Book Review: The Grand Delusion: The Unauthorized True Story of Styx by Sterling Whitaker

The Grand Delusion
The Unauthorized True Story of Styx
By Sterling Whitaker
BookSurge, 2007
371 pages

I have a soft spot in my heart for Styx. I was born in Roseland, the neighborhood where Dennis DeYoung formed the band with the Panozzo brothers. My grandmother would bring me newspaper articles about them when I was in junior high. The band played shows in high schools and colleges near my house when I was a kid, as did MS Funk, Tommy Shaw’s band prior to Styx.  And when I studied arts management in college, the class received copies of the band’s 50-page contract rider.

“The Grand Delusion”, Sterling Whitaker’s unauthorized bio of  Styx, is a fascinating read. Now, be forewarned, this isn’t your usual tale of rock ‘n’ roll debauchery.  A sex and drugs bacchanalia this ain’t.  Except for a few brief hints at Tommy Shaw’s womanizing and drug use in the early ‘80s, this book is dirt-free. No, the book is riveting for its look at the soap opera-like rise, fall and revamping of an arena rock band of the 1970s and early 1980s, with a cast of characters that manages to be intriguing even without page after page of scandalous behavior.

“The Grand Delusion” is comprised of interviews with managers, promoters, publicists, fans, friends, radio hosts and journalists who dealt with the guys at various points in the band’s history. The author interviewed Tommy Shaw  in the early 1990s,  but the book lacks new interviews with JY and Dennis. Meticulously researched with information from newspaper and magazine articles and other sources, it gives a fair overview of the band’s situation.  

Dennis DeYoung was portrayed as the bad guy in “Behind the Music”, and he comes off as a narcissist in “Grand Delusion”, too - but I got the sense that he can’t help it. I had to put the book down a few times and say “Was this guy for real?” Despite this, he comes off more as a quirky character than an arrogant bastard.

Tommy and JY weren’t angels, either, but after reading all the details in this book, it seems like they  just cracked after putting up with Dennis’s tantrums for so long. They finally ousted him from the band in 1999  when he couldn't continue their reunion tour due to health problems.

There’s virtually no opinion added by the author; the book is mainly interview transcripts. The foreword by Glen Burtnik, former Styx guitarist, puts it all in perspective - Styx was never cool, but a lot of people bought their records.

“The Grand Delusion” is a great read if you like Styx or have any interest in classic rock music. If you’re fan of “Hit Men” type music books focusing on the old school music business, the interviews with the band’s former managers will give you an insight into how a well-oiled, big money rock ‘n’ roll machine worked.

If you’re not interested in the music business, the book works great as a tale of human psychodrama. You might even get some ideas for a screenplay - the dramatic version of Spinal Tap, perhaps?

Thanks to Sterling Whitaker for a great book about an often neglected band. Reading this book renewed my interest in Styx.  I've even warmed to the current incarnation of Styx, and I usually write off a band after their hit-making line-up ceases to exist.  

Deja Vu All Over Again

It seems REO Speedwagon isn't the only mainstream/arena rock band from my youth marred by battles between the singer and guitarist. Click the link above to read interviews with Steve Perry and Neal Schon of Journey. I can't expound much on this band or their internal squabbles since I'm not as familiar with their history as REO's, but Steve Perry could sing like a mofo. And he looked like a cross between Cher's twin brother and a sexy elf (sorry, couldn't resist). Plus, he's a Ramones fan-he attended the Ramones 30th Anniversary Show at the Avalon in HW a few years ago.

The megahit incarnation of Styx ended badly as well...Chuck Panozzo, their former bass player, was diagnosed with HIV and left the band in 1998. Singer Dennis DeYoung exited the band shortly thereafter and a flurry of lawsuits ensued between him and guitarists James Young and Tommy Shaw. Shaw and Young are now touring with a replacement singer and drummer The original drummer, John Panozzo, Chuck's twin brother, died in 1996 after years of alcohol abuse.

I don't even wanna know what happened to Foreigner...

Cartman sings "Come Sail Away"

Underrated Guitarists of the 1970s/Early 80s, Vol. 1-Gary Richrath

As a kid growing up on the Southwest side of Chicago, I liked all kinds of music. I had my new wave/punk friends, who wrote poetry and dreamed of living in New York or Los Angeles, and we traveled to the North side to see bands like the Pretenders, the Patti Smith Group, the Waitresses, Wreckless Eric and the Police.

