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Pop Rock Nation

Author: Jenny

  • Still on a Styx kick…

    Still on a Styx kick…

    Days after I discovered Tommy Shaw’s bluegrass effort, I am still on a Styx kick!

    Sometimes, I think I must have been born in the wrong decade. I really love music that was popular in the 70s and 80s. My husband, Bill, was born in 1964, which is eight years before I made my debut on planet Earth. The music that was popular when he was in high school was popular when I was elementary school. I am really hooked on it, though. Maybe it’s because I have older sisters who indoctrinated me with their musical tastes early on. All I know is that I have a tendency to get obsessed with certain types of music sometimes and that seems to be what has happened with me and Styx over the past week or so. Hopefully by Friday, I will have moved on to something else.

    Last night, I was recovering from lawn mowing and drinking beer when I suddenly decided to download and listen to three Styx albums. Why? Because I remember at some time during the late 1970s, one of my sister’s friends came over to our house with what was then a brand new Styx album. At the time, I was seven years old and Styx was all the rage. She put the album on my dad’s then state of the art HiFi Panasonic stereo system and our living room was filled with the sounds of Styx playing what seemed like an odd song at the time.


    Styx plays “Borrowed Time” live at the Capital Centre in Largo, Maryland in 1981.

    I kept remember the part where they jam on the guitars and say “Yes”… “No”… Weird song. I like how Dennis DeYoung was rocking the porn ‘stache that was so popular in the early 80s. Seems like everybody had one. I also like how Dennis pranced about the stage.

    As I was listening to this last night, it occurred to me that Styx reminds me a lot of Queen in many ways. The music is very theatrical and kind of “epic”, lots of harmonies and elaborate arrangements. I think I like Freddie Mercury’s voice better and, in general, I like Queen’s music more. But I have to admit, Styx really reminds me of Queen in more ways than one…


    I’ve never seen anyone in Styx wear shorts like these…

    Based on the above clip, I think Freddie was a better dancer than Dennis DeYoung is too. Uh oh… watching this clip is making me want to download albums by Queen.


    “Renegade” is a pretty rockin’ Styx song, though. Great for a morning wake up call. And I have a horrible crush on Tommy Shaw. Need to get my middle aged hormones under control.

    Maybe it’s not such a bad thing to be on a Styx kick. I didn’t like some of their later stuff. With the exception of “Babe”, the softer songs like “First Time” and “Don’t Let It End” left me kind of cold. Actually, “First Time” kind of gives me the willies. Dennis DeYoung and that porn ‘stache singing all sensitively about the “first time” doesn’t quite take me back to my “first time”…


    I’m sure a lot of people lost their virginity to this song.

    I think I’d rather listen to Freddie Mercury sing this…


    This is such a beautiful song… I think Freddie is feeling every word.

    Hmm… I think maybe my Styx kick might be over now. I really need to explore Queen more.

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  • Tommy Shaw does bluegrass…

    Tommy Shaw does bluegrass…

    Shame on me for only just finding out about Tommy Shaw and his penchant for bluegrass…

    A couple of nights ago, while sipping on expensive imported beer, I got in the mood for some Styx. I went to YouTube and started watching videos. The more I watched, the more interested in Styx I became. I was particularly drawn in by the adorable Alabama born rock star Tommy Shaw, who is the lead guitarist of Styx and one of its lead singers. When Styx was really popular, I was just a little kid. So while I am very familiar with their songs, I didn’t have any crushes on anyone in the band… until now.


    It started with this video… Doesn’t Tommy Shaw have beautiful hair?

    This video kind of cracks me up. It’s so serious, even though Dennis DeYoung looks a little crazy with that accordion. Tommy and Dennis seem to flirt a little as they play this song, which could easily be a bluegrass song. Tommy’s playing the mandolin and singing beautifully. As I was listening to this song the other night, it actually occurred to me that Tommy Shaw could be a bluegrass player if he wanted to be… I didn’t know that in 2011, Shaw did release a bluegrass album.

    The first Styx song I actually remember hearing is their 1980 hit, “Babe”. On this song, Dennis DeYoung sings lead and his keyboard skills are featured prominently. And then out pops Tommy Shaw, dressed in what looks like a sailor suit.


    I have to wonder what prompted Tommy to dress like a sailor. It’s a little bizarre.


