Styx Biography

Styx is an American arena rock band that saw great success in the 1970s and 1980s, penning such hits as "Come Sail Away," "Babe," and "Mr. Roboto." They were the first musical act ever to have four consecutive triple platinum albums.

The group originally formed in the Chicago, Illinois, area in 1961 as "The Tradewinds". This earliest line-up of the group included brothers Chuck and John Panozzo on guitar and drums, respectively; and vocalist, pianist, keyboardist, and accordion player Dennis DeYoung. 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]

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.

"Krakatoa", a mostly-spoken-word track from Serpent, served as the inspiration from which filmmaker George Lucas created the THX audio logo, Deep Note [2].

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 early 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.

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". Recently, on Dennis DeYoung's official Web site [3], he notes that "Suite Madame Blue" is the third most popular song in the province of Quebec, Canada (where Styx first became a headliner), after the songs "Stairway to Heaven" and "Hotel California".

Following the move to A&M, Curulewski suddenly left the band just before they were to embark on a nationwide tour to save his marriage, and was replaced by singer, songwriter, and guitarist Tommy Shaw after a frantic search to find a last-minute replacement. The first album with Shaw, Crystal Ball (1976), was moderately successful (the band performs the Shaw-penned title track to this day) and also includes Shaw's "Mademoiselle" and DeYoung's "This Old Man".

Its follow-up, 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)."

"Come Sail Away" is often cited as the ultimate Styx song, mixing balladry with the theatrical flair of art rock and lyrics which take the listener on a journey that combines dreams, science fiction imagery, and religious undertones.

The album also includes its progressive-flavored title track, "The Grand Illusion," which received significant airplay, though it warns, "Don't be fooled by radio, tv, or the magazines. They show you photographs of how your life should be, but they're just someone else's fantasy."

Finally, "Miss America" is also on the album and represents J.Y.'s only songwriting and singing contribution to receive significant radio airplay.

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 hit singles "Renegade," and "Blue Collar Man (Long Nights)."

Cornerstone (1979) yielded the group's first number one hit, the DeYoung ballad "Babe" (which hit #6 in the United Kingdom, Jan 1980 [4]), as well as becoming their biggest international hit. The album also included "Boat on the River" and DeYoung rockers "Why me" and "Borrowed Time."

Tension among band members was beginning to rear its ugly head; the planned second single, the DeYoung ballad "First Time," was scrapped after Shaw threatened to leave the band if it was released.

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-40 with "Girls With Guns" and "Lonely School," with a cameo 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 airplay at radio only peaking at #83. Ironically 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 What If (1985) and DeYoung's Back to the World (1986) also charted 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 #6 on AC and was a modest pop hit, peaking at #54.

However, by the late 1980s, both Styx members' solo careers gradually simmered down to a modest but loyal fanbase. 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 under The James Young Band (briefly involving the Panozzo brothers.) In 1988, Tommy Shaw formed Damn Yankees with Ted Nugent, Jack Blades and Michael Cartellone. Meanwhile, Styx made plans for a comeback in the new decade.

Dennis DeYoung used a vintage Oberheim synthesizer (OB-8) during his tenure with Styx. He felt this is what contributed to the unique sound that people associated with Styx [6]. During later tours, he switched to the more modern OB-8A, which was almost identical to the original. Contributing to this, he would mix the sounds from the Oberheim synthesizer with a Yamaha grand piano (as he did with the keyboard work of "Come Sail Away"). A frequent trademark was to mix different keyboard sound like this (even adding accordion on many songs, i.e. "All in a Day's Work" and "Boat on the River"). Also, frequently the synthesizer mimics the guitar riff, adding an electronic element to Shaw and Young's guitar signatures (As in "Blue Collar Man").

The band and its music have made a wide-ranging impact on music, television and films. Some of the more notable examples include: