So I get this Rolling Stone update email. One of the headlines is:
Styx: No Reunion With Former Frontman Dennis DeYoung
…and because I have enough Behind-the-Music knowledge to know that DDY was a high-maintenance nut and the other Styx’ers funny and dysfunctional in their own right, I decided to click on it. Sure enough - an update on how they won’t be touring. Okay, but not much dish.
But, wait - while getting a quote from Tommy Shaw, he points out Pieces of Eight as (along with Grand Illusion) as the quintessential Styx discs. “To me, those were the defining albums for Styx,” he says.
Okay, cool…and right above the quote, RS includes a link
Hmm - I never thought ol’ Les would’ve been much of a Styx-kinda-guy. So I think to myself “Better click on that.”
Lester Bangs was an entertaining writer, but I sometimes get the impression that his invective was very generalized. Most of his panning reviews seem like they could have been written about any musical act.
I have no idea where to take the thread from here, so I’ll just dish:
Dennis DeYoung is more than a bit of a self-important douche, but his son is even worse. I used to manage the video store in their town, and he (the son) would give me the, “Do you know who I AM?” line with boring regularity. Do I know who you are? I know who your *father *is. I don’t *care *who you are. I do care that you pay your late fee, douchemeister.
The elder DeYoung only really pissed me off with his diva-like behavior once, but the second he walked out the front door, the wind caught his toupee and flipped it up like a sail, so at least he provided some amusement.
(Sadly, I can no longer recall exactly what he did to piss me off, because when I remember the event, all I remember is that poodle mop glued onto his head assuming a 90 degree angle, and him grabbing it with both hands and dropping his videotapes.)
Some of their theater rock stuff was OK during the time it was first presented. But very amateurish compared to the compositions of Yes and Genesis with Peter Gabriel at the helm.
What always set me diving for the off button though was Dennis De Young’s voice.
I just always imagine a giant chipmunk doing lead vocals whenever I hear his voice. If I listened to a whole Styx tune I mentally tried to alter it by injecting a decent tenor voice like Jon Anderson or even a gravelly blues voice like Rod Stewart, anything but chipmunk man.
HA, in an odd connection I used to manage the video store where his replacement, Lawrence Gowan and his family lived. Larry was always friendly and polite but his daughter had a bad case of entitlement syndrome. She was young though and the one time I saw her try something while he was present he very quickly put a stop to it.
I need to add, re. the old Lester Bangs review: the song Lords of the Ring is not in any way a reference to J.R.R.T. - it’s about the circus. Plus, I’m not sure how he got “we are aristocracy, we are noble, we are kings” from this album considering the lyrics to the title track.
Lester Bangs had his amusing aspects but I’m not sure how serious I am going to take anyone who died at age 33 of an overdose of darvon, nyquil and valium. Styx in its own way was like Lady Gaga. I wouldn’t call myself a fan but they do have some catchy songs,which is a talent.
Interviewed him once for a class. He talked to this college kid for 45 minutes. Not bad for a pretentious snob.
Plus I generally agreed with his reviews, being a pretentious snob myself. An exception was Lou Reed’s “Berlin.” I paid full price and listened to it once.
I’m with Lester, but then we share a similar aesthetic. Styx might be, in my opinion, the worst band ever. If a soulless corporation could write songs, I’m pretty sure they’d sound like Styx. Or Foreigner. Or Journey.
Best Styx review I read was in Creem magazine (not available online, sadly). The reviewer wrote a whole page going overboard praising their “Kilroy Was Here” live video. Then, the very last line: “Did I forget to mention I’m functionally retarded?”
