newbie question #1 - VH1 BTM

[mrstromboli]

One last comment...if you loved Caught in the Act, I highly recommend getting Return to Paradise. I feel it is a much better live concert.

 

Liz

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Now I prefere CITA. The band was at the height of their popularity and there was an electricity to the tour I did not sense watching RTP. I was lucky enough to see the Kilroy tour many many times so perhaps that's in part why I enjoy the video. :-)

 

 

Shawn

[teesa_66]

OK, here's stupid new fan question #1. Another Styx fan burned me Behind the Music's Styx special on DVD. I haven't watched it yet

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Lisa, again, there are no stupid questions. This is the perfect example. See, I'm NOT a new fan, been one for 20+ years. But I'm in the same boat as you. A friend sent me a copy of the BTM episode last week, and I've not yet brought myself to watch it, partly because of time constraints and partly because I'm not sure how I'm going to react. I've heard so many people talk about this show and how badly skewed it was and I'm just not sure how I'm gonna take it. I plan on watching it this weekend and will probably have some comments myself.

 

I do know this, just like any media outlet, the whole point of this show was ratings, not about being historically correct and unbiased. I'll definitely be keeping it in mind when watching this episode.

 

Terri

[mendelstyx]

Lisa, again, there are no stupid questions. This is the perfect example. See, I'm NOT a new fan, been one for 20+ years. But I'm in the same boat as you. A friend sent me a copy of the BTM episode last week, and I've not yet brought myself to watch it, partly because of time constraints and partly because I'm not sure how I'm going to react. I've heard so many people talk about this show and how badly skewed it was and I'm just not sure how I'm gonna take it. I plan on watching it this weekend and will probably have some comments myself.

 

I do know this, just like any media outlet, the whole point of this show was ratings, not about being historically correct and unbiased. I'll definitely be keeping it in mind when watching this episode.

 

Terri

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There are some wonderful moments in the episode as well. Historical accuracy...there are some discrepancies. All I'm going to say....with one more comment...I cannot imagine that episode not being painful for the band members and their families to watch. I know how hard it is to watch as a fan.

 

Liz

[styxter]

I have heard Jy say in interview several times that Behind The Music was 98% accurate. My personal opinion when I watched it aired was that it tended to make Tommy and Jy look like the bad guys. My personal opinion. Dennis said more nice things about Tommy and Jy then they said about him. I've heard a recent interview of Dennis who said that the drug abuse in Styx was far and away more serious than let on in the BTM. The one part of the episode to me that discredits Tommy, actually two things, one: He said he couldn't think of any more songs to write about robots...he didn't have to right about robots, Dennis did and it was a hit. Not one song Tommy wrote is about robots. Second, Tommy said that he had all this rock music in him to play and that's why he left...okay, correct me if I'm wrong but there really isn't any rockin' song on Girls With Guns and there is a sappy ballad on it and they really insulted Dennis for the ballads...in fact, Tommy has written many sappy ballads in his career, none of which are better than any Dennis ballad. In my opinion, Desert Moon and Back To the World and Boomchild rock more than Tommy's first three and especially Shaw/Blades. My point is...for Tommy to say Styx need to rock and I have all this rock music in me.....he sure didn't rock in his solo career at all! I've also heard from various sources whether they are accurate or not that in the early days everyone partied hard except for Dennis because he had a family and he was always left to finish everything. So, this is my comments on this BTM. Sorry it was long.

[evileyes]

Well it's nice to know I'm not the only one! I may get around to watching it tonight. We'll see. Thanks everyone for the insightful comments! I hope to see some great early shots of Dennis in those blue boots (Grand Illusion).

Lisa, again, there are no stupid questions. This is the perfect example. See, I'm NOT a new fan, been one for 20+ years. But I'm in the same boat as you. A friend sent me a copy of the BTM episode last week, and I've not yet brought myself to watch it, partly because of time constraints and partly because I'm not sure how I'm going to react. I've heard so many people talk about this show and how badly skewed it was and I'm just not sure how I'm gonna take it. I plan on watching it this weekend and will probably have some comments myself.

 

I do know this, just like any media outlet, the whole point of this show was ratings, not about being historically correct and unbiased. I'll definitely be keeping it in mind when watching this episode.

 

Terri

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[Gravity]

Tommy, actually two things, one: He said he couldn't think of any more songs to write about robots...he didn't have to right about robots, Dennis did and it was a hit. Not one song Tommy wrote is about robots.

 

Hi!

Here's what always bothered ME about the Robot comment: Kilroy Was Here HAD robots in it, but the album (and tour) was about something much more serious than that. It was about censorship and a world where mind control was the order of the day. We all know that. Even as a casual listener in high school, I got that. Now, either Tommy was INCREDIBLY stupid for being in the middle of it and missing the point or he just couldn't resist bashing Mr. Roboto (and Dennis) one more time. I tend to believe the latter is true rather than the former.

Sorry. I always feel a need to vent about this! I feel better now!