    I really like “Babe”, even if convicted killer Daniel Colwell sang it (poorly) after he was sentenced to death in a Georgia courtroom.

    I kept watching more and more videos featuring Styx, marveling at how much I like their music. I guess I had never really considered it over the years. And I really like Tommy Shaw and not just because he has great hair, can sing, and plays guitar like a god. Look at how he works the crowd…


    I love a good showman! And now that my husband’s is about to retire from the Army, this song seems even more fitting than it might otherwise be.

    The Styx obsession continued last night as I found myself watching a VH1 Behind the Music special about the band. That’s when I found out that Tommy Shaw had ventured into bluegrass. I happen to love bluegrass, so I was definitely interested. For most of his career, he’s been a true arena rock star with Styx and Damn Yankees, but he easily proves he can branch out.


    He’s doing fine with this song, “I’ll Be Coming Home At The Opry”.


    This video was done in a hotel room. Hope no one was disturbed! I do like the song, though.

    Actually, while I wasn’t too surprised that Shaw would try bluegrass, I do recall that he wasn’t thrilled with Dennis DeYoung’s desire to do softer songs like “Babe” and “First Time”, which Shaw described as “Barry Manilow style” music. I think I like Tommy Shaw more as a rock star, but he’s done okay with bluegrass. Maybe he should team up with Alison Krauss, who has seemed more interested in rock lately. I bet they’d make an interesting pair. Tommy Shaw rock star turned bluegrass artist versus Alison Krauss, bluegrass star turned rock artist… Hmmm… Edited to add, I just did a little more research and it seems Alison Krauss did join Tommy Shaw on a couple of songs on this album. That means I’ll definitely be buying it.

    I haven’t yet downloaded Shaw’s 2011 bluegrass foray, The Great Divide. It’s interesting to read the Amazon comments about this album. Quite a few people were not expecting it and were disappointed. Otherwise, it was pretty well-received. I probably will buy it, though, because I have a habit of random downloading, especially when I’m enjoying imported beers with high booze content. I have discovered some great stuff that way.

    Hope everyone has a great weekend!

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  • Music survey…

    Music survey…

    This morning, I had an interesting experience while taking a music survey…

    And I didn’t take the survey because I write about music. I actually took the survey because I am a member of MySurvey.com, which is a site where members take surveys and earn points that can be traded in for cash or gift cards. I’ve been on MySurvey.com for about ten years and it’s been an interesting experience. Sometimes I test products. Sometimes I watch videos or commercials, then answer questions. Sometimes the surveys are really boring and tedious and sometimes they’re pretty interesting. This morning’s survey was one of the cooler ones.

    The first thing I liked about the music survey was that it was visually very appealing. It used bright colors and graphics, which I found engaging and exciting. I was asked about a variety of popular music artists, everyone from Andrea Boccelli to Lady Gaga. The questions on the survey asked if I had ever heard of them, liked their music, or owned their music. I was asked if I bought CDs, downloaded albums, or listened to “free” music sources like Spotify. I was even asked if I used a peer to peer music service like the old Napster. Next, I listened to fifteen music samples from a variety of different artists– everything from reggae to modern country. I heard a few folks for the first time that I actually really enjoyed. In fact, I found that I liked a lot of the music that was sampled, even though I’ve fallen out of touch with really mainstream pop music. Another part of the survey was about how much of certain types of music I own and whether or not I ripped CDs owned by other people.

    I noticed that the people who made the survey were probably British, based on the language they used and the way they spelled some words. And I noticed that they seemed to be pitching U2 and Lady Gaga…


    As this classic U2 song played during the survey, I realized how awesome and iconic U2 is… But maybe that’s just because I’m old.

    Those two artists got several clips dedicated to them.

    I’m sure the music survey I took this morning is about finding out what people like and what people are willing to buy. For me, it was kind of an interesting discovery process. I kind of wish I had written down the names of a couple of the singers I was introduced to on the music survey, even though they seem like they might be a bit trendy for what I usually like. But then, I don’t pay attention to what’s hot as much as I do to what I like. If I’m somewhere out and about and hear a song I like, I use Shazam to find out what the title is and who’s singing it.

    I don’t often enjoy the surveys I take on MySurvey.com, though I have made some money and scored some freebies doing them, which makes it worthwhile for me. I hope they send me more music surveys, though. This morning’s experience was very intriguing. It makes me realize that I probably ought to turn on the radio more often.