Introducing The Stygian Chronicles
By Doug Fox
With most bands, there’s a gradual build to fandom. A great song here, an album purchase there, often followed by a memorable concert experience. Then the cycle continues with the next album, each step building to an eventual crescendo — like the quickening cadence of a well-designed song.
That’s typically the natural progression of fandom. But sometimes, if you’re lucky, you have a few bands in your arsenal of favorites where you can point to one specific moment that made all the difference — one stunning intro that immediately won you over. That’s how it was for me and Styx.
I remember the exact moment Styx embedded itself in my DNA. Having just completed a round of disc golf on a sweaty Southern California afternoon in the summer of 1977 — undoubtedly within a few weeks of July 7 — two friends and I retreated to one of their homes to listen to a recent album purchase he was especially enthusiastic about. If you’ve already connected the 7.7.77 date dots, you know that record turned out to be The Grand Illusion.
In an interesting twist, my friend eschewed the normal listen-to-a-new-album-in-sequence etiquette. Instead, he purposefully dropped the needle on Side II, cranked the volume, and with a confident air exclaimed, “Check this out!”
I recall being somewhat lulled into intrigue by the droning keyboard intro as it filled the room. The stunning payoff, however, came with a gut punch of adrenaline as the powerful main guitar riff to Miss America took over. That was it. I was hooked. Styx had me at hello, or rather a snarling, “You were the apple of the public’s eye … "
A lot has happened in the 48 years since my initial introduction to Styx. Like a 35-year career in newspapers, where I not only became a rock music journalist but also relished the opportunity to meet, cover and work with many of the bands I’d fallen in love with during my glorious misspent youth (as James “JY” Young would eventually call it). But the band I had the greatest opportunity to work with most turned out to be Styx.
My first interview with a member of the band, in fact, was with JY as the 1996 reunion tour came through our newspaper’s coverage area in Orem, Utah. During that call, I name-checked Miss America and Midnight Ride as two of my all-time favorite Styx songs, and JY, in typical exuberance, responded with, “You must be one rocking dude!” I still wear that badge proudly.
Much like my love-at-first-listen of Miss America, my burgeoning connection with Styx began unexpectedly. I’d written a detailed concert review of the band in 2001, evaluating how the still fairly recent addition of Lawrence Gowan had positively affected the band’s live show. A month or two after that, Billboard magazine was working on a special 20-page special section honoring Styx’s (at that point) 30-year recording milestone. An editor asked if the band had a go-to writer they’d worked closely with over the years who could take the assignment. They didn’t. Then someone in the band threw out there, “Hey, what about that guy in Utah?”
The rest, as they say, is history.
Over the ensuing 24 years, I’ve participated in countless formal interviews with the band — including every living member except for newest addition Terry Gowan (which I hope to rectify shortly) — written a couple of official album bios, worked on several special writing projects and chronicled the band as extensively as time and opportunity allowed. In short, it’s been the best of times.
When the offer recently came in to write a couple columns and features per month for Styxworld.com under the banner of The Stygian Chronicles, an affirmative answer came as naturally as executing the catchy hand claps in Too Much Time on My Hands.
Welcome to The Stygian Chronicles — where we’re excited to offer a more consistent glimpse behind the curtain into Styxworld!
