Do you agree with the strategy?

[Toph]

Take your fan hat off for a moment and put your business hat on. Do you agree with Dennis DeYoung's strategy of playing the "Sweet 16*" plus Desert Moon almost exclusively in both his concert appearances and on his DVD/CD release? He clearly is going the nostalgia route and positioning himself to be different from Styx in that with him "You get all the hits." Is that the right move for his career? Discuss.

*I think we all know the definition of the "Sweet 16" at this point, but for those who don't it is Styx's biggest radio hits and best known songs - Lady, SMB, Lorelei, CB, GI, FY, CSA, Renegade, BCM, Babe, RTP, TMTOMH, BOT, MR, DLIE, SMTW + Desert Moon.

[yogi]

In my opinion if he wants to remain relevant and be considered an 'artist' he has to continue to create. This also means adding obscure or new tracks to his and Styx's vast catalog of hits.

If he wants to be a' Tom Jones 'type of Vegas act just continue to play the hits.

Again, in my opinion he had ABSOLUTELY nothing to lose by playing Rubicon, 100 Years From Now, Roseland, Paradise , Love At First Sight etc.... for his DVD/CD recorded show. It may be 1,000,000 - 1 shot but who the hell knows if one of those songs could somehow hit. The cameras and recorders are rolling the place is packed, play an extra 30 minutes and take the chance.

So no I don't agree with his current strategy. I think Dennis, His band and Tim should aim a little higher.

[ztyxlynne]

I agree with the business end if it putting only hits on the release. But maybe at least some bonus stuff for the die hard Styx fans. His last release included Castle Walls which is brilliant! Why not 4 bonus songs? Maybe one new one and three deep cuts like Love at First Sight, Borrowed Time, or even PO8?

[Boomchild]

What he is doing is playing it safe. Playing the stuff most people are or would be familiar with. Only DDY knows if he still wants to be looked upon as an artist or just a nostalgia act. That said, I think it was a missed opportunity to record some songs that haven't been captured live. Like Born For Adventure. In the case of this song it always seemed to get a great crowd response even though it was not a hit song. It would have been nice to put something on the release for the more hardcore fan. The other thing you have to factor in is that we don't know the terms and conditions DDY agreed to for this deal.

[yogi]

Forgot about Born For Adventure which for me was the ultimate Styx song from the ultimate Styx album.

[Monker]

I doubt he has much choice in the matter at this point. If the label wants to sell this, they are not going to want some obscure solo songs or even Sty songs. And "100 Years From Now" may as well of been released 100 years ago. It's old and forgotten.

The only thing I disagree with is not having some of the 'new' songs from the supposed upcoming album on this live DVD/CD. It would have been the perfect vehicle to promote it. Maybe the timing and such was off...but it was a huge missed opportunity. They (the label and Dennis) could have planned the timing better so the songs were written for this concert, and the studio album would be ready to release shortly after the live DVD/CD. In fact, maybe the studio album should have come out first.

[masque]

guys there is no way that our beloved ddy is anything but seen as a nostalgia act in the music industry today. do i think that's fair? not at all.

in fact, i think one of the top five songs he ever wrote appeared on brave new world, "goodbye to roseland".......so we know that the man can still occasionally write the great song.

but when it comes to having a career in the music industry rarely does an artist stay relevant with newer music for more than a 3-4 album run.......i mean look at styx.....lady broke huge in 75....couple of mild hits with loreli and mademoiselle.......gate blows open in 77 and stays open for 6 years with styx. he has one big solo hit and then it's over.

so even the best spin dr. could say he had a good 9 year run being able to be relevant to rock radio, mtv and music buying public. that is better than 99% of all artists could ever hope to achieve.

so when it comes to ddy being a working musician today then he pretty much has to "dance with who brung him"......which is what came out of that glorious 9 year run.

and since he was the primary writer of the hits, and has stated numerous times that his musical direction was what he felt was best for the band then what sense would it make at all for him to suddenly betray that foundation and fill up a live setlist with "new" songs or obscure songs from your past?

now if i hired ddy to come play my backyard birthday bbq, i would ask him to play a setlist that would be full of things like born for adventure, pieces of eight, queen of spades, lonely people etc........

but if he wants to get paid by the promoters then they want to make sure he is playing the songs that people know him by so they can sell tickets. let's face it AXS TV is not going to put his concert on tv if he is playing born for adventure, crossing the rubicon and goodbye to roseland, no matter how great we all think those songs are.

so to answer tophers question of do I agree with the strategy? yes from a business standpoint, i dont feel he has a real choice in the matter.......do i wish his set list included more obscure songs? of course, but i understand why they aren't there.

[masque]

to keep my first post from being too long i will continue here;

few bands have the ability or the luxury to literally get up in front of their crowds and literally play anything from their career and satisfy their fans......RUSH almost has that freedom.....yes, people always bitch about certain songs but outside of 3-4 songs they play ever single tour they really do shake up their set lists massively all the time.

of course, that luxury comes from their careers being built around rabid fans that love everything they do and essentially no hits or very little pop radio play. but not having this world wide hits opens the door for nearly everything to be played from their catalog WHILE still being able to sell tickets.

KANSAS can somewhat do the same....they have 2-3 songs that must be played and outside of that they can and have played damn nearly ANYTHING from their catalogs over the 20 plus times I have seen them.

and as a super fan of both of those bands it's freaking awesome to say the least.

but when you are a band like styx, foreigner, journey, def leppard etc....etc....etc..... then your success has been gained in a similar fashion as kansas and rush but enough different to result in you being "required" to play many more "staple" songs from their past glory.

the current version of styx does a pretty good job of adding some more obscure stuff into their set but make no mistake about it their "obscure" stuff is also mostly coming from two of their biggest selling albums that had many of those songs still played on the radio even though they were not released as singles. so it's not like they are or they can dig too deep......i wouldn't hold my breath to hear "man of miracles" anytime soon although i would die if they did play it!

[Toph]

I would agree with your points masque - very insightful. I would say that DDY had a 9 year career of being relevant plus the bonus year of 1991 with SMTW. You can't give him 84-91, because outside of Desert Moon, his solo career didn't amount to diddly. But you also have to figure out a way to add in the come back hit SMTW and Edge album. So he actually did better than most bands. He had 10 years being relevant. Shaw would be similar given Damn Yankees 2 albums.

[masque]

I would agree with your points masque - very insightful. I would say that DDY had a 9 year career of being relevant plus the bonus year of 1991 with SMTW. You can't give him 84-91, because outside of Desert Moon, his solo career didn't amount to diddly. But you also have to figure out a way to add in the come back hit SMTW and Edge album. So he actually did better than most bands. He had 10 years being relevant. Shaw would be similar given Damn Yankees 2 albums.

damn, i forgot the run in 91......good catch toph! yes that would have to be counted as well because not only did they have a top 5 hit but appeared on tv some etc......