FROM THE STYXWORLD LOUNGE

[yogi]

All of you John Curulewski fans this is from the Styxworld loung General discussion board. If it is true, and I believe it is I find this very interesting, and news to me. The Assembly Line is titled John Curulewski... Why did he really leave.

Mark who is a regular poster wrote:' Most accounts say he left about a week before the tour for Equinox started. Tommy was hired to replace him. Tommy was known by a manager of Styx. He was the SECOND person to be interviewed for the position. I wonder who was the first??? Talk about a GREAT Styx trivia question.

Mystified writes: I dug this out of my Styx interview CD here is what JY said March 2004: " The reality was, we were out on the road and we thought we had a new lease on life. New recording contract with a label with the Humble Pie, and this was a label with a number of legitimate artists, I think Spooky Tooth was on the label. They were committed to making our type of progressive rock sound happen. John Curulewski just was unhappy and negative all of the time about the way things were going. He always had had a sort of rivalery with Dennis, in college even, the two were rivals and Dennis clearly with Lady becoming a top 10 single, moved into position of lead dog of the sled pullers here. So he just became really unhappy, and finally one day it was confronted and he said I quit. I am sure he regretted it soon after and we decided that we had to go on without him....

John then called back a little while later, but we had already committed to moving on with Tommy to make it into what it was"

I NEVER knew this. Its pretty wild to me. According to Mystified he has this JY interview on CD. JY is a GREAT interview, he speaks at least what this Styx fan wants to hear, that is the facts about the band. It may be as he sees it, but at least I know he was there, and he does not duck the subject. Thanks JY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Ash]

I think it was alluded to in the past that John wasn't happy with the direction DDY wanted to go which is why he left. Maybe I'm wrong. That was always my perception anyway. Of course, all things being equal, I prefer the "Lady" side of Styx as compared to the "Plexiglas Toilet" side John always struck me as more of a mellow'ed out hippy type ... even more so than the others in the band at the time. Does anyone think that Styx may have been even "softer" with JC? This is not a slam, just a curiosotity.

John sung:

The Serpent Is Rising (mediocre rock song)
The Day (decent mellowed out and get high song)
As Bad As This/Plexiglas Toilet (both the name of the song and it's description)
Krakatoa (WTF was this?)
You'd Better Ask (A lighthearted look at venerial disease)

Pride can cause you to sometimes make unwise decisons.

[Ash]

as an aside, I'd love to know if anyone can point out to me a JC guitar solo.... I've always assumed it was JY doing the axework with JC doing rhythm

[classicstyxfan]

Ash, I believe Prelude 12 on Equinox was all JC, I recall TS saying that is a challenging piece to play on the 12 string.

I find it most interesting that according to this interview, JC would have liked to get back into the group. I really liked a few of his songs ( A Day is one of my all time favs....and Mother Dear isnt bad ) But dont think the group would have made it big commercially with hime in Tommy's place.

I'd LOVE to know who their 1st choice was to replace JC if that's true.....I bet that guy is kicking himself.

I wonder if JC's decision had ill effects on his health ?

[piecesofeight]

Now I need listen to all my JY interviews sometime. Because I thought before JY had said that John LEFT to be with his family. I swear this is also what Dennis told me.
I also heard someone else say this, but cannot for the life of me figure out who right now.
I do agree that JY is a GREAT interview. I'm just at the point that I don't know if I totally will believe everything that ANY of them says.
I just find all of these interviews very entertaining. Not sure if I would always rely on them for info.

[bugsymalone]

I always thought of John C. as the Pete Best of Styx. Out of the group just as the star was ascending. Of course, it appears John left voluntarily and Pete Best was removed and replaced with Ringo Starr.

I really, really like the John/Dennis co-written, co-sung song "Mother Dear" from Equinox. It is one of the best songs on that particular recording. The keyboard and synth work are out of sight on it and the duet harmonies are wonderful.

Basically "Behind the Music" stated the reason he left as similar to what everyone is saying here, including JY in the interview mentioned.

I am sure as he saw Styx rise to the stratosphere, he very much regretted his decision, but I have no facts upon which to base this. Just my thoughts on it.

Bugsy

[yogi]

I also had NO clue John might have wanted back in Styx soon after he quit the band. Has anyone else heard this JY interview 'Mystified' has on CD? Finally, does anyone know the other person 'interviewed' to replace John, before Tommy was hired? I sure wish JY, Dennis or Chuck would tell us even more about this topic. We all know John is dead, but this can be done tastefully. It's history, and I love knowing about historical things that are of intrest to me.

[GaryS]

Soemtimes you're the windshield and sometimes you're the bug.

[ek88]

(Keeping with the insect theme, Gary)

Sometimes you're the fly, sometimes you're the ointment!

[jimmy19029]

From the Styxnet site:

According to his son, Jamie, "there were a couple of reasons. First of all, John wanted to spend more time with the family. He was traveling a lot and it was taking him away from us too much. Second, on some of the earlier recordings he was getting screwed out of money because he was not old enough yet." Jamie also stated that early Styx management had been dipping into John's band account to pay expenses. John didn't know this till afterward.

The grueling schedule, and "differences of opinion" with Dennis also contributed to JC's decision. "It worked out for the best though. I got to spend many quality years with my father and learned a lot from him ... "

After leaving Styx, John Curulewski was in a couple other Chicago area bands, including one called Spread Eagle. JC also opened a music store and a recording studio in a suburb of Chicago.

Sadly, John Curulewski passed away from a brain aneurysm in February of 1988. May he rest in peace.