Taking them away

GREEN BAY – For over five decades, rock band Styx has been producing albums and hitting arena stages, while riding the wave of the public’s shifting musical appetite.

First hitting its stride in the mid-1970s with the album Crystal Ball, the band garnered four triple-platinum albums in a row during the following years —The Grand Illusion in 1977, Pieces of Eight in 1978, Cornerstone in 1979 and Paradise Theater in 1981.

While their music rolled along with the changing tastes of the public, it continues to resonate with the crowds that fill arenas to see them.

“We've been touring now for quite a while, and all over North America,” explained longtime band member, James “JY” Young.

“It's amazing that we signed our first recording contract around 50 years ago and that the music still seems to hold up and the fans still seem to love it. And, I mean, I love standing on stage playing my guitar, and we've got a great (band.) I mean, Tommy Shaw, he wrote ‘Renegade,’ he wrote ‘Too Much Time on my Hands,’ he wrote ‘Crystal Ball.’

“We’ve got a great story to tell…”Young added as he reflected on the band’s long history, which includes two decades of averaging 100 shows a year.

The band started in 1972 in Southside Chicago, Ill., with Dennis DeYoung and brothers, Chuck and John Panozzo.

John “JC” Curulewski later entered the picture, followed by JY.

“My musical education, everyone in my family — there were five kids — we were all sat down and started to take piano lessons at age five. So my aunt was a church organist. My dad, he couldn't read music, but he could hear something and he could duplicate it. He was really great picking up a melody by ear, and I've inherited that from him,” recalled JY, who also holds a degree in aerospace engineering.

“But Chicago always was known as a great city for (music.) Back in the Roaring 20s, there was that kind of music caught on big time.”

After developing a regional following, “TW4,” as the group was then known, signed with RCA subsidiary Wooden Nickel Records, who recommended a name change.

“I was always a fan of Greek mythology, and the Styx was the river that ran through Hades, or hell or whatever you want to call it. And actually, the guys in the band are a little bit reluctant, but the record company we signed to, they really pushed us to use it because they thought it was just a little bit, you know, it had some mysteriouso. But there's no devil worship in Styx, (just) good Catholic boys from the south side; except for me, I was brought up Protestant. It was just trying to find a name that was different and unique, and wasn't the same old kind of a thing,” Young explained.

Young recalled the first time he heard one of the band’s songs on the radio as “stupid good” and said it continues to feel that way,

“We started making records in 1972 and ultimately, we had some big hits — ‘Lady’ and ‘Come Sail Away’ and then ‘Grand Illusion,’ which was our seventh album we released on July 7, 1977, and it sold 7 million copies,” he recalled.

But, it was Lady that launched them into the mainstream.

“It was the first really big song for us on the radio. Dennis DeYoung wrote it and the rest of us helped arrange it,” Young added.

The trademark harmonies of the song, Young said, were largely influenced by the Beatles.

But their biggest seller ever came with “Grand Illusion” and its lucky sevens — released July 7, 1977 and selling seven million copies.

“But after that, when everything got digitized, then it was much easier for people to say ‘Hey, did you get that new CD? Can I burn a copy for myself?’ And so then the public really had a chance. If they couldn't afford to go buy it, they’d find a way to duplicate it.”

The group continued to roll with the changes over its five decades.

Band members have morphed over the years, including the introduction of Tommy Shaw, who filled the spot vacated by Curulewski, in 1975.

His hiring was largely based on his ability to sing high harmonies.

The band continued to doll out songs that would resonate with the public, from rock anthems to power ballads, even touching on the rock opera genre that The Who and Queen had already found success with.

What keeps the group going?

While Young said he “loves being on stage,” his focus is on what their performance does for the crowd.

“If I can just take them away for a moment,” Young added.

Styx will hit the stage with John Waite at the Resch Center on Oct. 11 at 7 pm.

For more information, visit www.reschcomplex.com/events/detail/styx.