What Would've Happened...

[Grotelul]

..if Dennis had remained fired in 1979?

Would Styx have continued without him? My guess is they would have found another keyboard player that sounded similar to Dennis to finish the tour. Then, they would have sought out a name keyboard player to record a new album and tour with. The only main name I can think of that was available that would have fit would have been Steve Walsh who had just recently quit Kansas. Would a new record have gone platinum with this group? Possibly. At minumum it would have been a Gold record. Would they have gone on to record and tour again? I doubt it. Tommy would likely have gone solo.

What would have become of Dennis? Obviously he would have gone solo..maybe opened for some major acts and possibly had a Top 10 hit. Maybe not..not sure if he would have toured. Who would have been in his band in 1979? Would he have recorded Best Of Times on his own? If the new Styx had folded after 1982, would Dennis have gotten the group back together without Tommy and done Kilroy anyway? I could see that as a possibility as he really didn't need Tommy to create Kilroy anyway. It probably would have generated a similar result, meaning a lot of "what the hell was that?" comments and looks from fans. Would the record have sold a million copies? Would Roboto have been a hit single? Would the tour have been a success?



Okay...I will just get some of the predictable responses to this out of the way now...

Styx would have been an opening band without Dennis....they would really suck...Dennis would have sold 3 million copies on his own.....Dennis was Styx so without him they would not have sold 50,000 records....Tommy would have spiraled into a sea of drugs and alcohol and not been able to finish a record and tour without Dennis......I'm sure I missed something here.

[Higgy]

Are you just stirring shit up? Whats the point in this question? I think Tommy and JY knew the answer to this, thats why they ate humble pie and called him back. Obviously they didn't like working with him, but they knew the reality of the situation. Good songs don't grow on trees. Cover albums weren't all the rage then so they would have just done a BUNCH of live albums.

[Grotelul]

Are you just stirring shit up? Whats the point in this question? I think Tommy and JY knew the answer to this, thats why they ate humble pie and called him back. Obviously they didn't like working with him, but they knew the reality of the situation. Good songs don't grow on trees. Cover albums weren't all the rage then so they would have just done a BUNCH of live albums.

Thanks for adding to my list of responses.

[Ash]

Ok - a little perspective. As an avid fan of Kansas it isn't like Steve Walsh was nearly the calibur of song-writer that Dennis was in that time period. Most of Kansas most popular songs were written by Kerry Livgren. While I will not argue that Steve Walsh is an amazing keyboard player, I think he has a much different style than Dennis and I'm not sure how it would have translated. If Steve had been able to bring in some of his material that he took to Streets, then it may have had a chance - the problem was that Streets material was co-written or almost written by Mike Slammer. Even if you listen to Seventh Key now it sounds like old Streets minus Steve Walsh.

Not to mention I'm not sure how Styx fans would have reacted. Would they have had to bring in some of Kansas' material to the Styx show? Somehow I doubt it.

I think it would be very interesting to hear Steve sing and play Come Sail Away tho. That could be pretty interesting. He certainly couldn't be any worse than Gowan.

[conversationpc]

..if Dennis had remained fired in 1979?

Would Styx have continued without him? My guess is they would have found another keyboard player that sounded similar to Dennis to finish the tour. Then, they would have sought out a name keyboard player to record a new album and tour with. The only main name I can think of that was available that would have fit would have been Steve Walsh who had just recently quit Kansas.

Walsh quit Kansas during the "Vinyl Confessions" sessions. VC was released in 82, so Walsh was in the band at least until 81.

[Grotelul]

Ok - a little perspective. As an avid fan of Kansas it isn't like Steve Walsh was nearly the calibur of song-writer that Dennis was in that time period. Most of Kansas most popular songs were written by Kerry Livgren. While I will not argue that Steve Walsh is an amazing keyboard player, I think he has a much different style than Dennis and I'm not sure how it would have translated. If Steve had been able to bring in some of his material that he took to Streets, then it may have had a chance - the problem was that Streets material was co-written or almost written by Mike Slammer. Even if you listen to Seventh Key now it sounds like old Streets minus Steve Walsh.

