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.
