I think the Paradise Theater album is the perfect synergy of these two competing impulses. It’s just a great album, start to finish, no matter the haters.
No, you missed the point. It could’ve been almost any band.
What happened was, CheeseDonkey started the thread with utter contempt for the Beatles…
Fuck the Beatles. They suck. I don’t give two shits if they “inspired generations of music,” the music they created sucks. It was formula bubblegum pop with kindergarten lyrics and whiny-voiced singers. Fuck them all.
Then went on and on to piss all over anyone who liked their music.
Someone then pointed out that CheeseDonkey had posts rhapsodizing about Styx music, and Dennis DeYoung in particular. Real fanboy stuff, exactly what he was accusing any Beatles fans of.
So it was the hypocrisy of raging against one rock band and their fans, and then we find out he’s the same sort of fan, only for an even more “lightweight” band.
And the charge would’ve stuck whether it was Styx, or Journey, or Aerosmith, or Weezer, or NSYNC, or Oasis, or Whitesnake, or Linkin Park, or Nickelback… or really any band less talented, less important than the Beatles.
Hey, I actually like most Styx (Blue Collar Man, Angry Young Man, Renegade… just not the schmaltziness of Babe or Layyyy-dyyyy…)
But would I rage against a band like the Beatles while applauding Styx?
That’d mean I had NO grasp of popular music, and ZERO self-awareness…
For those of you who do like Sytx, YouTube Tommy Shaw Contemporary Youth Orchestra
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=tommy+shaw+contemporary+youth+orchestra
Are you talking about 70’s influential rock? If so, America had a hell of a lot more great bands than that. Just off the top of my head:
Aerosmith
Allman brothers
Steely Dan
Boston
Heart
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Santana
Foreigner
Eagles
ZZ Top
Steve Miller Band
The Doobie Brothers
Van Halen
REO Speedwagon
Journey
If you make it North America, you can add:
Rush
The Guess Who
Bachman-Turner Overdrive
The Band
Neil Young