Did Kilroy kill Styx
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URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=30252
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Topic: Did Kilroy kill Styx
Posted By: Pnoom!
Subject: Did Kilroy kill Styx
Date Posted: October 24 2006 at 14:32
I'm interested in what you guys think. I don't have an opinion, having never heard Kilroy, other than Mr. Roboto, which earns some credit for being a good juggling song...
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Replies:
Posted By: Pnoom!
Date Posted: October 24 2006 at 14:36
| I see no one else has an opinion either... |
Posted By: Guillermo
Date Posted: October 24 2006 at 14:43
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I never have listened to the "kilroy was here" album, but I listened to "Mr. Roboto" and I didn`t like it. I don`t like Styx`s music very much, apart from the song "Come Sail Away". Very commercial sound for my taste. ------------- Avatar: Photo of Solar Eclipse, Mexico City, July 1991. A great experience to see. Maybe once in a lifetime. |
Posted By: johnobvious
Date Posted: October 24 2006 at 14:43
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Styx gets way too bashed around here IMO. They put out some kick butt albums but ran out of steam, probably because Dennis DeYoung went all broadway on them. When I heard Edge of the Century, I about threw up. 100 times worse than Kilroy. ------------- Biggles was in rehab last Saturday |
Posted By: E-Dub
Date Posted: October 24 2006 at 14:53
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No, you can't blame Kilroy. Tommy Shaw leaving didn't help, but Kilroy is actually a good album. I do, however, believe they went overboard on the Kilroy tour turning it into some sort of Broadway production with dialogue and stage props. I know Shaw found it to be ridiculous...as did a lot of their fans.
E iTunes: "Old Number 63" from Proto-Kaw's Wait Of Glory ------------- 
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Posted By: bhikkhu
Date Posted: October 24 2006 at 16:46
^^^ Sorry to disagree with you buddy, but "Kilroy" is awful. I thought "Paradise Theater" was bad, but when that came out ... 
So, the answer to the question is they were dead already. PT did that. KWH just confirmed it. ------------- a.k.a. H.T. http://riekels.wordpress.com" rel="nofollow - http://riekels.wordpress.com |
Posted By: lightbulb_son
Date Posted: October 24 2006 at 17:24
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They were already dead IMO ------------- When the world is sick Can't no one be well But I dreamt we were all beautiful and strong 
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Posted By: E-Dub
Date Posted: October 24 2006 at 18:40
They were dead artistically, but not commercially. I think Kilroy did pretty well. Besides, it's not a great album, but good. I'd still rank it in the lower 3rd of their discography. It's all good, Bhikkhu. Hard to get upset at one of the true good guys of the Archives. 
E -------------
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bhikkhu wrote:Posted By: hebrius
Date Posted: October 24 2006 at 19:59
My God, people here are too much radical!!!
I didn't voted in this poll, because I like 'Kilroy' album...even being too much poppier.
 Maybe STYX don't be too much prog, but they are a great rock band, with fine albuns (like 'Crystal Ball' and 'Paradise Theater'). And I don't care if they create radio singles... cause in every album we always have incredible songs (commercial or not) !
 And the last studio album, 'Cyclorama', even with the absent of Dennis DeYoung, is a fantastic work, maybe the best STYX album. The disc have 4 vocalists, and all make great performances, each one in his own style... Believe me, this album ROCKS!!!
