A long reach for a new topic

[classicstyxfan]

the main discussion page for this board indicates topics here include:

"Anything Styx current or Classic, Including DDY ( old ) and Burtnik and Gowan ( new )

No argument here that DDY is far past being considered youthful, but I submit that neither Burtnik or Gowan qualify as new anymore, especially now that Burtnik has left the band. Maybe Ricky whatshisname could be added as "new"

Will someone please think of and start another thought provoking thread ???? ( soon, please....... ) I am clearly grasping at straws.

Maybe someone has heard a few cuts from the upcoming DDY
release ?

[froy]

the main discussion page for this board indicates topics here include:

"Anything Styx current or Classic, Including DDY ( old ) and Burtnik and Gowan ( new )

No argument here that DDY is far past being considered youthful, but I submit that neither Burtnik or Gowan qualify as new anymore, especially now that Burtnik has left the band. Maybe Ricky whatshisname could be added as "new"

Will someone please think of and start another thought provoking thread ???? ( soon, please....... ) I am clearly grasping at straws.

Maybe someone has heard a few cuts from the upcoming DDY
release ?

Lets face it the Styx name is all but burned out right now.
1 more month and the game is over .
Who knows how long it will last and what will happen in the future,
The music scene right now is in sad shape.
Just think of how many bands that are not around any more.
There is no Genesis , ELO Supertramp, Styx , Journey ,
Triumph Beatles The Who Pink Floyd ect.
Sure there are mock up bands with the names going around but the real bands that we knew of when we were growing up are all but finished.
It's really ashame that guys like Roger Hodgson sit around and do nothing instead of going out and letting the fans see Supertramp again.
Jeff Lynne does the same thing.

I hope these guys wake up and get there bands back together again.

[classicstyxfan]

I saw the Eagles on Monday Night....and assure you , they are alive and well...it was interesting to see how they were able to balance ego's by giving every member a chance to strut their stuff.....the low point of the show was Glen Frey's "you belong to the city" clearly added to keep him happy, but tolerable to get to the other 2 1/2 hours of great music.

Mind you , they too spent too many years apart, and Randy Meisner had to be fired ( Frey sang lead on "Take it to the limit" and they had a hired gun play his guitar parts ) But it would be nice if a few more classic rock bands would follow their lead before they all fade away and miss their chance.

I'd love to see Supertramp with Hodgson but won't hold my breath. I've seen the rest.

[ek88]

But it would be nice if a few more classic rock bands would follow their lead before they all fade away and miss their chance.

I agree. It seems, however, that some classic rock bands seem to have an easier time touring and drawing a substantial crowd than others. I suppose it has a lot to do with fan base and staying power. You mentioned the Eagles, and they seem to be well-recognized by just about every age group out there, for whatever reason. I suppose it has a lot to do with how popular they were back in the day. Aerosmith and Bon Jovi seem to just chug steadily along, and sell a respectable chunk of albums in the process. I wonder, with different circumstances, if Styx could've been one of these bands. I (purely by chance) overheard an interesting perspective at Red Lobster a few weeks back. Two gentlemen at a nearby table were discussing music in general and Styx came up. (Nothing they said led me to believe that they anything more than casual fans). Their observation was that "Kilroy Was Here was the death of Styx." I wonder if there's any truth in that. A bad album can have lasting effects on a band. Def Leppard's album sales have taken a big dip ever since Slang was released, for example. Is the mentality of a lot of fans to just give up on a band once they hear that bad album and to just go backwards rather than forwards? I started thinking about this because these two guys never even mentioned or acknowledged anything post-Kilroy while they were talking about Styx. It made me wonder if they were even aware of more recent efforts or just chose not to talk about them. I thought about asking, but I would've felt pretty awkward. Anyway, that's my story for the day and I welcome any comments or insights. For the record, I'm not in the habit of eavesdropping on other people's conversations in public

[classicstyxfan]

Outside the Eagles show were Vans doing live broadcasts from several local Radio stations representing Country, Classic Rock, Rock and Roll, and one station that plays things from just about every genre...and by the way, the show almost sold out, I'd say it was a crowd of about 12,000.

ek, regarding your 1 bad album theory, I think alot depends on how long it takes the band to follow up with another great release.....Styx waited 7 years, ample time for a fan base to find other things to do/ bands to follow. The Eagles split up for twice that long, but Henley had some great solo music that was commercially well accepted, and so did Frey to a lesser extent.

