Today (Tuesday) marks the 40th anniversary of Paradise Theatre, the 10th album from Styx. Tommy Shaw took some time to talk about that legendary LP.
Via email, Tommy says he "can’t believe it’s been that long. But upon further reflection, yes it certainly has!... We all loved the album title and the fact that it was a real theater in Chicago that closed and was built so well that it bankrupted the company hired to demolish it. So as writers we had a field day."
Regarding the songs on the album, Tommy says, "Dennis [DeYoung] wrote a great iconic ragtime piano opening that would eventually weave into a taste of 'Best of Times,' and then segue into 'Rockin’ the Paradise.' By the time you got to 'Best of Times' on the album, you’d already heard some of it! Brilliant!
"Then came life experience and observation songs keeping it real, beginning with 'Too Much Time on My Hands.' This song came to me during the final day of songwriting and arranging. It was during the last 10 miles of my 60-mile drive from Michigan that the intro started thundering through my brain...
""Too Much Time on My Hands" and "The Best of Times" were both big hits—peaking in the top 10.Those singles pushed Paradise Theatre to number-one on the Billboard 200.That became the group’s only number one album.
Styx guitar legend James "JY" Young adds, "It is an impressive thing. Styx at number-one in 1981 above virtually the greatest array of classic rock artists of all time."
[courtesy of Classic Hits Today]