There is one more comment that Tommy made in that show that just sends me through the roof, but I'll save my comment on that until AFTER Lisa watches the show.

[Ron]

Tommy was pissed about doing another concept album and coked up pretty good. Not the best state of mind to be in to be able to write something meaningful about censorship or any other thing that would have fit the Kilroy theme. You know when you're angry you are not able to give your best. Instead, we get 3 songs about how much he doesn't like being where he is. Not bad songs (Just Get Through This Night was something I felt during my teen years, and playing Kilroy helped for that song) but certainly he had the potential to do better.

Ron

[mendelstyx]

Tommy was pissed about doing another concept album and coked up pretty good. Not the best state of mind to be in to be able to write something meaningful about censorship or any other thing that would have fit the Kilroy theme. You know when you're angry you are not able to give your best. Instead, we get 3 songs about how much he doesn't like being where he is. Not bad songs (Just Get Through This Night was something I felt during my teen years, and playing Kilroy helped for that song) but certainly he had the potential to do better.

Ron

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All true...

 

I think the part that I took umbrage to was the booing them off the stage...

 

Again...it is equally important to remember at the time this episode was filmed, the men in the band were in the process of splitting. Things were ugly. While I wish they had improved over time, it appears there are some band members who have not let go of their anger and bitterness...

 

Liz

[evileyes]

Hey everyone, I watched the VH1 BTM on Styx last night! So, here's my review.

I think Dennis came off great, he seemed generally hurt by the breakup but he didn't come off as angry or unpleasant about it. He just seems like a really nice guy but no pushover, obviously the brains and the push behind Styx. He seems to be a very complex and interesting person! I couldn't even get too upset with Tommy (OK, maybe it's those blue eyes or the lilting Southern accent) but he seems sincere. I think he and Dennis are both just a very emotional and that's where some of the fireworks come from. He even seemed generally sorry for doing the Babe joke with Ted Nugent and said he never did that joke onstage again and you could tell that he meant it. Loved the story about Dennis and Tommy's oh so Spinal Tap moment of meeting in the hotel elevator when they discussed that very issue! The footage of Dennis with his wife and daughter early on was great too. I think that this show showed how important Dennis was to the group - how he'd win the arguments over songs and get a #1 hit single or a #1 hit album. Because his ideas and songs were great! I do like all the songs on Kilroy, even if Tommy couldn't come up with a song about robots (too bad Dennis couldn't have recruited someone else into the band at that time who was interested in the concept, like, another of my favorites Gary Numan, what a collaboration that would've been!). I think the fact that Dennis had a vision and wanted to push things further which is indicative of a great artist. So Tommy was scared off by a bunch of drunk Texans who didn't like their theater/rock show, well, who cares! Some rock bands live to piss off audiences with new ideas and concepts but Tommy couldn't handle it I guess. Anyway, I thought Tommy and Dennis both came off quite well in the show, the one who didn't come off well at all to me in the show was JY. To me he came off as callous, cold and basically, a jerk. As did some of the hanger-ons (ex-managers, etc.) who were probably so excited to have a camera trained on them that they would say whatever they could dream up to keep their interview in the final cut. Whatever. But, I thought the end of the show was really pro-Dennis, like, how could they go on without him and where's the man with the vision in Styx now? Obviously not there. Oh, and the other ironic moment, they keep showing these Tommy "I just wanna rock" interview clips and then when they get to their solo work they show one Tommy video for a few moments and it's this slow as molasses, boring, whiny, BAD ballad. He's rockin' on! I thought that was quite funny. There was one great clip towards the end of a Dennis solo song that I don't have on either Boomchild or Desert Moon and that i'd like to find, the videos for End of the Century looked pretty cool too.

 

Lisa

[ladybugking]

It is interesting to see a "fresh" take on this. I am one who also came away with the feeling that (1) Dennis was treated despicably by VH1 and his former band members and (2) Dennis comes off well in the end.

 

I think there are some who saw him as a control freak and that this BTM showed that side of him. To which I say -- the band could have walked at any time. Instead they stayed in place, whined. took the money and fame, and whined some more. THAT is what I took away from this BTM.

 

Dennis got the short end of all of it because only one person spoke in his behalf -- Suzanne. Others were interviewed and edited out because they did not fit the agenda of the program, which, as I mentioned before, needed a villain.

 

I am glad you caught that classic Tommy moment "I wanna ROCK!" And he goes off and makes a sappier ballad (Lonely School) than Dennis ever DREAMED of doing.

 

If you buy the DVD that is coming out on June 28th, you will get Call Me (shown on BTM), Don't Wait for Heroes, Desert Moon and Boomchild. The only other solo video Dennis made was This is the Time, which is shown from time to time on VH1 Classic.

 

Some of the concert footage shown came from promotional videos some of which are on the Styx 20th Century Masters DVD.

 

Glad you finally watched it.

 

Oh, and JY? He was a jerk on the show and is still a major league jerk in every interview he gives. That leopard never changed his spots!

 

Terri???? When you gonna watch???