MR

Happy 30th Anniversary Cornerstone

It was 30 years ago when Styx put out the follow up to Pieces of 8. The album was called Cornerstone and it brought Styx it's first number 1 Hit on the Charts. The CD was filled with the different styles of music we came to expect from STYX. Lights, Why Me, Borrowed Time, Love In The Midnight, Eddie, Boat On The River, Never Say Never and Babe, Great CD and another great tour from Styx.

Thank You Dennis DeYoung Tommy Shaw James Young Chuck and John Panazzo.

Did you skip school to buy it?

Despite First Time and Eddie, this is a solid, melodic, enjoyable album. I still listen to it fairly regularly.

Bugsy

Everett wrote:Did you skip school to buy it?

I was 1 year out of High school actually . All I remember was the YES NO thing in Borrowed Time
I said what the hell. I made fun on Boat on The River now only to love that tune
Why Me is still one of my favorites as well as Lights,
Saw the concert and the International Amphitheater and thought it was cool they brought out the sax guy for WHY Me
I have pictures from that show,

One of their lower points in my opinion.

kansas666 wrote:One of their lower points in my opinion.

Looking at 1980

It blew away Departure from Journey
Kansas had Audio Visions which was great but Cornerstone was better.
YES had DRAMA no Anderson or Wakeman
Genesis had DUKE which was pretty damn good

What was better in 1980?

Lights and Borrowed Time are my two favorites from that album. Good stuff.

My least favourite Styx album.A mixed bag with a couple of OK tunes.
What was better in 1980.
My favorites.
Back in black
Boy
British steel
Gaucho
Levitation (Hawkwind)
Making movies
Permanent waves
Pretenders 1rst.
Scary monsters

gr8dane wrote:My least favourite Styx album.A mixed bag with a couple of OK tunes.
What was better in 1980.
My favorites.
Back in black
Boy
British steel
Gaucho
Levitation (Hawkwind)
Making movies
Permanent waves
Pretenders 1rst.
Scary monsters

Oh Yea Back in Black was a monster as well as the Rush cd.

Borrowed Time was cool. The Yes No thing was a bit funky.

The River--Springsteen one of his best work...
and Double Fantasy John Lennon, probably his best work...

Double Fantasy was good, but having Yoko on half of the album was crap.
His best work as a solo artist was Plastic Ono Band. Great record.

By the way there froy,parden my manners.
Forgot to congratulate Cornerstone on it's 30th Ann.
R.I.P. Bon Scott.
And forgot, Cornerstone is my second least favorite.Kilroy takes the prize.

It's actually 31 but hey who's counting?

Everett wrote:It's actually 31 but hey who's counting?

I'm glad I'm not the only one who remembers it came out in 1979.

DerriD wrote:

Everett wrote:It's actually 31 but hey who's counting?

I'm glad I'm not the only one who remembers it came out in 1979.

If I can recall it was late 1979 (Styx always put out their albums in fall/winter it seemed). Babe actually hit #1 in December 1979 and was technically on the charts longer in 1980.

froy wrote:Happy 30th Anniversary Cornerstone

It was 30 years ago when Styx put out the follow up to Pieces of 8. The album was called Cornerstone and it brought Styx it's first number 1 Hit on the Charts. The CD was filled with the different styles of music we came to expect from STYX. Lights, Why Me, Borrowed Time, Love In The Midnight, Eddie, Boat On The River, Never Say Never and Babe, Great CD and another great tour from Styx.

Thank You Dennis DeYoung Tommy Shaw James Young Chuck and John Panazzo.

Also the only Styx album to ever get nominated for a Grammy Award.

Biggest worldwide Styx album success ever released

Also, had it released the right singles, might have been Styx's best seller in the States (the coke was kicking in with TS at that point causing stupidity - why the rest of the band listened to him, no clue)

A exceptionally strong album despite what the bathwater drinkers have been programmed by TS/JY to say about it....

froy wrote:

Everett wrote:Did you skip school to buy it?

I was 1 year out of High school actually . All I remember was the YES NO thing in Borrowed Time
I said what the hell. I made fun on Boat on The River now only to love that tune
Why Me is still one of my favorites as well as Lights,
Saw the concert and the International Amphitheater and thought it was cool they brought out the sax guy for WHY Me
I have pictures from that show,

Froy(or anyone who was there), since I wasn't fortunate enough to discover Styx before 1995, the only new albums I've been able to buy since I've been a fan have obviously been "BNW" and "Cyclorama". Whenever you buy a new album, at least for me, you kind of get an idea in your head of which songs are going to go somewhere. What was that like with "Cornerstone"? Obviously "Babe" was already becoming a hit, but did you pretty much expect "Why Me" and "Borrowed Time" to be the other exposed tracks? Did you think "First Time" was an obvious hit? I wish I could have started earlier.

