Following my previous entry on Supertramp, today I will explore an almost equally talented band that underwent an almost equally path of separation as Rodger Hodgson and Rick Davies: Styx.
It is not easy to pinpoint Styx’s exact foundation year, so to make a long / multiple lineups early years story short, I will concentrate on the main members. As a teenager -pretty much as most teenager during the 60s-, Dennis DeYoung was heavily influenced by The Beatles. He played accordion, keyboards and had a beautiful natural voice. Probably around 1970, Dennis met James Young (also simply known as JY), who was into the early era of hard rock developed by Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple. The band got the name Styx probably around 1972.
During the early 70s they released their first albums, Styx and Styx II, which contained a mix of songs that combined a bit of progressive rock, a bit of hard rock, and a bit of soft rock. Ironically enough, their first hit was actually a romantic ballad: Lady (which explains why it is so commonly featured in It’s always Sunny in Philadelphia, and is another proof that the show is nothing short of brilliant). Then in 1975 one of their members quit the band, and Tommy Shaw was brought in. Shaw’s musical talents equaled Dennis DeYoung’s, which made him quickly establish himself as a main contributor, which allowed Styx to become a bigger success. However while their talents were equal, their musical interests were not. Still, despite their differences, and thanks in part to JY’s invaluable role as mediator between the now two leaders, the band’s popularity soared boosted by both DeYoung’s and Shaw’s compositions, such as “Come sail away” and “Babe” -by DeYoung-, and “Fooling yourself” and “Renegade” -by Shaw-. As their popularity grew, DeYoung felt more attracted to the mainstream media, while Shaw wanted to maintain an artistic direction geared more towards rock. Then came the 80s, and with it… Kilroy.
Released in 1983, “Kilroy was here” was the band’s most commercial successful band. It was kind of a concept album mainly fueled by DeYoung’s vision, and the best way I could describe it is, as something that sits on the verge of commercial rock, progressive rock, new wave rock, and the 1980s, touching all four edges at the same time. That is what it made the album so successful, and that is why it led to the band’s breakup.
I feel that Shaw ran out of patience, and while he probably enjoyed his time working on Kilroy, it was not simply what he wanted to do musically speaking. With Shaw gone, DeYoung probably felt burned out, and his creative output diminished substantially at a time in which music was starting to change drastically. Bands with a sound like REO Speedwagon, Foreigner, Boston, Styx and Chicago were quickly being phased out by a new era of musicians that set the wheels in motion for the counter-culture era, which I will address another day on a separate entry. Still DeYoung kept on going with JY for the remainder of the 80s and the early 90s reaching decent touring successes, and there were even a couple of reunions that brought Shaw back for a little while. That is when the problems started.
By 1999 DeYoung fell ill and told his band members he would be unable continue touring with them. With financial and legal commitments, Shaw, JY and the other members recruited a touring vocalist and hit the road without DeYoung. As it happened with Supertramp, DeYoung sued the band for going on tour as “Styx” without him. The band countersued, and who knows how their relationship was torn within the legal arguments. Eventually, they settled on allowing Shaw and JY keep the name Styx, and DeYoung being able to use variations of it on his tours, such as “Dennis DeYoung from Styx”.
I will never forget an interview I watched a few years ago, in which Shaw and JY were asked what were the chances of a reunion with DeYoung. Shaw’s face was so sincere and honest, he did not have to even say a word to convey that there was zero possibility of a reunion happening. He went on to explain that both himself and JY approached and tried to reason with DeYoung on multiple occasions, yet the possibility of joyful agreement in which their old relationship could have been restored was never even in sight. They both claimed that DeYoung had become a difficult person, an unlikeable person, and in general someone you just did not want to be even close to.
A few weeks later I came across DeYoung being interviewed on some show I do not recall at this time. I carefully watched his face, I listened to his words, I paid attention to the way he would articulate his sentences, and the way he would convey his answers. I concluded that similarly to Roger Hodgson, DeYoung seemed to be what Shaw and JY had described. I may be wrong though, but who knows. It has been proven that fame, money and popularity can transform people. Interestingly, DeYoung and Hodgson performed together on a show not too long ago. They are both great talents that is for sure.
Stay tuned for my next entry.
HR