The Biggest Reason Dennis DeYoung Won't Be Back In Styx Anytime Soon (Revisited)

The music of Styx brings back a lot of happy memories in my life. When I was a kid collecting 45s, one of the first records I bought was Babe. I loved that song, and the b-side I'm Okay is one of my favorite all-time songs from the band. I have fond memories of hanging out in front of my house with my tape recorder playing of a copy of my brother's Paradise Theater album. My sister and I would listen to that album all the time.

My cousin and I used to rock out to the band. We'd sing songs by Styx as we walked down the street, but none more special than Come Sail Away. That was kind of our song. I remember driving down the road with him with no stereo in the car, and we'd sing that song. It's even more of a fond memory to me as my cousin is no longer here.

Another fond memory was finally getting to see these guys play live back at the Return To Paradise Theater tour. They came to my hometown, so there was no question we were going. I didn't necessarily think it was going to happen again. Dennis DeYoung, James Young, Tommy Shaw, Chuck Ponazzo and Todd Sucherman were on stage together. Sadly, original drummer John Ponazzo was too ill, and he would die that year.

I really felt like Styx had some momentum going. I knew fully well that the music industry had changed. Grunge basically was used to destroy the style of rock music that I loved, at least as something in the mainstream. However, you still had bands like Aerosmith making it up the charts. I felt like as Aerosmith was playing out their run, a new band from their era could have resurgence. After hearing Styx on tour, I felt like they could be it.

After doing another tour, they did Brave New World, which is very much an album of missed opportunities. Most of the band's successful albums that would sell million copies had the guidance of DeYoung, and this one didn't. There was already a rift developing between the band due to Dennis being ill. Tommy and the others were recording in one place, and Dennis recorded his contributions at his home studio. It's an uneven sounding album with some good moments, but it wasn't going to be the album that brought these guys back on top again.

I think Dennis is very much open to coming back and doing one more tour. I don't think he's even looking to be back in the band. However, touring with them one more time and coming full circle is something that appeals to him. I also think it would be good PR for the band. There's a rift between the fan base of people who support the current band versus those who support Dennis and his band. There are people who can appreciate both, but there are many who have chosen sides. Dennis doesn't like seeing that, and he feels this would be a way to put an end to that.

However, I don't expect this to happen anytime soon. I'm going to dismiss many of the BS narratives that we've heard since the band kicked Dennis out. It's been proven that he does indeed want to tour, even if not as much as the other guys. It's been proven that he does want to and can rock. It's been proven that he can write a good rock song. None of the stories that have been told make a lot of sense, and it really doesn't matter. The reality is Styx is on a different trajectory than Dennis.

Dennis is an artist and knows how to create a good song. However, he's also a businessman and has let his music make him a rich man. What he's discovered on his most recent tours with the band he has backing him up is that people enjoy the nostalgia. They love hearing the hits that they remember when they were younger. Since he's added August Zadra to the band, they even get to hear the Tommy Shaw songs being performed by somebody who actually does a pretty good job. He may not be Tommy, but he's not bad.

About 15 years ago, Dennis recorded 100 Years From Now. The album had some really good moments to it, but guess what? None of the songs on that album are being performed in his most recent tours. He's done 26 East Volumes 1 and 2, but he's not touring as he waits to see how things turn out on the other end of this pandemic. What do you think the odds are that he's going to be performing much of the material that he recorded on those two albums on his next tour? There are some really good songs, and some people would classify them as vintage Styx sounding moments, but Dennis is a smart man.

There's a reason why so many bands from the 1970s and 1980s can still tour heavily and make money. Their catalogs of hits are well known and appreciated by the older fans. This is because of the promoting of those albums via radio play, MTV and what have you. They are ingrained in the minds of the people. Therefore, when you see the bill that says Dennis DeYoung and The Music Of Styx, you're going there to hear the old hits, including many of the songs that Styx won't even perform anymore. If you work in too much new stuff that nobody's heard, it could negatively affect ticket sales.

