signifying at least 2 million units sold) by the RIAA: The Grand Illusion, Pieces of Eight, Cornerstone, and Paradise Theatre. [2]. They were the first band recognized to have achieved this feat when the RIAA began certifying Multi-Platinum albums in 1984.
A longstanding, oft-repeated claim in the music industry and the mainstream press is that Styx were the first band to release four consecutive triple-platinum albums, signifying at least 3 million units sold. [3][4][5][6][7][8] However, prior to 1999, the RIAA's only certifications were for Gold (500,000 units sold), Platinum (1 million), and Multi-Platinum (2 million) albums.[9] Complete and detailed historical sales figures for record albums are not readily available to the public. However, per the latest information on the RIAA searchable database, Styx did score three triple-platinum albums on the same date: November 14, 1984. They achieved one double-platinum album on August 23, 2005.
[edit] Charts
[edit] Singles
[edit] See also
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?table=SEARCH Select "Multi-Platinum" & click to end at "1 JAN 1985"
- ^ http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?table=SEARCH
- ^ http://www.styxworld.com/listingsEntry.asp?ID=135873&PT=TheBand
- ^ http://www.times-news.com/entertainment/local_story_188091223.html?keyword=topstory
- ^ http://www.tbnweekly.com/content_articles/090806_leconcert-04.txt
- ^ http://www.vh1.com/shows/dyn/behind_the_music/51408/episode.jhtml
- ^ http://www.rockdetector.com/artist,8683.sm
- ^ http://www.livedaily.com/interviews/liveDaily_Interview_Tommy_Shaw_of_Styx-3264.html?t=6
- ^ http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinum.php?content_selector=historyx
[edit] External links
- StyxWorld.com - the Official Website
- Video interview of Dennis DeYoung
- Interview with James Young
- Styx on A&M Records
- Racer Records
