Ash wrote:Zan wrote:
There is no question that Dennis brought the band great success, but in the long run, I believe his overindulgence ultimately brought it down, both in moral and likability with the record labels. So he's sort of like lukewarm water here. He's done some damage, but his original success rate can't be overlooked. JY, on the other hand, was literally the glue that held this band together for MANY years, dating as far back as 1976. Regardless of his "hit-making" status, it is my belief that if it weren't for JY all those years ago, working as hard as he did to keep things afloat, there would have been no Styx to make "Babe" or "Mr. Roboto." On the other hand, JY writes clunkers like "Wild Dogs in the Night" and "Homewrecker" (which I happen to like, but that's neither here nor there). lol
I think you make a good point here - but the problem is that JY is out there every chance he gets trying to tear down Dennis' contributions to the band. You don't see Dennis doing that. I won't say DDY has been perfect - because nobody is, but he's not out there - in public - ripping the current lineup and taking about how crappy their songs are or were or whatever. He isn't minimizing anyone's contributions. He's not talking about what a shitty manager or whatnot JY was. The people (myself included) who hate JY, do so because he lives in a glass house - likes to bash the talents of others when he doesn't have half of the talent he's bashing. Sure he may have made other contributions and they're appreciated - but they're hard to keep in perspective when he's out there tearing down other elements of the band.
*sigh*
Yes, Ash, we all know how you and some others feel about that. It's not like we don't read about it everyday on this board.
My point is that different people have different reasons for feeling the way they do with regard to who has "done the most damage." Personally, as silly as I think it is for JY to constantly refer to Dennis as "the original keyboard player," diminish his contributions to the band, or say this lineup is the "best ever," it really doesn't bother me that much. If it makes him happy, more power to him, I guess. But reading about it day in, day out, along with the childish digs at the band, the individual songs, who snorted what, who was faithful & who wasn't, who wrote hits, who wrote junk, who is evil, who is a tyrant, ad nauseum DOES wear at the spirit - much more than anything JY could say or do once a month or so does, even if it does provide a certain source of entertainment.
If you ask me, the "problem" with JY is far smaller than the one with fans who want to micromanage everything he says and won't let it go.