Then I had my mainstream friends who smoked pot, drank beer and got promoted in their retail sales clerk jobs. We’d go to all the arena rock concerts at places like Soldier Field to see bands like the Stones, Peter Frampton, Ted Nugent, Cheap Trick, Blackfoot, and, before they turned into mush, REO Speedwagon.

A few days ago, I happened upon a video of REO on the Midnight Special from 1978. I kept playing the video over and over-not to see Kevin Cronin’s Howard Stern-esque hair, but to marvel at Gary Richrath’s guitar playing.

Roll With the Changes-Midnight Special, 1978?



“Listen to that tone! I wanna hear that again. It sounds so good.” I clicked 'Play again", instantly transported back to the International Amphitheater in 1979. Damn, and couple that with the keyboard solo, you've got a straightforward rock 'n' roll sound that defies sub-genre classification. I don’t care if you’re a jazz snob or a punk rock snob, ya gotta admit, that band could play! I watched the video so many times I resorted to reading the comments posted underneath it. The posters actually had something to say and most of them were pretty funny.



The YouTube comments made me peruse the REO Speedwagon fan websites and discussion groups. Most of the website comments were written by an intelligent bunch of diehard middle-aged fans, and no one seemed to like the new “playing in your local Wal-Mart parking lot” version of the band. Seems that only causal fans like the current version of REO Speedwagon.

Some of what I read broke my heart, being a fan of their music and soft-hearted when it comes to human melodrama. I’m over it now, but it seems ironic that a band whose music made me so happy and gave me hope when I was a depressed teen could turn out to be so dysfunctional, troubled, and/or petty as real people. The main complaints on the fan message boards concerned Kevin Cronin, the lead singer, who hails from my old childhood haunt, Oak Lawn, Illinois. I used to brag about that to people. Of course, the guitar player from Disturbed is also from Oak Lawn…errr.. maybe I’d be better off not mentioning Oak Lawn at all. There were mucho comments about Cronin’s ego and substance abuse, Richrath’s drinking and “too many girlfriends”, the keyboard player’s mental breakdown, etc. Then there were the lawsuits, one of which resulted in the band apologizing to their fans on the official website, and then the fan club president sued them for insinuating she was a lesbian. It’s like a pathetic, humorless version of Spinal Tap.

So let’s talk about happier times.

"All of a sudden out of the clear blue sky, the telephone rings…"

Ahh, the 80s, the height of rock star fashion…Somewhere else, but not here..dig those melon-colored parachute pants..

157 Riverside Avenue-1985




I only cared for three REO albums-- You Get What You Play For, You Can Tune A Piano But You Can’t Tuna Fish (such innocent times! People actually thought that was a clever title) and Nine Lives. I adored Nine Lives because it was REO’s “heavy metal” guitar based album. But alas, the music public at large didn’t prefer the hard rockin' REO. Hi Infidelity was released in late 1980 and would forever connect REO with Styx and Journey in the unholy triumvirate of wimp rock.

I didn’t get into that album like the previous ones. After the opening rocker, “Don’t Let Him Go” I lost interest. I bought the next album, Good Trouble, then moved to L.A. and didn’t care anymore. When I glanced at the band’s overproduced mid-80s videos on MTV, REO had morphed into a generic shadow of the rockers I first discovered on a bill they played with headliner Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Each succeeding REO music video featured more and more of Cronin, with Richrath’s guitar and his beautiful dark blonde curls (sigh) hidden in the background, trying to salvage what was left of the “rock” part of “rock band.” Then drummer and founding member Alan Gratzer retired and Richrath was fired. REO soldiered on, and after a few years of low-selling albums on small labels, Wal-Mart parking lots and classic rock tour packages with Journey and Styx beckoned. As for Richrath, he played small clubs with his own band in the ‘90s, then disappeared completely.

A friend dared me to watch the following video, and said he’d give me 20 bucks if I could get through the whole thing. I couldn’t do it.




Come back, Gary Richrath, we need you.

Nixon's Ghost-Tribute to Gary Richrath