Styx, Hitmakers of Late 70s and early 80s, Coming to Tupelo Jan. 18 (with Videos)

Domo arigato, BancorpSouth Arena, for bringing Styx, one of the most popular pop-rock bands of the late 1970s and early 1980s, to Tupelo.
The upcoming concert, “An Evening with Styx,” takes place at the Tupelo facility at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 18. Tickets are $39.50, $59.50 and $79.50 and can be ordered here.
With an original lineup consisting of Dennis DeYoung, Tommy Shaw, James Young, Chuck Panozzo and John Panozzo, Styx came to rule the airwaves when the band’s seventh album, “The Grand Illusion,” reached triple platinum certification and spawned the top 10 hit, “Come Sail Away,” in 1977.
Their follow-up LP, “Pieces of Eight,” featured a pair of guitar-rock singles—“Renegade” (which went to No. 16) and “Blue Collar Man (Long Nights)” (No. 21).
In 1981, Styx hit its prime with “Paradise Theatre,” a concept album that reached No. 1 and yielded five top 10 hits, including “The Best of Times” and “Too Much Time on My Hands.”

Another concept album, “Kilroy Was Here,” followed in 1983. Dreamed up by DeYoung, the project—a sort of sci-fi rock opera about a musician (named Robert Orin Charles Kilroy, or ROCK) who’s sent to prison for, well, for rocking too gosh-darn hard—was a commercial radio smash, but it divided the band’s members, some of whom disliked its over-the-top theatricality.
“Kilroy” gave Styx one of their biggest hits with the techno-pop “Mr. Roboto,” but it also sealed the band’s fate after lead guitarist Tommy Shaw, who had penned many of the band’s most popular rockers, became angry during a live performance of the rock opera (in which he reluctantly and awkwardly played the character Jonathan Chance), smashed his guitar into pieces and stormed off-stage.
Although DeYoung, Shaw and Young all put out solo records after “Kilroy,” the band didn’t release another studio album for another seven years, and Shaw didn’t return to the band until 1996. Even then, Shaw and Young refused to perform songs from “Kilroy” (and still do).

DeYoung left the band permanently in 1999, under an agreement that he would be allowed to tour under the banner, “Dennis DeYoung – Formerly of Styx” while his old bandmates – Shaw, Young and Chuck Panozzo – perform under the Styx name.
Hardcore fans have wanted to see the full band get back together for years, and DeYoung himself has said he’s up for it. At present, however, his former collaborators don’t seem to be ready to welcome him back.
As Shaw told Rolling Stone in 2011, “In retrospect, we weren’t even happy working with each other in our heyday. We’re just different people with different desires and [a] different vision of how things should be. God, it was such an unhappy place. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. We’re crazy, but we’re not insane.”
Shaw and Young now swap out on lead vocals, along with keyboardist Lawrence Gowan, while Chuck Panozzo still handles bass duties. Other band members include Todd Sucherman (drums and percussion) and Ricky Phillips (bass, guitar and vocals).

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Rick Hynum is editor-in-chief of HottyToddy.com. Email him at rick.hynum@hottytoddy.com.