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Posted By: bhikkhu
Date Posted: October 24 2006 at 20:49
Hey, don't get me wrong. I've got nothing against the band. I may not like them as much as I used to, but I still give "The Grand Illusion" a spin from time to time. They just lost me with "Paradise Theater." Sure, they may have have had huge financial success with those releases, but musically ... ------------- a.k.a. H.T. http://riekels.wordpress.com" rel="nofollow - http://riekels.wordpress.com |
Posted By: E-Dub
Date Posted: October 24 2006 at 21:01
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<<Hey, don't get me wrong. I've got nothing against the band. I may not like them as much as I used to, but I still give "The Grand Illusion" a spin from time to time. >>
I need to pick that up on CD. The only Styx I have nowadays are the two greatest hits and the live Return To Paradise. I had Grand Illusion on vinyl back when I was a kid and loved "Man In The Wilderness". Friggin' amazing song. E -------------
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Posted By: cuncuna
Date Posted: October 24 2006 at 21:15
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Stix had something going on, but something didn't worked quite well, in my opinion. They should signed Eddie Jobson, that would be an interesting thing to listen. ------------- ¡Beware of the Bee! |
Posted By: Sasquamo
Date Posted: October 24 2006 at 21:25
| Styx was never alive |
Posted By: Arrrghus
Date Posted: October 24 2006 at 21:26
Yeah, that would have been cool!  ------------- 
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Posted By: cuncuna
Date Posted: October 24 2006 at 21:30
Some Stix material fits The Green Album somehow (according to me, that is). That Cyber-punk / New wave attitude is always worth a listen, but I'm not aware of any band wich sound is focused on that. Still, I'll take Mr. Roboto any time, along with "Who My Friends..." ------------- ¡Beware of the Bee! |
Posted By: el böthy
Date Posted: October 24 2006 at 21:58
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heheh Mr Roboto is so bad its actually a lot of fun! Secret secret, I got a secret secret... ------------- "You want me to play what, Robert?" 
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Posted By: Arrrghus
Date Posted: October 24 2006 at 21:59
Thank you, Mr. Roboto?  -------------
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Posted By: Zac M
Date Posted: October 24 2006 at 22:07
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Sure, it's a crappy song (and probably a crappy album, I would never buy it), but if I was flipping through channels on the radio and heard it playing, I would probably leave it on, so I could get a good laugh; it's so ridiculous. I have never liked Styx, anyways, though. ------------- "Art is not imitation, nor is it something manufactured according to the wishes of instinct or good taste. It is a process of expression." -Merleau-Ponty |
Posted By: Sean Trane
Date Posted: October 25 2006 at 10:37
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Well they certainly styarted committing suicide with Cornerstone and most evidently with that awful Babe. While ParadiseTheatre was correct at best (but not quite as good as Grand Illusion or Pieces Of Eight), Killroy and its hit Mr Lobbotto were among the worst stinkers ever produced.
It took them a long time to dare make another record. ------------- let's just stay above the moral melee prefer the sink to the gutter keep our sand-castle virtues content to be a doer as well as a thinker, prefer lifting our pen rather than un-sheath our sword |
Posted By: Rushman
Date Posted: October 25 2006 at 11:04
It was definitely the "Kilroy Was Here" tour. I saw them on that tour at Texas Jam in the Houston Astrodome, and they were practically booed off the stage. 10-15 minutes of a "stage play" with no music was the worst way to follow-up Sammy Hagar, who had just blown the dome off the place.
And I also am a Styx fan, Grand illusion being a top-ten favorite album for me.
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Posted By: yarstruly
Date Posted: October 25 2006 at 11:12
My thoughts exactly...these days they are better off without DeYoung....Check out Cyclorama wit Lawrence Gowan insted...great album! ------------- Facebook hashtags: #100greatestprogrockchallenge #scottssongbysong #scottsspotlight |
Posted By: gr8dane
Date Posted: October 25 2006 at 11:54
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I was a huge fan until Cornerstone was released and with Babe being a monsterhit unfortunately it went pretty soggy from there on.
I love the 4 Wooden Nickel releases and the following 4 A&M,releases (incl. PO8).
They could sing they could prog and rock,but not dance.
Equinox is one amazing album and is in my all time top 10.
PO8 was one rocking album.
These days I am just too tired of GI.