BlackWall wrote:

froy wrote:

Everett wrote:Did you skip school to buy it?

I was 1 year out of High school actually . All I remember was the YES NO thing in Borrowed Time
I said what the hell. I made fun on Boat on The River now only to love that tune
Why Me is still one of my favorites as well as Lights,
Saw the concert and the International Amphitheater and thought it was cool they brought out the sax guy for WHY Me
I have pictures from that show,

Froy(or anyone who was there), since I wasn't fortunate enough to discover Styx before 1995, the only new albums I've been able to buy since I've been a fan have obviously been "BNW" and "Cyclorama". Whenever you buy a new album, at least for me, you kind of get an idea in your head of which songs are going to go somewhere. What was that like with "Cornerstone"? Obviously "Babe" was already becoming a hit, but did you pretty much expect "Why Me" and "Borrowed Time" to be the other exposed tracks? Did you think "First Time" was an obvious hit? I wish I could have started earlier.

You and me both my friend. If only i had been alive

Toph said: "A exceptionally strong album despite what the bathwater drinkers have been programmed by TS/JY to say about it...."

OK, I've been a Styx fan since before they were famous. And I will give my opinion of what I thought of Cornerstone the day I bought it,
which was the day it came out back in late 1979. I beleive I have purchased EVERY Styx album from Equinox all the way until Brave New World ON the days they were released. My Best friend's older Bro had the Wooden Nickel Albums and I went and got those probably sometime in 1974-75. And I DO have Cyclo, and I do like most tracks on it, but I do not consider it a Styx album. Because it's NOT.

When I first listened to Cornerstone I was not happy. I thought the vocals (as usual) were amazing. But the album is a serious change of pace from what hardcore fans (like me) were used to. It honestly took a while for it to grow on me. At the time, I and every other hardcore fan I personally knew (and there were many of us back then) thought Styx went too far in a different direction. Many people in my highschool (the guys, not the girls!) were saying Styx sold out. I never went as far as saying they sold out. But compared to Equinox, Crystal Ball, Grand Illusion and P08, there was seriously a change of pace for the band. It was not an easy one to deal with at the time because I thought those 4 albums were the best albums on the planet. But as time went on I learned to love Cornerstone. I still to this day listen to it all the time.
I think Love in the Midnite and Borrowed Time are 2 of the best songs Styx every recorded. And as far as "First Time" goes, I am glad they did not release it as a single. Yes, if they had, the album would have gone to number 1 and would have probably sold an extra million copies.
And the song itself would have gone top 10. But I really did not want Styx to have back to back soft love ballads. This was a band that up until that point NEVER had a love ballad. 8 ablums and ZERO love ballads. And then all of a sudden to have 2 in a row would have been too much. I LOVE Dennis, But they were popular enough and famous enough and rich enough to NOT have to go that route. Styx is not and was not a soft rock band. But after Babe was released people were calling them that. IF they had followed that up with First time, that would have sealed the deal. Dennis' voice is amazing on it, but I am glad it did not get released. I know Dennis would not agree with me on this point, but I want Styx to be known as a prog rock band with positive lyrics and incredible blaring tight vocals. I have nothing against Babe. It's a fantastic song (however I think as far as ballads go, the Best of Times is better). And I do listen to First Time nowadays from time to time because of how remarkable Dennis sounds on it, however it is not the song I want people to think of when they think of Styx. Had it been released and gone to number 1, then it might be the song (along with Babe) that people think of when they hear the name Styx. And Styx was soooo much better and had so much more to offer than soft pop love ballads.

cittadeeno23 wrote:Toph said: "A exceptionally strong album despite what the bathwater drinkers have been programmed by TS/JY to say about it...."

OK, I've been a Styx fan since before they were famous. And I will give my opinion of what I thought of Cornerstone the day I bought it,
which was the day it came out back in late 1979. I beleive I have purchased EVERY Styx album from Equinox all the way until Brave New World ON the days they were released. My Best friend's older Bro had the Wooden Nickel Albums and I went and got those probably sometime in 1974-75. And I DO have Cyclo, and I do like most tracks on it, but I do not consider it a Styx album. Because it's NOT.

