What would have happened....

[Tanirocker]

hmmm... anybody else think of a band with a 15 or 20+year career and one lineup?

Ooh...I thought of one. ZZ Top has had the same line-up since 1969.

[stmonkeys]

YES! good one! they beat u2 by 10 years.

[cinj]

honestly, besides U2, i really CAN'T think of another band that had one consistent lineup through *multiple* decades. the doors recorded an album or 2 after jim died, the beatles impact is undeniable, but their tenure was relatively short. i would use LZ as an example, but they were only around for 12 years. hmmm... anybody else think of a band with a 15 or 20+year career and one lineup?

How about ZZ Top?
Cheap Trick comes close. They have been recording since 1977. Their Bass player left from 1981-1987 and they had a "fill in", but he's been back now for more than 20 years.

Other than that, I'm comin' up blanks....
Cinj

[MCM]

fwiw, i think FT is utter shite, to borrow a term from zan. i can somewhat tolerate babe but FT is nowhere NEAR being in the same league as that song. face it, it sucks. should have been left off the record. IMO.

Maybe not utter shite, but very, very, very close... Babe I can at least listen to it..in very limited doses.. it's sappy and drippy and at the end of my Styx list of songs. But it is a good radio friendly ballad if you like those, but it is ahead of First Time.. I'm trying to think of my least favorite Styx song, OK, it is utter shite.

[stmonkeys]

honestly, besides U2, i really CAN'T think of another band that had one consistent lineup through *multiple* decades. the doors recorded an album or 2 after jim died, the beatles impact is undeniable, but their tenure was relatively short. i would use LZ as an example, but they were only around for 12 years. hmmm... anybody else think of a band with a 15 or 20+year career and one lineup?

How about ZZ Top?
Cheap Trick comes close. They have been recording since 1977. Their Bass player left from 1981-1987 and they had a "fill in", but he's been back now for more than 20 years.

Other than that, I'm comin' up blanks....
Cinj

nope- cheap trick doesn't count since there was a lineup change (bass players- weren't they both named tom? or one was tom, one was pete? it's late and i'm too lazy to check...tani????

so far, we have zz top as the reigning champs, with u2 in second. -for those keeping score.

[Tanirocker]

[quote="stmonkeys"]
nope- cheap trick doesn't count since there was a lineup change (bass players- weren't they both named tom? or one was tom, one was pete? it's late and i'm too lazy to check...tani????
quote]

Pete Comita and Jon Brant were the replacements. Don't get me started on Tom leaving...


Tani

[MCM]

REM had 16 years in before their drummer left.

[LordofDaRing]

I still rank FT as one of the best make out/date songs of all time. And yes my 9 year old daughter will never listen to it.....

[brywool]

n even more fodder for those that didn't like the band. Thank God, they didn't do that.

What I like about FT, is the majestic feeling you get from the song. The keys, the high harmonies and the "rock" guitar all add to the song.
True FT would have turned off some of the older Styx fans, but new fans would have come in.
Look at Journey, Neal fought to keep Open Arms off the cd, and it was one of the band's biggest hits. After one show when all the girls were going wild it is said that Schon turned to Perry and said "this song rocks!" So who can say.[/quote]

I'd go with Amateur but not Majestic.
As for Open Arms, that song is hard to beat as a power ballad. The vocals, the instrumentation, the production, etc. Dennis used that SH*TTY electric piano and it just dated and cheaped both Babe and FT. If FT and Babe were done on regular piano, they might've been tolerable... Babe, yes, FT, no. The lyrics and the way Dennis delivered them are just so bad... "The fire's glow, it keeps us warm"- ick. Just hated it from the moment I heard it. I wasn't wild about "She Cares" either, btw. It's not a Tommy or Dennis issue. It's a song and performance issue.

When I hear those songs, it's 1980 all over again. The Journey tune (most of their stuff) comes off as pretty timeless. A lot of Styx's stuff does too, but not Babe or FT.

[Tanirocker]

I still rank FT as one of the best make out/date songs of all time.

Love In The Midnight was the one that did it for me. :::swoon:::

And yes my 9 year old daughter will never listen to it....

LOL Guys are so cute when it comes to their own daughters or even nieces. No matter how much of a horn dog a guy might have been, when it comes to his baby girls...watch out!

Tani

[Rockwriter]

I still rank FT as one of the best make out/date songs of all time.

Love In The Midnight was the one that did it for me. :::swoon:::

And yes my 9 year old daughter will never listen to it....

LOL Guys are so cute when it comes to their own daughters or even nieces. No matter how much of a horn dog a guy might have been, when it comes to his baby girls...watch out!

Tani

"Love In The Midnight" as a makeout song? Hmmmm, interesting. I don't think it was intended as such, LOL. It's probably one of Tommy' most hard-hitting songs in terms of subject matter. You know, he wrote a bunch of chipper, upbeat songs, or introspective songs with a positive slant to them, but he was living a fairly dark life at the time, and I always thought "Love In the Midnight" was a window into the darker side of his life. Probably should have been called "Lust In The Midnight", but that's another story. As a makeout song? My, you must have been a naughty little schoolgirl, LOL.


Sterling

[Tanirocker]

"Love In The Midnight" as a makeout song? Hmmmm, interesting. I don't think it was intended as such, LOL. It's probably one of Tommy' most hard-hitting songs in terms of subject matter. You know, he wrote a bunch of chipper, upbeat songs, or introspective songs with a positive slant to them, but he was living a fairly dark life at the time, and I always thought "Love In the Midnight" was a window into the darker side of his life. Probably should have been called "Lust In The Midnight", but that's another story. As a makeout song? My, you must have been a naughty little schoolgirl, LOL.

