Ayn forgive me, but I've been listening to Styx. I've been listening repeatedly to The Grand Illusion, and digging it. There, I said it.
Recently I was in Grumpy Old Man mode, complaining about the offenses against Geometry and Theology collected on the Now 18 hits collection. Back in my high school days, even the crappy radio fodder was better made, stuff like Styx. Between that line of thought and South Park, I found myself jonesin' for some Styx.
Funny, but I never really listened to Styx before. This album was huge in 1977- my freshman year in high school, but I was in the early throes of cultish Beatle worship. I can remember vaguely this stuff playing around me, and I could still sing back some of the hits, but it went in one ear and out the other. I wasn't paying attention. I've never owned a Styx album, though I've certainly owned far worse.
By their big, bombastic arena rock style, this band would be a likely target for the punk rockers attacks on "corporate rock" that were emerging about this same time. Styx responded to all that noise, though, with an answer. Most critically, they answered with a good, memorable song to make their case.
I was not yet at all aware of punk rock, and thus missed the real point of the words, but I could still sing them back to you because of the memorable, sweeping melody. That makes perfectly good sense, even if you've never heard of Sid Vicious.
Why must you be such an angry young man
When your future looks quite bright to me
And how can there be such a sinister plan
That could hide such a lamb
Such a caring young man
Hey, that's a pretty good understated rebuke. Well played. This may perhaps lack the pure rock and roll pentecostal emotional fire of the best few Sex Pistols songs, but it's a more distinctive and memorable composition than the very bare bones off the rack Chuck Berry/blues songs of the Pistols. Oh, and these guys can actually play their frickin' instruments.
"Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)" frankly shows a lot more wisdom than the cheap nihilism of, say, the Sex Pistols. More significantly, it's a much better written song than almost anything coming from anywhere in the punk movement, unless you move forward a few months and count Elvis Costello.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Mark Saleski
oh, but the first tune on side two, Miss America, is killer.
2 - Al Barger
Yeah, that's decent, and I remember some radio play for that one. I just didn't have much to say about it.
3 - Mark Saleski
i got to see them on the Pieces of Eight tour. it was bombastic fun in a purely late-70's sort of way.
lots of material from Equinox and Crystal Ball.
i don't think they really lost it musically until Dennis DeYoung went all vegas on them with Cornerstone and then that Mr. Roboto ooze.
4 - Paul Roy
Oh man, watching Cartman sing "Come Sail Away" has to be the funniest damn bit of animated TV ever. I was crying! But seriously, Styx rocks..and they still do. I saw them in 2003, with their Dennis DeYoung stand in, having low expectations, but was very pleasantly suprised at how great they still sounded. Warning: don't listen to Styx for the profound lyrics - listen for the profound riffs, and melodies.
5 - Al Barger
Absolutely Paul. If you want profound words, read a damned book. Get you some Dostoevsky or something.
6 - Barry Stoller
Sure, there's worse stuff today but we should not forgive the sins of Styx. Their nefarious success is one reason worse stuff followed. "Angry Young Man" is a transparent re-write of the Billy Joel of the same name - at least John Lydon didn't need to crib crap from the "piano man." If it's 70s cheese you're after, have a little class - there's Utopia, Be Bop Deluxe, Cheap Trick, Klaatu, or simply Queen.
7 - todd
Thats trippy, I was just telling my boy about how cool Styx was yesterday.
Mr. Roboto came on the classics station up here and I was raving about how cool they were till they synchronized with disco/new wave.
I think, tho, I can be content with the Greatest Hits 2 cd set I ripped from the library.
8 - Rodney Welch
If anyone but you was writing this defense, I'd call it amusing satire. Instead, given your obvious sincerity, it's a glaring reminder of the Stalinism at the heart of every Randian: that gooey, sentimental, misty-eyed love for mass-minded crap, particularly when its treacly and emotional. Clearly, no sinister plan is going to hide such a lamb as you.
9 - JR
Mark Saleski: i got to see them on the Pieces of Eight tour. it was bombastic fun in a purely late-70's sort of way.
Damn, I envy you. I didn't see them until that Kilroy theater tour.
10 - Mark Saleski
oh, and for extra 70's bombast, the opening act was Angel.
and rodney, nobody has to defend liking anything. i don't give a shit if something is "mass-minded" or not. if i like it, i like it. hey, if Richard Thompson can say that "Oops I Did It Again" is a great song, then i can listen to "Come Sail Away" guilt-free.
fooey.
11 - Rodney Welch
You're right, Mark, but some music is more mass-minded than others. Anyway, I probably shouldn't have said anything. I should avoid reading Al. I reject his views on just about everything, and responding is just a waste of energy.
12 - Aaman
Which episode/season does Cartman sing the Styx song?
Great review, Cartman
13 - Barry Stoller
> nobody has to defend liking anything.
