brywool wrote:Froy, you've got to be kidding...
What CHUCK did?? Maybe had Dennis been a bit more democratic
instead of heavy handed and more into rock and the band when it
counted, things would've been different. He wanted to go do Broadway
and didn't want to tour and didn't want to do a new STYX record.
HOW can you say that it wasn't his fault for what happened?
I don't get that.
Every band needs one guy who is the leader in one way or another. For many years - right or wrong - DDY filled that role. If you saw the legal agreements which were available before they closed the lawsuit, Styx was much more democratic than you think at least in the 80s. Trust me on that. Did the success of "Babe" change the course of the band? Absolutely, but I also didn't see anyone publicly making a fuss between 1979 and 1983 when the money was rolling in. Same thing with "Roboto" - you can say it alienated people but it also brought people to Styx.
So I don't think it's a matter of not wanting to rock at all. It's a problem that these guys have 30 - 40 years of history together which is good and bad. They've seen high highs and low lows together. Heck, most marriages these days end in divorce. Why should Styx be any different than other bands of its era. Rush is the exception, not the rule.
When it came time to choose "sides" in 1999, what was Chuck going to do? He could either bow out completely, maybe go play with Dennis, or show up and play for lots of adoring fans over the years with Styx. I do not find fault with anything Chuck decided to do. Whatever he may think privately about all of the Styx stuff and how things went down with DDY are not my problem, nor should anyone obsess about it. The man is HIV+ and leads an active lifestyle. I'm glad he's still around, even if he only plays a few songs on certain shows. Geddy Lee he is not, but what he did for Styx was perfect.
I mean, what would YOU do in that situation? So I can see those who will criticize Chuck - I get their position. However, we are speculating on a situation that we were never directly involved with as fans. I can't be bothered hating Chuck because he plays and/or sided with Styx (maybe he doesn't ... don't know; not my concern really). Just be thankful he's still around to contribute to various Styx projects even if you don't like the current lineup of Styx.