Monker wrote:Monker wrote:StyxCollector wrote:pinkfloyd1973 wrote:Hmmmm, I thought it was because the record label pretty much dropped them and at the time Grunge was becoming very popular, Allan or Sterling, do you know what happened? 
Robin 
WHat I've heard is that they (place blame on DDY or Styx; if they gave DDY the power to shop around, can't blame one man only) valued Styx more than record companies did, so they basically screwed things up. Hubris? Maybe. They shopped what is known in the Styx world as the "Son of Edge" demos for awhile, but it didn't get picked up by anyone so they went into hiatus status until GH in 1995.
I don't think it's any more complicated than that. In my opinion, I think had Styx been realistic and recognized that the only true hit they had off of EOTC was a fluke due to the Gulf War, they would have gotten a record deal if they accepted something (if it had been offered) less than what they valued themselves at. Does it guarantee that they would have still been around in 1996 or 1997 as a band? Absolultely not.
We can play the what if game all you want, but I think Styx history would be very different if they didn't go away from 1991 - 1995/6.
...and by "valued Styx more then the record companies did." equates to DDY demanding a larger signing bonus then what any label was willing to dish out. Also, Dennis was getting into Hunchback mode shortly after Edge - and that killed everything.
Hello:
For what it's worth, there was a strange confluence of events that led to the post-EOTC break. One of the main things is that Styx had failed to negotiate an extension deal before the release of the album . . . EOTC was their last contractually obligated work for A&M, and Styx thought that they could break the new record, turn it into a big hit, then be in the position either to strike a new, better deal with A&M, or leave and take the entitre Styx catalog somewhere else. That was a big miscalculation, because they didn't factor in the fact that it was A&M who would decide the advertising/promo budgets for EOTC. The band has often accused A&M of not promoting the album, which is absolutely right . . . why would any label turn an album into a huge hit so that the artist can either have them over a barrel, or leave?
Plus, EOTC was a very, very expensive record. Styx was demanding a lot of expenditure from the label; in addition to a large recording budget, the band expected the best accomodations and restaurants when they traveled for promotional appearances, etc. . . . Dennis has always been very particular about hotels, airlines and restaurants, and so that inflated the break-even point for the label as well. On top of that, both Dennis and JY had some detractors at the label because both of those guys will take the promo staff, salesmen, anyone else to task for what they fail to accomplish. Dennis in particular, somehow during his solo career he had gotten into a big argument and managed to alienate Charlie Minor, the Head of Promotion at A&M, which was why BTTW tanked. Minor and Dennis did not get along, and Minor decided the promotional budgets for all A&M acts. That didn't help EOTC's chances.
A&M had also gone from being the last of the independents to being part of a corporation after Alpert and Moss sold out to Polygram, and many of the people who had been connected to Styx' old successes were no longer involved. The new staff was much more concerned with making their own reputations at the new label than with reviving some old dinoosaur act, particularly one with Styx' reputation for difficulty.
In the end EOTC went Gold but not Platinum, and with its huge budget, it wasn't as profitable for A&M as they would have liked. They wanted to offer Styx a certain amount to stay and make another record, and Styx wanted a much larger sum that was more in line with the band's previous success. Dennis' attorney advised them to seek a deal elsewhere, and they terminated the A&M deal by letting it expire without renewing it. Then when they shopped their post-EOTC demos around, they found no major label interest. Remember, grunge had come in in the menntime, and bands like Nirvana, Alice in Chains and Pearl Jam were suddenly making far less expensive records that were going multi-platinum almost overnight. The margins for the record companies on those groups were enormous, while Styx was an older band, harder to deal with, with smaller margins. It just wasn't that attractive to labels at that time. So they all wound up looking for other opportunities. That's when DDY became involved with theater through JCS . . . basically he had no deal, a job was offered and he took it, which led to 10 on Broadway, which led to Hunchback, which led to his downfall.
I hope all is well.
Sterling
