I didn't really start listening to music until around 1982. Consequently, the first Styx song I heard on the radio was Mr. Roboto and I hated it from the moment I first heard it. With only the one song to go on, I avoided Kilroy Was Here like the plague and spent my allowance money on other albums. When Don't Let It End started to get some airplay, I thought it was a much better song than Roboto. However, it still wasn't enough for me to give Styx the time of day. Albums consisting of slow and/or dorky songs weren't my thing, and that's what my first impressions of Styx led me to believe they were all about! Kind of funny, in retrospect
After moving to Nebraska in 1984, I finally heard Come Sail Away on a classic rock station and fell in love with it. Believe it or not, I was heartbroken to find out it was a Styx song! I was thinking, oh my gosh, I can't possibly like a song by the same group that put out Mr. Roboto! (Keep in mind I was pretty young at the time). Also heard Best Of Times shortly thereafter, and liked it as well, so I broke down and eventually bought Grand Illusion and Paradise Theater. I found GI to be different from anything I'd heard before and liked all the songs, but half of the time just fast-forwarded to CSA. On Paradise Theater, the only songs I initially liked were Best Of Times, She Cares, and Half-Penny (that's changed through the years). Those were the only Styx albums I had for years, and I grew to like them more and more as time went by.
When I finally started to really get into Styx was after going to a Damn Yankees show during the 90-01 tour. Up until then I had never spent a whole lot of time looking at the Styx album liner notes, and I didn't even make the connection that Tommy Shaw of Damn Yankees was also a guy from Styx. I also didn't realize until after the show that Renegade was a Styx song (that I really liked but had no clue who sang it). Anyway, fell in love with the Damn Yankees sound, and started pursuing the Styx, Night Ranger, and Nugent catalogs, paying particular attention to the Shaw-penned tunes. Shortly thereafter, I finally started regarding myself as a "Styx fan", and the rest is history, as they say.
My first show was during the RTP tour. I went with my wife. What a dream come true it was, since I'd convinced myself I'd never have the chance to see a Styx show!
I've never met any of the guys, but I'm not real big on meeting celebrities, so even if I would've had the chance, I probably wouldn't have taken it. I'm just content to have offered my anonymous support through the years
P.S. Years later I found out that I was right not to waste my allowance money on Kilroy