Why not? If someone has the pretension to "write" a music "review," why shouldn't some purpose be attached to it?
> hey, if Richard Thompson can say that "Oops I Did It Again" is a great song, then i can listen to "Come Sail Away" guilt-free.
Similarly, John Lennon praised Olivia Newton-John's song "Xanadu." We should know the context there, it's a gift, a lark, a wink - a celebrity game.
> ... the Stalinism at the heart of every Randian: that gooey, sentimental, misty-eyed love for mass-minded crap...
Damn, wish I penned those words. Right on.
14 - Temple Stark
"Side two". Haven't heard that in a while :-)
Got some good background here on a band I've actively tried to avoid (and largely succeeded) Thanks.
15 - Al Barger
Actually, I intend on defending my tastes. Not defending maybe exactly, cause that sounds like being on trial. Explaining would be the word, and that's what I'm trying to do by writing. I'm not just saying ME LIKEY, but trying to break it down for myself even as much as possible WHY I like something.
"be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear" I Peter 3:15
I love a good debate about the merits of cool records. I love to have somebody challenge me on stuff. Few things are more fun than a friendly argument over the finer points of favorite records.
Rodney's not very good for the job though, because he's not connected to anything I write. He obviously hates me pretty bad for not being on board with some pinko left wing political agenda. Anyone who finds any value in Ayn Rand is apparently a communist- which is a precisely perverse sentiment.
Like Stewart Smalley, I don't want to take anyone else's inventory, but obviously Rodney has some personal issues that cause him discomfort. Apparently the best relief from his conditions comes from following around my threads and making silly hateful non-sequiter claims that liking a Styx album makes me a "Stalinist." If I wrote a positive review of my breakfast, then no doubt my appreciation of a fine buttery English muffin would be further evidence that I'm a Stalinist.
But hey, if it makes him feel better. Perhaps Monsieur Welch could get together with this Stoller guy and have a Two Minute Hate on Rand and/or Al.
16 - Sister Ray
As an official member of The Cool People, I'll take the Ramones over Styx. But I admit a secret liking for "Come Sail Away."
17 - Barry Stoller
Rand is to literature what Styx is to music: Dumbed down junk. Like I said before, Rand wrote a "critique" of Skinner's popular BF&D in which she admitted she hadn't even read it (or anything else by Skinner); likewise, Styx looks to Billy Joel for a "message" song. What could be lazier? Hey, I dig kitsch as much as the next guy but let's have some effort (at least in the stealing). Try Klaatu's "Hope" instead for this sort of thing.
18 - Al Barger
Yeah, I'd still take the Ramones overall well above Styx. But in my father's house there are many mansions, and perhaps we can set a place at the table for Dennis De Young- so long as he leaves that Mr Roboto crap at the door.
Mr Stoller, I'm not looking at Styx for "kitsch." These are straight up some well made songs. I'm not hiding behind a "camp" defense.
Also, the Billy Joel song sounds nothing like "Fooling Yourself." The phrase "angry young man" is a common phrase. Such catchphrases are a basic traditional starting point for writing pop songs. Nothing wrong with that.
19 - JR
I have one Ramones CD and I never listen to it.
Reckon I'd have to vote for Styx.
20 - Tom Johnson
I am not in any way a Styx fan, but I have to admit that there's no way that Coldplay or even Radiohead will ever figure into the collective conscious mind of the world like Styx did, or really many bands of their ilk in the 70s. Why do I say this? Purely because Styx made a big enough impact to feature in a TV show made nearly 20 years after they were considered "relevant." That show? Freaks And Geeks," the episode where Nick serenades Lindsay. Now try and imagine Coldplay or Radiohead fitting a role like that. Not gonna happen.
21 - godoggo
Styx is obviously beneath comment, but I'd just like to point out that Billie Joel actually does write pretty good melodies. I'm not a fan, but still.
22 - Mark Saleski
anybody ever heard Billy Joel's instrumental piano record? i read that it was pretty good but have never heard it.
23 - ClubhouseCancer
I think Styx stynx, and I hate Billy Joel, too, but I must object. "Angry Young Man" is absolutely NOT a rewrite of Billy Joel's song, much less a "transparent" one.
BJ's song is a sort-of satiric critique of the AYM, and then in the bridge, he confesses that he once WAS an AYM himself.
The Styx song's tone is totally different: It's chiding, like, "C'mon, don't be such an AYM, everything's gonna be fine, you're gonna make it."
The tempi and melody and harmony are pretty different, too.
Oh, yeah, and both songs completely suck.
24 - Matthew T. Sussman
Atta boy, Al.
"Fooling Yourself" is my personal anthem.
25 - Al Barger
Mr Sussman, I'm happy to please you.
Also, thank you Aaman for comment 12. I of course revel in being likened to Cartman. Of course, if you really want to flatter me sometime, you might liken me to Archie Bunker.