Things That Get a BUM! Rap

Throughout this life of 34 years I've had my likes and dislikes. I've gone back and forth on things; from music to food to sports even. Hockey was my favorite sport to watch for a long time, not so much anymore.  Still love it, but football and baseball moved up on the list as I've gotten older. I guess you could say I've even flip-flopped. I used to love 80's hair metal. Then I hated it from the age of like 16 to 19. Then I made my peace with it and I'm ok with it now. I'm like a damn politician. But there are some things that are misunderstood or just generally disliked because they come from a different time, a different place, or the concensus is that it just plain sucks. Most times the concensus is right; if the majority thinks something sucks, it usually does just that. But sometimes things are either flat out misunderstood or not given the proper chance it deserves; this is called the BUM! rap. I'm here to shed light on those things that get the BUM! rap. Here is the my 1st installment.

The rock band Styx is widely regarded as a pussy band these days by most standards and on the surface I see why. With songs like "Babe," "The Best of Times,""Show Me the Way," and "Don't Let it End" it's hard to argue against that point.  Then you have 80's soft rock classics like "Too Much Time on my Hands,""Rockin the Paradise," and the monumental classic "Mr. Roboto;" Styx is definitely a lite radio staple.  But upon further review, I sense the BUM! rap has claimed one of my all-time favorite bands.  Anyone who has listened to an actual classic rock station has heard "Blue Collar Man," and "Renegade," and those songs rock hard, but they are not good enough to undo the damage of a "Mr.Roboto." That stench takes alot to mask you know. What we need to do is go deeper.  Look beyond the sap, beyond the terrible theatrics, beyond lead singer Dennis DeYoung's apparent goal of being Liberace's replacement (remember when Dennis DeYoung was a true rock star, bad ass 70's stache and all), and beyond everything every "too cool for the room" music guy will tell you about Styx and go deeper (beware of the "too cool for the room" guy. You can spot them immediately. I will do a piece on them at a later date, but they can ruin anything.) I mean the treatment of Styx is really viscious sometimes. Styx is the embodiement of the phrase "don't judge a book by it's cover." All that sap has become the new cover of Styx's book. You see Styx, before 1981's "Paradise Theater" album, was a true to life great rock band.  Some would even consider them a Progressive Rock band, which is my forte. Now let's get a few things in order, "Paradise Theater" is not all bad, and "Cornerstone" before that was not all good; "Babe," a lite-radio staple, comes from that album. But the 1983 release "Kilroy was Here" was a crapfest tour de' force that seemingly forever erased any credibility Styx ever had.  Imagine that, with one awful release, you can undo 15 years of classic rock music.  I mean some of there old stuff is really innovative and should be considered visionary Prog Rock and to have that wiped out by "Mr. Roboto?" That's rough.  Anything Styx did before co-vocalist and guitarist Tommy Shaw joined the band in 1976 is considered very rare, and has even been forgotten by the band themselves.  All these years since '76, they only do 2 songs live from the pre-Tommy Shaw era ("Suite Madame Blue" and "Lady"). So I will concentrate mostly on the validity of the Styx material post '76 (a side note, the pre '76 stuff is amazing and worth a listen if you are a true fan of solid rock music). There are 3 tunes from 3 different albums that led up to the sap and non-sense of "Kilroy was Here" that are essential to understanding what I'm talking about. Now before I go any further, I must admit, I loved "Kilroy was Here" when I was kid, and I still listen to it sometimes for nostalgia.  So I can see how that crap became popular. Ok, the quintessential Styx songs to forever shed the BUM! rap.

1- "Castle Walls" (The Grand Illusuion, 1977) -  Now let me say that any tune off of "The Grand Illusion" would be an education in the abilities of Styx.  Not only were they progressive, but they knew how to craft a song. But "Castle Walls" is an all-time favorite for me and to me was an introduction to Prog Rock. Listen for the drum work in this tune by John Panazzo (R.I.P) it made me love the drums from an early age. 


2- "Pieces of Eight" (Pieces of Eight, 1978) - Another great album in it's entirety with the exception of a tune called "Sing for the Day," you know it's just one of those tunes they wish they could take back.  It just doesn't fit in somehow; "Sing for the Day?" <yuck> Good tune, but it sticks out like a sore thumb.  Anyway, "Pieces of Eight" is not only my all-time co-favorite Styx tune, but an all-time favorite from any band.  It's got everything you could want in a song other than a mosh pit. Amazing lyrics, amazing melody line, and a damn good guitar solo out of Tommy Shaw at the end of this one.



3- "Half-Penny, Two-Penny" (Paradise Theater, 1981) - This song is a motherf**ker.  Anyone who doesn't appreciate not only how hard this tune rocks, but the musicianship in this song is immense.  Guitars, piano, and vocals are unreal. The lyrics are great for the time and you really feel the emotion of this one.  I don't know what else to say other than it probably ranks in my top 5 all-time songs.  It's a beast and if this doesn't shed the BUM! rap Styx has had to endure all these years then I'm lame and I'm ok with that shit.



So there you have it, I believe the BUM! rap should be forever removed from Styx.  You can call them sellouts from '83 on, that's fair, but don't rag on there past.  They are deserving of whatever respect a great, visionary rock band should get (basically all I'm looking for is to not have to have this argument again when I tell my friends I bought tickets to see Styx in August in the hopes that they play some good stuff and not that crap from '83 on; God that stuff sucks).  There I go, forgetting all the great stuff again, that is how the BUM! rap starts. Oh, and other Styx music worth checking out would be "The Serpent is Rising,""Man of Miracles,""Equinox," and "Styx II." They are the albums before '76. And just remember, beware of the BUM! rap because sometimes it's unfair and it may claim something YOU really like someday. Email me if you think something gets a BUM! rap, or if you have an opinion on the musical stylings of STYX; thesportsriot@yahoo.com.