MR

I don't go out of my way to read\listen interviews related to the current version of Styx. However, I came across a post in another forum which had this excerpt from an interview with Gowan. I think his opinion on Mr. Roboto and KWH are interesting.

February 2012 (http://swtimes.com/s...tacks-hits.html)



"I would like doing a tour that would pair 'Paradise Theater' with, maybe, 'Crystal Ball,' although you'd be hard pressed to get JY or Tommy to do 'Mr. Roboto,'" he said with a laugh. "I actually like 'Mr. Roboto' and the album it came from, 'Kilroy Was Here.'

"But Styx has to live with the personal baggage they went through in that time of the band's career," added Gowan, referring to the early 1980s feuds between DeYoung and other members of Styx regarding the band's direction. "I like 'Mr. Roboto' because it was so ambitious, and it was a necessary part of the development of the band. 'Mr. Roboto' is a point that brought Styx to where it is today."

... and once again, Gowan proves that he's incredibly gracious about the past and DeYoung.
You can't hate the guy.

there's no doubt that you can see an outsider viewing that song and album in that way.....gowan is cool about it.

but i also see how being in the middle of it when it happened could have caused a divide......and too bad for us, it did.

brywool wrote:You can't hate the guy.

Don't say that to topher. If you wanna be pissed at someone be pissed at tommy & jy. Not the
guy who was brought in to do a job and has done that job well going on 15 years now. Holy
crap has it been that long .

masque wrote:there's no doubt that you can see an outsider viewing that song and album in that way.....gowan is cool about it.

but i also see how being in the middle of it when it happened could have caused a divide......and too bad for us, it did.

I think the divide\rift would have happened not matter what the project was.

masque wrote:there's no doubt that you can see an outsider viewing that song and album in that way.....gowan is cool about it.

but i also see how being in the middle of it when it happened could have caused a divide......and too bad for us, it did.

Gowan, is so very cool. And I agree that it is to bad for us all. WOW! Hard to believe it's going on 15years now. So ready for Styx on Sept 28th.

masque wrote:there's no doubt that you can see an outsider viewing that song and album in that way.....gowan is cool about it.

but i also see how being in the middle of it when it happened could have caused a divide......and too bad for us, it did.

TOTALLY. When I first heard it, and for years later, I hated it. Now, it's got it's place, though a weird quirky one, alongside others in the Styx catalog. It seems like a different band recorded it.

Everett wrote:

brywool wrote:You can't hate the guy.

If you wanna be pissed at someone be pissed at tommy & jy. Not the
guy who was brought in to do a job and has done that job well going on 15 years now.

TOTALLY.
There's no need to be pissed at anyone. Sometimes things just don't work out. They'll figure out their own relationships in time. It'd be NICE if they could be friends even if they don't work together, but ....

Everett wrote:

brywool wrote:You can't hate the guy.

Don't say that to topher. If you wanna be pissed at someone be pissed at tommy & jy. Not the
guy who was brought in to do a job and has done that job well going on 15 years now. Holy
crap has it been that long .

Everett - you really are an idiot. Never had a beef with Gowan personally. My beef is with the way Tommy and JY treated Dennis. Get a clue.

I don't hate Gowan either. I just know that as long as he's in the band, Dennis will never be. It's tough when one of your favorite bands will never be in it's classic lineup again.

Baron Von Bielski wrote:I don't hate Gowan either. I just know that as long as he's in the band, Dennis will never be. It's tough when one of your favorite bands will never be in it's classic lineup again.

3 out of 5 ain't bad. I'm sure if john were still alive he'd be there. Or he would
have the same schedule as chuck. I know todd would have no problem handing
over the sticks (no pun intended ) to him for a couple tunes a night. That
would be pretty awesome to see espescially for a "rookie" like myself.

To add on to this, I actually wish that current Styx would acknowledge DDY's contributions to the band - even with Gowan playing. That is what irks me the most - its the wholesale ignoring of most of their biggest songs - almost trying to erase them from memory. I would rather have Gowan sing Babe, Best of Times, Don't Let It End, Show Me The Way, Roboto, Rockin In Paradise (which they are starting to play now, thankfully) than just pretend those songs never happened. Journey doesn't shy away from their ballads these days - they still play them because they know they are part of the band's legacy. The blatant wiping DDY and his contributions from the band's legacy is what irritates me more than anything.

