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What smoking music are you listening to? (2024)

How a Pizza joint saved Styx

3 of the 4 core members of the pre-Styx band had been playing together since they were 12 years old in Junior High. They stayed together through High School and even college although one did leave for a year before returning. At the end of college TW4 as they were then called became a quintet and started playing the local circuit, They were popular enough that Wooden Nickle Records offered them 'a 4 album deal. It was at this time they changed their name to Styx because "nobody thought it sucked" or "it was the only name everybody didn't hate" depending who is telling the story.

So 1972 rolls around and the first Styx album is released with the single "Best Thing" breaking into the Billboard top 100 for 6 weeks but never getting above #82. That was mostly due to it's popularity in the Chicago area. Wooden Nickle just didn't have the resources to push it nationally. Styx II is released in July of '73 with "Lady" as the first single, The album isn't doing quite as well and Wooden Nickle decides to release another album, "The Serpent is Rising just 3 months later in October of '73, The album tanks being their worst selling record for the next 32 years. The band breaks up with the members going their own way. Dennis DeYoung considers teaching and starts looking for a job.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the band, their savior decided to go out for a pizza. When Jim Smith is eating his pizza "Lady" comes on the Jukebox. He likes it and wonders why he hadn't heard it before. Recently moving from New York to take over the musical directors spot for WLS AM and FM he decided to look into it. After finding a few copies of the single Jim puts it into medium rotation on both stations. WLS was talk and news during the day but co-broadcasted the FM shows at night. Plus it was a Clear Channel station.

Now a Clear Channel station was one of 37 (I think) that the FCC made sure had minimal interference when broadcasting at night. They had to transmit between 10-50,000 watts with WLS being a 50K station. On most nights you could pick it up in St.Louis WOR in New York is another reaching all the way into Georgia. Another Clear Channel Station was XERF with Wolfman Jack that Mexican law allowed to broadcast 150,000 watts literally covering the majority of the continental US. I remember hearing in in Manhattan as a kid.

The first place "Lady" started to become popular was not Chicago but St. Louis but Chicago was close behind. The big problem was is there was no band to go out and hype it even more. Jim took it upon himself to track down Dennis DeYoung and tell him that this might be your one shot and to get out there and play everyplace you could. Dennis took the advice, got the band back together and did a tour .....of St.Louis before returning to Chicago. Of course, Wooden Nickle wanted a 4th album so shortly after Man of Miracles comes out the single that was released 2 years befor and failed hits #6 on the Billboard Hot 100. As they say, the rest is History. The failing band from Chicago pretty much invents the Rock Power Ballad and Prog-Pop or a one critic called it - an Anthem Rock base with a Prog-Rock topping.

Now for some trivia. There are 2 versions of "Lady" out there, the original Wooden Nickle and the Greatest Hits version that had to be re-recorded because A&M and Wooden Nickle couldn't agree on licensing terms.

 
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