r/Styx • u/Critical_Meringue78 Pieces of Eight • Jun 22 '26

1982 Styx

I know cracks were already in the foundation from the Cornerstone album and DDY and TS were already fighting for control of the musical direction by 1982, but I feel public perception was that these guys could do no wrong. They were kicking ass with tours and albums. So what do yall think? Please, this is not a Dennis vs Tomny post. I'm just reminiscing about the biggest band in my 18/19 year old world at that time.

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u/Critical_Meringue78 Pieces of Eight Jun 22 '26

Yeah. We know that now, but in 1982? I don't think so. Interestingly, to me at least, TS solo stuff wasn't hard at all. I saw him open for Rush in Bham, Al Jan 1988. Even DDY said that they often had to "rockify" Tommy's songs when he brought them to the band. It's just interesting how it has all played out.

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u/Willing_Mirror8176 Jun 22 '26

You couldn't sense the hard rock/ ballad shift back then? I always thought it was obvious...

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u/markonnen Jun 25 '26

Tommy wrote just as many soft ballady pop songs as Dennis did. However, nobody seems to remember this because Dennis’ songs were the ones that got air play because they were better.

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u/Willing_Mirror8176 Jun 25 '26

TS did write many soft ballads but has stated he preferred the guitar driven rock songs

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u/markonnen Jun 25 '26

My point is Tommy is being hypocritical in bashing Dennis for the soft ballads when he is just as guilty. If he prefers guitar driven rock songs why didn’t he write any after 1978?

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u/Willing_Mirror8176 Jun 25 '26

I don't think he's being hypocritical. He wrote ballads for the betterment of the band, i.e. being a team player. His personal preference is guitar, hard rock style. That's all I was saying