The Edge of the Century Album wasnt exactly Styx finest hour either.

[gr8dane]

Lets face it the Styx name is all but burned out right now.
1 more month and the game is over .

Guess froy was wrong.

[styxfanNH]

I always wonder why it that radio stations for the most part flat out refuse to play the new material of the classic rock era bands. Certainly, I would think that the fans of that era would like to know what new material is being produced, after all I have to believe that most albums are sold because you hear a new song on the radio. I bet there are a lot of albums I would have bought of various artists if I actually knew it exhisted. I don't think that it is out of genre to include the new material within the previous work of classic artists.

Clear Channel is a major offender as they control a good chunk of radio companies, radio programming, venues, booking agencies, etc.

Maybe the record companies are going to have to start buying radio stations or create online radio to promote their artists.

Classic rock artists aren't dead. They just have limited access to the fans unless they tour constantly. It's just hard to expand the base because of it.

------------------------
I can accept that members die and they get replaced. There is no way to bring them back and the bands have a right to go on. But classic rock and good ol rock and roll is starting to get old and stuff happens between members. I also can't understand why or how bandmembers can just walk away from the fans. Its one thing to hate your band members, its another thing to stop creating music. Something that they supposedly held dear to their hearts. I find it hard to believe they many still don't have something to contribute to the music of their day.

[classicstyxfan]

SFNH,

I think you are not factoring in an important part of the equation.....

the vast majority of the "fan base " that these acts had in their hey day has entered a stage in their lives in which their priorities have shifted....
Careers, Spouses, and perhaps most of all Kids of their own tend to consume alot of time, energy and money that might otherwise be directed towards music....

I have not studied the Demographic profile of the Classic Rock fan base, but I bet the record studios and radio programmers have.....and they seem to have determined that there aren't enough people like us out there who ARE interested.....Outside of this board, with the exception of one friend on occasion, I haven't had anyone start a conversation about
a classic rock band with me in ( what seems like )Years.

I believe recorded music sales across all genre's are in decline, not just Classic Rock....why do you supppose that's true ? Are kids today too busy with their computers / video games / etc ? or is it that today's music isnt good enough to reel them in, as it did to us back in the day ?

[sadie65]

I have to think it's because there are so many other ways now for people to listen to the music they want to hear. Technology has made that possible. In my youth, well you had am radio, fm radio and record stores. And then you had concerts. That was it. Sales are down because people don't have to buy in so many cases now.

And demographically speaking, it's just like television. The desired target audience is 18-25...because those are the people most likely to have disposable income. Much in the way Classic stated. I have kids and a mortgage...yada yada yada. I don't fit the desired profile any longer.

Just my unasked for .05 (inflation)

Sadie

[bugsymalone]

I missed this topic originally so here goes.

Sadie makes a salient point here. The demographics. THAT is what runs the whole show, basically, because that is the bottom line.

Those with disposable incomes are who the advertisers, the markerters, the record companies want to reach.

These kids are after what they think is THEIR music. Thus it is Kanye, and Chingy, and 50, and Avril (and/or the pop tart of the month) and Usher and on and on.

The dinosaur rockers may have a few young fans, but their base are those who do have the kids, the mortgage, the car payments, etc.

The sales are going to what is "in" now, not then.

And the few 18-29's who DO purchase something from what they think of as their parents' generation of music usually buy the old stuff. They are not interested in anything new.
Thus the continued strong sales of Greatest Hits packages and the old, classic albums/CD's.

Take a trip to Amazon, which reflects buying habits pretty much across the board. Grand Illusion, Pieces of Eight, Paradise Theater are all outselling Cyclorama currently. And the Greatest Hits CD still clocks up in the top 1000, even into the top 300 upon occasion, of sellers on that site.

My little "fitty cent" worth.

Bugsy