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Posted By: Melomaniac
Date Posted: October 25 2006 at 11:59
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I love every album they made up to Cornerstone and Paradise Theater. That's when they became huge, and, to me, that's when they died. Although I have to admit that I have been blown away by a Styx concert I saw last year (with Saga). Gowan is an amazing frontman and a more than suitable replacement for Dennis DeYoung. ------------- "One likes to believe in the freedom of Music" - Neil Peart, The Spirit of Radio |
Posted By: Chicapah
Date Posted: October 25 2006 at 12:00
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You know when "Mr. Roboto" is featured at the end of "My Name is Earl"
as a funny bit with Earl and Randy dancing to it in a strobe light that
it definitely marks that album as the end of Styx's run as a band to be
taken seriously. I've seen them twice in the last five years and
they definitely put on a good show and sound pretty tight so I can't
completely discount them as decent musicians but I can't say I was ever
a real fan. I never owned a Styx album.
------------- "Literature is well enough, as a time-passer, and for the improvement and general elevation and purification of mankind, but it has no practical value" - Mark Twain |
Posted By: yarstruly
Date Posted: October 25 2006 at 12:36
Definitely! GO see them with GOWAN! ------------- Facebook hashtags: #100greatestprogrockchallenge #scottssongbysong #scottsspotlight |
Posted By: Pnoom!
Date Posted: October 25 2006 at 15:47
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I have to admit, I messed up the poll by forgetting to add an option that said, no, they died later, as well as an option, no, they never died.
But it's a bit late for that...
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Posted By: Peter
Date Posted: October 25 2006 at 15:59
Am I a man or man-ee-kaaaannnn....
 Stynx deserve their own brand of CHEESE for that one!(Maybe that's what that "favourite cheese" pollster meant, by "American cheese?")  ------------- "And, has thou slain the Jabberwock? Come to my arms, my beamish boy! O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!' He chortled in his joy. |
Posted By: Melomaniac
Date Posted: October 25 2006 at 16:35
Already did, that's what I said ! ------------- "One likes to believe in the freedom of Music" - Neil Peart, The Spirit of Radio |
Posted By: Ivan_Melgar_M
Date Posted: October 25 2006 at 16:44
IMO Cornerstone had it's moments, the Melodic Folksy Boat on the River and the fabulous vocal work in Lights are outstanding, but yes Babe was an aberration.
Their decline in popularity started with the accusations of Satanism with Snowblind.
Kilroy was Here was just the last nail in the coffin.
Iván
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Posted By: Cristi
Date Posted: October 25 2006 at 17:53
| yes, it sure did kill Styx , for a while at least. KWH is one of the worst things i've ever heard in rock music. CHEESY. |
Posted By: salmacis
Date Posted: October 26 2006 at 06:13
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'Domo origato, Mr Roboto' anyone? One of the worst songs ever. Everybody in the band seemingly hated that whole affair bar Dennis DeYoung who has always seemingly had the Broadway mentality. He even performs in Broadway these days!
Tommy Shaw I believe said he felt like crying when a 10 year old kid said how much he like 'Mr Roboto'. That song is so awful I never bothered with 'Kilroy'. To be honest, even 'Paradise Theater' I always felt was far too Broadway- a shame because the first 4 A & M albums (forget about those poor Wooden Nickel albums) are superb pomp rock. Such rubbish like 'The Best Of Times' and 'Babe' had effectively maligned their credibility with rock fans anyway, even before 'Kilroy' seems to have. |
Posted By: akin
Date Posted: October 26 2006 at 10:26
| IMO Styx started to become bad between Cornerstone and Paradise Theater. Kilroy is just the " last nail in the coffin", as Ivan said, because it is the album where there is nothing interesting. |
Posted By: Peter
Date Posted: October 27 2006 at 09:46
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It damn near kills ME, when I hear it.
"Mr Loboto" is one of the lamest songs ever, in the history of music -- any genre.
(Read my review! http://www.progarchives.com/Review.asp?id=17408 - http://www.progarchives.com/Review.asp?id=17408 )
The Kraft Processed Cheese Slices of prog!
