Styx

Styx may have had their musical roots in the UK's burgeoning late-'60s/early-'70s prog-rock bombast, but they were true pioneers in at least one sense: The Chicago-bred quintet virtually defined the hugely successful "corp rock" boom that followed a decade after prog's original fortunes tarnished…

Styx kept themselves busy in the 21st century, launching a tour like clockwork every year, but they abandoned recording new material after 2003's Cyclorama. Arriving 14 years after that record, The Mission announces Styx's return in a grand fashion…

With the success of Styx's album The Grand Illusion, Wooden Nickel Records, Styx's previous label, released Best of Styx, which contained selected Styx songs in the Wooden Nickel catalog. Styx had left Wooden Nickel to sign with A&M Records several years earlier, so the compilation does not contain any songs from Styx's three A&M albums that preceded this album's release…

The 1972 self-titled album from Chicago-based quintet Styx could be considered an ambitious outing for any band's debut. Clearly influenced by the primarily U.K-centered progressive rock scene, Dennis DeYoung (keyboard/vocals) hooked up with twin siblings Chuck Panozzo (bass/vocals) and John Panozzo (drums/percussion/vocals) in a combo named the Tradewinds during the late '60s…

Styx was one of the titans of the hugely popular AOR movement – along with Boston, Foreigner, Journey, and REO Speedwagon – embraced by the U.S. mainstream in the late '70s and early '80s. The end of the Chicago-based band's peak period coincided with one of the most ambitious and notorious projects of the time, the 1983 concept album Kilroy Was Here…

For Styx II (1973), the Chicago-based quintet continue much in the same vein as their eponymous debut. The primary difference was the inclusion of the Dennis DeYoung power ballad "Lady" – which catapulted the combo into the Top Ten pop singles survey at an admirable number six…

The 1972 self-titled album from Chicago-based quintet Styx could be considered an ambitious outing for any band's debut. Clearly influenced by the primarily U.K-centered progressive rock scene, Dennis DeYoung (keyboard/vocals) hooked up with twin siblings Chuck Panozzo (bass/vocals) and John Panozzo (drums/percussion/vocals) in a combo named the Tradewinds during the late '60s…

Legendary American rock band STYX team up with Cleveland's Contemporary Youth Orchestra (CYO) for an unforgettable concert performance at the Blossom Music Center in Cleveland. The CYO joined Styx in performing their classic Top 10 hits including 'Too Much Time On My Hands,' 'Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man),' and 'Renegade.'

The practice of performing albums in their entirety gives both artists and their fans the chance to hear the hits and underappreciated deep cuts as well. However, in many cases, most of a classic album is in the set anyway. Styx's 2012 three-disc (two CDs and one DVD) release The Grand Illusion/Pieces of Eight Live is a fine example of giving casual fans and diehards the best of both worlds, and there's certainly an audience for this, since both 1977's The Grand Illusion and 1978's Pieces of Eight went triple-platinum in the United States…

Pieces of Eight is the eighth studio album by Styx, released on September 1, 1978. Like the band's previous album, The Grand Illusion (1977), it managed to achieve triple platinum certification, thanks to the hit singles "Blue Collar Man (Long Nights)" and "Renegade". The band members produced and recorded the album (like their previous three efforts) at Paragon Studios in Chicago with recording engineer Barry Mraz and mixing engineer Rob Kingsland. "I'm O.K." was recorded at Paragon and St. James Cathedral. This would be the last album to be produced at Paragon Studios. The album's cover was done by Hipgnosis. DeYoung stated in the 1991 interview with Redbeard on the "In the Studio" episode that he initially hated the cover but grew to like it as he got older.