When I first listened to Cornerstone I was not happy. I thought the vocals (as usual) were amazing. But the album is a serious change of pace from what hardcore fans (like me) were used to. It honestly took a while for it to grow on me. At the time, I and every other hardcore fan I personally knew (and there were many of us back then) thought Styx went too far in a different direction. Many people in my highschool (the guys, not the girls!) were saying Styx sold out. I never went as far as saying they sold out. But compared to Equinox, Crystal Ball, Grand Illusion and P08, there was seriously a change of pace for the band. It was not an easy one to deal with at the time because I thought those 4 albums were the best albums on the planet. But as time went on I learned to love Cornerstone. I still to this day listen to it all the time.
I think Love in the Midnite and Borrowed Time are 2 of the best songs Styx every recorded. And as far as "First Time" goes, I am glad they did not release it as a single. Yes, if they had, the album would have gone to number 1 and would have probably sold an extra million copies.
And the song itself would have gone top 10. But I really did not want Styx to have back to back soft love ballads. This was a band that up until that point NEVER had a love ballad. 8 ablums and ZERO love ballads. And then all of a sudden to have 2 in a row would have been too much. I LOVE Dennis, But they were popular enough and famous enough and rich enough to NOT have to go that route. Styx is not and was not a soft rock band. But after Babe was released people were calling them that. IF they had followed that up with First time, that would have sealed the deal. Dennis' voice is amazing on it, but I am glad it did not get released. I know Dennis would not agree with me on this point, but I want Styx to be known as a prog rock band with positive lyrics and incredible blaring tight vocals. I have nothing against Babe. It's a fantastic song (however I think as far as ballads go, the Best of Times is better). And I do listen to First Time nowadays from time to time because of how remarkable Dennis sounds on it, however it is not the song I want people to think of when they think of Styx. Had it been released and gone to number 1, then it might be the song (along with Babe) that people think of when they hear the name Styx. And Styx was soooo much better and had so much more to offer than soft pop love ballads.

Very very nicely put.
I wish I had energy to write as much and as well as you just did.
Guess 6pints of bathwater and 4 jaeger bombs don't help much.
All I can say,that I guess that Tophs favourite all time album must be Supernatural since it won 8 grammys,the most by any artist for one album in one year.

OK,just had another keg of bathwater and I am perking up.
If Equinox and the WoodenNickle albums are my favourites.
Maybe it isn't that hard to explain why Cornerstone is far from being.

gr8dane wrote:OK,just had another keg of bathwater and I am perking up.
If Equinox and the WoodenNickle albums are my favourites.
Maybe it isn't that hard to explain why Cornerstone is far from being.

No but it sure makes it impossible to see why you lick Gowans boots.

DerriD wrote:

Everett wrote:It's actually 31 but hey who's counting?

I'm glad I'm not the only one who remembers it came out in 1979.

Yea but it was all through 1980 that Cornerstone was on the air waves.

Always liked Lights. If I remember correctly, it was the B-side for The Best Of Times.

froy wrote:

gr8dane wrote:OK,just had another keg of bathwater and I am perking up.
If Equinox and the WoodenNickle albums are my favourites.
Maybe it isn't that hard to explain why Cornerstone is far from being.

No but it sure makes it impossible to see why you lick Gowans boots.

You must have forgotten,that I am trying to get a job in Gowan's shoestore that he wants to open when he gets the boot from Styx after you've told JY and Tommy that from your opinion Gowan should not be in Styx so he would be happy to oblige except that he needs you to tell them that he does not want to be in Styx any more thanx to your ass always impeccable reasoning.

Anyways,how does Cornerstone range in your favour of all Styx albums.? 1rst ,3rd,6th?

gr8dane

Anyways,how does Cornerstone range in your favor of all Styx albums.?

Good question


1. Pieces of 8
2. Grand Illusion
3. Equinox
4. Cornerstone
5 Crystal Ball
6. Paradise
7 Styx 2
8 Edge
9. Kilroy

Just out of curiosity how much were the albums back then?

Everett wrote:Just out of curiosity how much were the albums back then?

$3.00 TO $5.00

froy wrote:
What was better in 1980?

Not that it was in my top 5 or anything, but REO released Hi Infidelity in 1980