Toph wrote:To add on to this, I actually wish that current Styx would acknowledge DDY's contributions to the band - even with Gowan playing. That is what irks me the most - its the wholesale ignoring of most of their biggest songs - almost trying to erase them from memory. I would rather have Gowan sing Babe, Best of Times, Don't Let It End, Show Me The Way, Roboto, Rockin In Paradise (which they are starting to play now, thankfully) than just pretend those songs never happened. Journey doesn't shy away from their ballads these days - they still play them because they know they are part of the band's legacy. The blatant wiping DDY and his contributions from the band's legacy is what irritates me more than anything.

I guess the first thing to come to mind after reading this is...
would you actually go and see Styx if they played Babe,Best of times,Don't let it end,Show me the way,Roboto ?

Toph wrote:To add on to this, I actually wish that current Styx would acknowledge DDY's contributions to the band - even with Gowan playing. That is what irks me the most - its the wholesale ignoring of most of their biggest songs - almost trying to erase them from memory. I would rather have Gowan sing Babe, Best of Times, Don't Let It End, Show Me The Way, Roboto, Rockin In Paradise (which they are starting to play now, thankfully) than just pretend those songs never happened. Journey doesn't shy away from their ballads these days - they still play them because they know they are part of the band's legacy. The blatant wiping DDY and his contributions from the band's legacy is what irritates me more than anything.

Actually they don't totally ignore DDY's contributions. They seem to have no problem talking about what they didn't like about his contributions. It seems to me that they like to live in this fantasy that they were a different band.

gr8dane wrote:

Toph wrote:To add on to this, I actually wish that current Styx would acknowledge DDY's contributions to the band - even with Gowan playing. That is what irks me the most - its the wholesale ignoring of most of their biggest songs - almost trying to erase them from memory. I would rather have Gowan sing Babe, Best of Times, Don't Let It End, Show Me The Way, Roboto, Rockin In Paradise (which they are starting to play now, thankfully) than just pretend those songs never happened. Journey doesn't shy away from their ballads these days - they still play them because they know they are part of the band's legacy. The blatant wiping DDY and his contributions from the band's legacy is what irritates me more than anything.

I guess the first thing to come to mind after reading this is...
would you actually go and see Styx if they played Babe,Best of times,Don't let it end,Show me the way,Roboto ?

Outta that bunch i'd only want to hear best of times. Everything else meh. I would most like to hear some
cornerstone tunes like lights, why me, eddie, love in the midnight etc. Of course not babe though

Everett and Gr8t -

Newsflash - most people associate SMTW, Roboto, BOT, DLIE, Babe etc with Styx - they were technically their 5 biggest songs, so, call me crazy, but yes, most people would expect to hear those at a Styx show.

But keep living in your dream world where Lights, Why Me, Queen of Spades, and Great White Hope are the can't miss Styx songs...

Toph wrote:Everett and Gr8t -

Newsflash - most people associate SMTW, Roboto, BOT, DLIE, Babe etc with Styx - they were technically their 5 biggest songs, so, call me crazy, but yes, most people would expect to hear those at a Styx show.

But keep living in your dream world where Lights, Why Me, Queen of Spades, and Great White Hope are the can't miss Styx songs...

So you would go to see Styx if they played those songs ??

I guess most of the people who have shown up for Styx the last 15 years, do actually not expect to hear them ,or they would not have gone.

But if you go to a Dennis show,you would probably expect them.

I would not go to see Styx, if I knew SMTW,Roboto,BOT,DLIE and Babe were part of their setlist.Yikes
But I might actually break down and see Dennis do Miss America.

Everett wrote:
Outta that bunch i'd only want to hear best of times. Everything else meh. I would most like to hear some
cornerstone tunes like lights, why me, eddie, love in the midnight etc. Of course not babe though

Personally I'm holding out for She Cares.

Boomchild wrote:

Everett wrote:
Outta that bunch i'd only want to hear best of times. Everything else meh. I would most like to hear some
cornerstone tunes like lights, why me, eddie, love in the midnight etc. Of course not babe though

Personally I'm holding out for She Cares.

We can only hope

Everett wrote:

Boomchild wrote:

Everett wrote:
Outta that bunch i'd only want to hear best of times. Everything else meh. I would most like to hear some
cornerstone tunes like lights, why me, eddie, love in the midnight etc. Of course not babe though

Personally I'm holding out for She Cares.

We can only hope

Me too.

Everett wrote:

Boomchild wrote:

Everett wrote:
Outta that bunch i'd only want to hear best of times. Everything else meh. I would most like to hear some
cornerstone tunes like lights, why me, eddie, love in the midnight etc. Of course not babe though

Personally I'm holding out for She Cares.