Now move over to Styx. This band has tried to break out of the image of being the band that made those hits in the 1970s and early 1980s. It's not that they don't perform some of them, although there are many songs they don't want to touch anymore. The only reluctantly added Mr Roboto to their setlist because concert promoters wanted the song. The same promoters are the ones pushing for Dennis to come back to the band, which isn't likely to happen anytime soon. You have to understand that Tommy, James and the band have worked hard over the last 20 years too forge a new path.

I would say that Cyclorama and Big Bang Theory were not successful, and the material from those albums didn't get played much. One of those albums was a cover tunes album anyway. They've recorded much of their older catalog, and Lawrence Gowan is singing the Dennis stuff. Lawrence ought to be a prime example of why this band isn't looking to do anything with Dennis. He does the Dennis DeYoung stuff, but he sounds nothing like him. The band didn't care to get somebody who sounded like him. They wanted somebody who could play keyboard as well and gave off a more "Rockstar" vibe, which Lawrence does very well.

In the last 5 or 6 years, however, this band has gathered a little momentum as Styx of the current age, not Styx of the past. I think they are trying to do a little bit of what Tom Petty spoke of. He would record new albums, but he would insist on playing songs from those albums. He wanted go grow as an artist. You'd hear most of his big hits, but you were going to hear the new stuff he was creating at the time. I think this is where Styx is as a band, and you can tell that Tommy and the guys were very excited when they did Mission To Mars a few years back. Some of those songs are still being played on the tour today.

Unlike Mission To Mars, however, Crash Of The Crown doesn't really sound like your typical Styx album. It doesn't sound like vintage Styx. It sounds Styx for sure, but it's the band as they are in 2021. They are doing a few different things. I think they intentionally recorded shorter song so they could include more of them in the current set list, while still playing some of the Tommy Shaw standards that people expect. However, the bottom line is they are moving ahead as a band and trying to be accepted for who they are now, not so much who they were back then. Bringing Dennis back at this point would derail the current plan for the band.

While Styx is in the mode they are currently in, there are no thoughts about bringing Dennis back. Set aside anything the guys have said about him in the last 20 years, because none of that really matters. What matters is they made a couple of albums in recent years that they are very proud of, and they want to perform that stuff live. Lawrence Gowan is very much involved in those albums and what they are, and they're not interested in sidelining him after 20 years of service with this band. That's just not where they are in 2021.

Dennis is in nostalgia mode, so he'd be up to getting on stage with the others and performing those classic hits. It's just not going to happen anytime soon. Even if he were to get into the studio with these guys and record a new Styx album, there are problems with that. First of all, that would mean they were abandoning things the way they have been in recent years and sidelining Gowan. Secondly, they aren't going to suddenly go into the studio with Dennis and ignore what they have created recently. They want to tour behind this music, sell some album copies and some concert tickets, make new fans and perform as a current rock band act and not just a nostalgia act.

It's unfortunate that the time may never come when Dennis, Tommy and James get on the stage together. Even if they get inducted into the Hall Of Fame, you may not get these guys to perform any songs together. For those people wanting to relive the glory days of sticks, the best they can hope for is watching Dennis go back on tour in 2022 with the band he's assembled. They do a faithful interpretation of what long time fans know and love. Having August Zadra do the Tommy Shaw songs certainly helps. My hope would be that Dennis can sneak a couple of his newer songs into the set list, because I think they deserve to be heard live and very much sound like classic  Styx.

The Styx fans who have ridden the wave with Tommy and James or just the new fans who have come along don't really care if Dennis is back in the band. Many of these people don't care that Dennis has recorded some good new new music. They are interested in what this band is doing now and are willing to pay to see them. Styx tours heavily as they are now than they would if Dennis were in the band, but they're also a generating quite a bit of revenue.

There's an energy with them now that is undeniable. When Tommy Shaw said he just wants to be happy in his interview with Dan Rather, what he really should have said is he wants to look ahead to the future and not dwell on the past. Since he was so key in getting Dennis out of the band in the first place, why would he even think about bringing him back? Plus, I believe he truly doesn't like DeYoung and hasn't for years, even going back to before the Return To Paradise Theater tour.