I loved Styx growing up. Even when I knew what I was sometimes hearing was in bad taste.
The band is nothing without DeYoung. I never bought the “Dennis is easy listening and Tommy’s a rocker” argument. Yes, Shaw wrote Blue Collar Man, Renegade, and Too Much Time, but he wrote just as many sappy ballads and was—I think—at his best with the folk-influenced stuff.
For what it’s worth, my favorite Styx album, by a long shot, is Equinox, and Tommy doesn’t play on it. He joined for that tour…
And Dennis’ concepts were juvenile, even nauseating in their binaries, but the man had (and still has) a terrific voice and knows how to put on a show. James Young and Tommy Shaw worked best when they collaborated with him.
|