Not to mention I'm not sure how Styx fans would have reacted. Would they have had to bring in some of Kansas' material to the Styx show? Somehow I doubt it.

I think it would be very interesting to hear Steve sing and play Come Sail Away tho. That could be pretty interesting. He certainly couldn't be any worse than Gowan.

Oh..I totally agree. Walsh was exactly as you state, an amazing keyboard player but he was also a great singer back in the day. As far as songwriting, he wasn't Dennis' equal. While it would have been an interesting pairing, I don't think it would have amounted to much in the end. It was just a thought.

[Grotelul]

..if Dennis had remained fired in 1979?

Would Styx have continued without him? My guess is they would have found another keyboard player that sounded similar to Dennis to finish the tour. Then, they would have sought out a name keyboard player to record a new album and tour with. The only main name I can think of that was available that would have fit would have been Steve Walsh who had just recently quit Kansas.

Walsh quit Kansas during the "Vinyl Confessions" sessions. VC was released in 82, so Walsh was in the band at least until 81.

I was trying to remember when he officially quit but if it was later than '81 then obviously my scenario probably would not have panned out.

[Zan]

Are you just stirring shit up? Whats the point in this question? I think Tommy and JY knew the answer to this, thats why they ate humble pie and called him back. Obviously they didn't like working with him, but they knew the reality of the situation. Good songs don't grow on trees. Cover albums weren't all the rage then so they would have just done a BUNCH of live albums.

Sincerely,
Dennis DeYoung

[Higgy]

Thanks for adding to my list of responses.

Let me ask a question to the group - knowing full well the divisive nature of my question - and just to let my own point of view be the only opinion that can be responded, let me voice the opposing viewpoint's obvious responses first to prevent people from saying this.

So let me say what YOU want:

If DDY had remained fired, the band would have been just as or even MORE popular without that theatrical pop shit DDY gave to them. They would have been free to concentrate on songs that REALLY rock like She Cares and songs that are REALLY good like Eddie. Yes, its a shame that they let DDY back in the band and we had to suffer through Paradise Theatre and Kilroy Was Here. Perhaps we could have even heard Girls With Guns done as a Styx album.

DDY sucks!

[Grotelul]

Thanks for adding to my list of responses.

Let me ask a question to the group - knowing full well the divisive nature of my question - and just to let my own point of view be the only opinion that can be responded, let me voice the opposing viewpoint's obvious responses first to prevent people from saying this.

So let me say what YOU want:

If DDY had remained fired, the band would have been just as or even MORE popular without that theatrical pop shit DDY gave to them. They would have been free to concentrate on songs that REALLY rock like She Cares and songs that are REALLY good like Eddie. Yes, its a shame that they let DDY back in the band and we had to suffer through Paradise Theatre and Kilroy Was Here. Perhaps we could have even heard Girls With Guns done as a Styx album.

DDY sucks!


You have me totally wrong Higgy. It was possible in 1979 when Dennis was released from his duties with the band that it could have been a more permanent thing. Life goes on... so what would Styx have done...what would Dennis have done if that scenario had occurred? That is my only curiousity. I am glad the rest of the group decided to bring him back. No other lineup would have been the same. Please forgive me if my original post was a bit confusing.

[LordofDaRing]

Without Dennis they would have have sold millions (more) records than what they did with him, won a ton of grammys, been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and would have forever banished muscial acts as the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Elivs Presley, Bob Dylan, the Eagles, Elton John, etc from our memories forever. In addition, they would have found a cure for aids, halted world hunger, stopped the spread of terrorism, improve public education and convinced NBC not to let Jerry Seinfeld take his show off the air. Whew. Dammit Dennis, see what you did....