We can only hope

Come to think of it, since they throw in non Styx material in their sets, Little Girl World would be even better.

I'm partial to those head bangers "True Confessions" and "Bad Times"

gr8dane wrote:

Toph wrote:Everett and Gr8t -

Newsflash - most people associate SMTW, Roboto, BOT, DLIE, Babe etc with Styx - they were technically their 5 biggest songs, so, call me crazy, but yes, most people would expect to hear those at a Styx show.

But keep living in your dream world where Lights, Why Me, Queen of Spades, and Great White Hope are the can't miss Styx songs...

So you would go to see Styx if they played those songs ??

I guess most of the people who have shown up for Styx the last 15 years, do actually not expect to hear them ,or they would not have gone.

But if you go to a Dennis show,you would probably expect them.

I would not go to see Styx, if I knew SMTW,Roboto,BOT,DLIE and Babe were part of their setlist.Yikes
But I might actually break down and see Dennis do Miss America.

I think Styx has a hard core like us of 1,500 in each market that know all the songs (after all this is what they can get when they play by themselves). In a triple bill that draws 12,000, I'd say it breaks out like this:
- 1,500 hard core fans of each band (4,500)
- 5,000 who go in knowing a few songs from each band and, if they heard ALL the big songs, would immediately recognize them, but have no idea what songs like Queen of Spades or Snowblind are. Huge missed opportunity with these folks by not playing the hits.
- 2,500 who have no clue and are there with parents, friends, free tix, etc. Less of an opportunity, but have greater chance of potential recognition playing something like TBOT vs. Man in the Wilderness.

Crap i agree with you topher.

Toph wrote:

gr8dane wrote:

Toph wrote:Everett and Gr8t -

Newsflash - most people associate SMTW, Roboto, BOT, DLIE, Babe etc with Styx - they were technically their 5 biggest songs, so, call me crazy, but yes, most people would expect to hear those at a Styx show.

But keep living in your dream world where Lights, Why Me, Queen of Spades, and Great White Hope are the can't miss Styx songs...

So you would go to see Styx if they played those songs ??

I guess most of the people who have shown up for Styx the last 15 years, do actually not expect to hear them ,or they would not have gone.

But if you go to a Dennis show,you would probably expect them.

I would not go to see Styx, if I knew SMTW,Roboto,BOT,DLIE and Babe were part of their setlist.Yikes
But I might actually break down and see Dennis do Miss America.

I think Styx has a hard core like us of 1,500 in each market that know all the songs (after all this is what they can get when they play by themselves). In a triple bill that draws 12,000, I'd say it breaks out like this:
- 1,500 hard core fans of each band (4,500)
- 5,000 who go in knowing a few songs from each band and, if they heard ALL the big songs, would immediately recognize them, but have no idea what songs like Queen of Spades or Snowblind are. Huge missed opportunity with these folks by not playing the hits.
- 2,500 who have no clue and are there with parents, friends, free tix, etc. Less of an opportunity, but have greater chance of potential recognition playing something like TBOT vs. Man in the Wilderness.

That all sounds very reasonable.
But the question remains,Toph ,and for the 3rd time I will ask you.
Would you or would you not go see Styx, if they played those 5 or 6 hits that are so important to you ?

gr8dane wrote:That all sounds very reasonable.
But the question remains,Toph ,and for the 3rd time I will ask you.
Would you or would you not go see Styx, if they played those 5 or 6 hits that are so important to you ?

I wouldn't bother to go see them in their current incarnation, no matter what they were playing.

Toph wrote:Everett and Gr8t -

Newsflash - most people associate SMTW, Roboto, BOT, DLIE, Babe etc with Styx - they were technically their 5 biggest songs, so, call me crazy, but yes, most people would expect to hear those at a Styx show.

But keep living in your dream world where Lights, Why Me, Queen of Spades, and Great White Hope are the can't miss Styx songs...

Do they really play Why Me or are you just making a point?

Baron Von Bielski wrote:

Toph wrote:Everett and Gr8t -

Newsflash - most people associate SMTW, Roboto, BOT, DLIE, Babe etc with Styx - they were technically their 5 biggest songs, so, call me crazy, but yes, most people would expect to hear those at a Styx show.

But keep living in your dream world where Lights, Why Me, Queen of Spades, and Great White Hope are the can't miss Styx songs...

Do they really play Why Me or are you just making a point?

No they don't but it would be pretty cool if they did. Hey sterling is the original
sax player on that tune still around? I don't think they would bring him on the road
with every single show though.