Well, I was in college by then...but yes. Or at least in my mind, I was. My friends and I got quite the naughty thrill from Tommy's explanation of the song on "Innerview."

It's not the subject matter that makes it sexy, though. It's the way he sings it!

Tani

[Toph]

n even more fodder for those that didn't like the band. Thank God, they didn't do that.

What I like about FT, is the majestic feeling you get from the song. The keys, the high harmonies and the "rock" guitar all add to the song.
True FT would have turned off some of the older Styx fans, but new fans would have come in.
Look at Journey, Neal fought to keep Open Arms off the cd, and it was one of the band's biggest hits. After one show when all the girls were going wild it is said that Schon turned to Perry and said "this song rocks!" So who can say.

I'd go with Amateur but not Majestic.
As for Open Arms, that song is hard to beat as a power ballad. The vocals, the instrumentation, the production, etc. Dennis used that SH*TTY electric piano and it just dated and cheaped both Babe and FT. If FT and Babe were done on regular piano, they might've been tolerable... Babe, yes, FT, no. The lyrics and the way Dennis delivered them are just so bad... "The fire's glow, it keeps us warm"- ick. Just hated it from the moment I heard it. I wasn't wild about "She Cares" either, btw. It's not a Tommy or Dennis issue. It's a song and performance issue.

When I hear those songs, it's 1980 all over again. The Journey tune (most of their stuff) comes off as pretty timeless. A lot of Styx's stuff does too, but not Babe or FT.[/quote]

Some of my friends thought that First Time was Dennis trying to get some guy named Paul to have a homosexual affair - remembere the "For Paul" dedication? No one had a clue it was about Paul McCartney - my friends thought it was to some random guy named Paul who he was trying to have a first time with...I'm surprised management, the band, and even the record company let that dedication on there given what it could potentially communicate! if they were so worried about Chuck...then why the hell did they let that dedication remain on there for the album!

[birdynumnum]

I thought the same thing when I read the "For Paul". I thought it was some Dennis secret gay love song to a guy named Paul. I refused to believe Dennis was gay, but couldn't figure any other explanation for the dedication. Freaked me out at the time. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

[LordofDaRing]

Yeah I think Love in the Midnight shifts definatley kicks it up several notches up from making out to at least third base, however those omen chanting background vocals are kind of chilling and might lose the effect a bit.

LOL Guys are so cute when it comes to their own daughters or even nieces. No matter how much of a horn dog a guy might have been, when it comes to his baby girls...watch out!

You got that right Tani, fathers of girls are the biggest hypocrits in the world. Now I know why I always got glared at by dads in High School when I came to pick up my date. One guy in paticular would not even speak to me. I tried to solicit some conversation as he watched a football game, "hey how bout dem cowboys" and he just kept glaring at me. My reaction will be different when my little angel starts dating. I will simply cut the boy's penis off at the door and tell him he won't be needing that tonight, but once he brings her home, I will give it back to him

[Zan]

I thought the same thing when I read the "For Paul". I thought it was some Dennis secret gay love song to a guy named Paul. I refused to believe Dennis was gay, but couldn't figure any other explanation for the dedication. Freaked me out at the time. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Maybe somebody named Paul double-dog dared him to write a really gay song.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

[stmonkeys]

My reaction will be different when my little angel starts dating. I will simply cut the boy's penis off at the door and tell him he won't be needing that tonight, but once he brings her home, I will give it back to him

just make sure the guy has a detachable one...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byDiILrN ... re=related

ok.. to tie this in to styx, the singer appeared at one of glen's XX (2000- i think) to perform "jesus was way cool"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGz3wO1z ... re=related

[fsutall]

First Time always reminded me of Rex Smith's schlock classic You Take My Breath Away. Both were ridiculously dramatic and had trite lyrics that read like something a lovestruck teenage girl might have written. Plus the melodramatic guitar solos. Am I the only one who hears some similarities? I wonder which one came first?

[FormerDJMike]

Can't forget that little 'ol band from Tejas. I think ZZ Top has the longest running line-up of all time in amount of albums released with the original members intact. When was their first release? 71 or so I believe.

[BlackWall]

"Babe" was one thing; "First Time" was another.. I think "First Time" would have been a big hit, but a lot of hits aren't great songs, and "First Time" would have been no exception. What's wrong with it? Tommy was right when he said something along the lines of not wanting to go into Manilow territory; that's what "First Time" is, only worse because it doesn't really have anything going for it. It has Manilow style lyrics with a forgettable, cheesy arrangement and annoying vocal. I'm sorry to offend anyone who feels a special attachment to the song.. I know how it is, I appreciate several songs that take me back to a certain time and place, even plenty of songs I'm sure my friends(even wife) would cringe at; so, I really don't mean to offend, I just don't think this was Dennis' best work. It just sounds too contrived. I picture this being the way a shrink would describe to a young client what falling in love feels like. To end on a postive note, I can see where the music during the, "don't be afraid of loves" could be somewhat alluring, but that's the best part of the song, and it doesn't last nearly long enough.

"Babe" on the other hand is a good goodbye song.. I don't really care to ever hear it again, but at one point in time, I will admit that I did enjoy "Babe".. What works about "Babe"? Honestly, I think the biggest thing for me is that Dennis did a good job on evoking the sadness of the subject with the melody, arrangement, and vocal(basically, everything that didn't work on "First Time". ) The verses really work lyrically, but Dennis goes a little too corny on the chorus, but it all still works.