 =  ------------- "And, has thou slain the Jabberwock? Come to my arms, my beamish boy! O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!' He chortled in his joy. |
Posted By: yarstruly
Date Posted: October 27 2006 at 11:59
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Give the new line up a chance, they have been resurrected... ------------- Facebook hashtags: #100greatestprogrockchallenge #scottssongbysong #scottsspotlight |
Posted By: darren
Date Posted: October 28 2006 at 01:15
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I thought it was great up to Paradise Theatre. It wasn't as good as the others but they still could have pulled it out of the fire. Pieces of Eight and Grand Illusion are still some of my favourite albums, although I haven't heard either for a couple of years now. To borrow a phrase, Killroy was when the band jumped the shark. I thought the storyline was pretty lightweight and silly. It reminded me of something an 8th grade kid would come up with. Mr. Roboto is one of the songs that gives 80's music a bad name.
I'm wondering if everyone's hate of "Babe" is the song itself or the fact it was played EVERYWHERE for a few years (every radio station, every stereo shop, every record shop...) and everyone just grew tired of it.
Wow, I nearly forgot that bit. This seems so silly in the age of Marilyn Manson.
I don't think it really affected them. Mind you the accusations of backward messages was part of the inspiration for the adolescent storyline of Killroy.
------------- "they locked up a man who wanted to rule the world. the fools they locked up the wrong man." - Leonard Cohen |
Posted By: salmacis
Date Posted: October 28 2006 at 07:38
| I honestly think 'Babe' was rather odious- the band themselves (bar DeYoung) said it was that song that made everybody forget they were a heavy rock band, and 'Babe' started them being perceived as a ballads band. I don't own any of their stuff past 'Pieces Of Eight'- their last great effort imo. |
Posted By: Ivan_Melgar_M
Date Posted: October 28 2006 at 10:30
It was qute funny, if you own Kilroy was here, before the song Heavy Metal Poisoning you listen a prayer that played backwards seens in Latin or some weird language, I tried it with an old tape and it worked, clearly said:
" http://www.styxnet.com/styxlyrics/hmpinbwd.wav - Annuit Coeptis Novus Ordo Seclorum ," (You can listen the sample using the link).
I believe the 700 Club or another similar program accused them of Satanism, made a whole issue, brought an expert to prove the "hidden message" (It was so obvious that accusations of hiding it were less than ridiculous) but STYX kept quiet, until JY showed on TV what the phrase ment and where it coud be found:
The good old One Dollar bill.
It was a good joke to make fun of the fanatics.
But the accusations of Satanism really affected their popularity among middle class average listeners, remember we're talking about the 80's and it was a different world.
Then Tommy Shaw left and the band lost all their popularity, soon after John Panozzo died, Chuck Panozzo got very sick because of the AIDS, they joined for a tour but De Young sued the rest of the band and everything was downhill.
Iván
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Posted By: Guillermo
Date Posted: October 28 2006 at 10:45
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Yes. There was a reunion with De Young. But he left the band because he also became sick of a strange virus, so he left the band because it took him too long to have good health again, and they continued without him, but De Young sued them without success.
"The Grand Illusion" album is one of the favourites of their fans. It is the only album that I have from Styx. Apart from "Come Sail Away" , I don`t like it. Particularly, I can`t stand the lyrics of "Superstars". ------------- Avatar: Photo of Solar Eclipse, Mexico City, July 1991. A great experience to see. Maybe once in a lifetime. |
Posted By: silversaw
Date Posted: February 11 2008 at 01:39
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I had to say yes!! As far as being a good rock band, or art rock band...I think their initial death came with the piece of garbage that was "Cornerstone" in 1979! They came back strong with "Paradise Theatre" in 1981 but once Dennis DeYoung exerted more control and pulled the Broadway nonsense...that was it!!! "Kilroy" is not a terrible album and it has some great songs, but overall it feels like 3 solo albums and not one cohesive unit...just like "Brave New World" 16 years later!!!!!!! |
Posted By: ghost_of_morphy
Date Posted: February 11 2008 at 11:27
| The last real signs of life that Styx displayed were on the Grand Illusion. |