Styx was a hugely popular and influential American progressive rock band whose multi-platinum albums of the 1970s and 1980s propelled several Top 10 singles into the Billboard charts. These hits included "Suite Madame Blue", "Lady", "Crystal Ball", "Miss America", "Fooling Yourself", "Renegade", "Babe", "The Best of Times", and (the infamous hit according to devoted followers) "Mr. Roboto."
The band started with Dennis DeYoung (keyboards, synthesizer, vocals, arps and occasionally pipe organ and accordion), the Panozzo brothers Chuck (all percussion, vocals) and John (bass, vocals), James Young (vocals, guitar), and John Curulewski (guitar, arp, electronics and vocals), in Chicago, in 1968. They played many of the local colleges including an outdoor concert at Illinois Institute of Technology for an interfraternity dance.
Their early output was prolific: Styx I (72), Styx II (74), The Serpent is Rising (73) and Man of Miracles, (74) as well as Styx III [73), Styx IV (74) and two variations of Lady (74) which they varied by 1 song depending on region. They also released Styx Live (75) via RCA, their export label North American exports. All releases were indicative of the melodic layered vocals and their progressive rock sound for which they were famous - so famous that they were often considered rivals of the might of R.E.O. Speedwagon and Queen.
A change to a major record label (A&M) resulted in the release of Equinox (75), which spawned the released of hits "Lady" and "Suite Madame Blue", Crystal Ball (76), The Grand Illusion (77), Pieces of Eight (78), Cornerstone (79), Paradise Theatre (81) (a mini concept album followed by an almost mixed media full concert production) and Kilroy Was Here which blended video, theatrics and music. This output gave them the kudos of being the first band ever to have seven consecutive albums to go multi-platinum. That record was later broken, by ZZ Top.
Their success was in spite of the surging P.M.R.C. controversy during the early 1980's surrounding alleged satanic messages and youth brainwashing in any popular rock group at the time. In a "mocking response", Styx recorded an overt backwards message on Kilroy Was Here (which, by the way, you can find on the back of any U.S. penny).
The culmination of Styx's success was Kilroy Was Here and the now almost choreographed stage shows, but this widened the cracks which had begun to appear amongst the band members. After the 1984 live album Caught in the Actthey toured but by the time the tour was over, the band had collapsed under its own weight.
This, however, jump-started the careers of Tommy Shaw (guitar, vocals), who was brought in to tour Equinox (75] (after Curulewski left suddenly after one third of the tour, having grown weary of life on the road) and Dennis Deyoung's solo album efforts and on and off broadway performances and most notably his role in Jesus Christ Superstar. James Young released one solo album in that period, which although well received, was hampered by limited distribution.
DeYoung later would be instrumental in reforming Styx in the late nineties, sans Shaw. But when Shaw returned to the band, DeYoung found himself ousted by Shaw in a dispute regarding the direction in which the band was going.
Tommy Shaw fresh from the power band "Damn Yankees" (which included Ted Nugent, a tour de force solo performer, and Jack Blades, former lead singer of "Night Ranger") rejoined with an attitude, and after three Styx albums and a push by the band to produce more "modern" rock style, lead to Gowan the Canadian artist most notable for "Criminal Mind", joining in 2003.
The band has produced several albums since their reformation in the nineties, and they still carry on with what they've been doing - producing progressive music to its limits.
