Dennis DeYoung has been out of Styx for 25 years. The band chose to replace him as they ready to tour in assistance of 1999’s Brave New World. The singer, as he shares, discovered himself unexpectedly ill and unable to go on the road instantly, felt helpless.

“I was begging for my life and for my job when this happened,” he tells UCR now. “As sick as I was, I didn’t really feel I could fight back.”

Both sides ultimately carried on with their separate careers. But when Styx started performing “The Best of Times” earlier this year for the initial time considering that 2007, DeYoung felt a fresh twinge of discomfort and wrote about it on his Facebook web page. In the initial portion of a extended conversation, the songwriter expanded on his initial thoughts. He tells Ultimate Classic Rock Nights host Matt Wardlaw why he’s upset — and his feelings that all of this could have been avoided. 

Dennis, seeing your current Facebook post was a bit of a surprise. You’ve been fairly quiet lately.
I had been type out of the loop and I hadn’t posted a lot on my Facebook web page. Because I’m not touring, I do not have any albums. What am I going to do, annoy the public? I do not require to do that. But I have mates in the music enterprise who send me stuff. I occurred to see by means of your web-site that Styx had begun to play “The Best of Times.” I didn’t know it, since it is not my life’s perform to adhere to that. I looked and I watched and I believed, “Oh, okay.” I had to [process] that and attempt to figure out what reaction do I have to that? I wrote one thing on Facebook and you guys covered that and I believed it was okay.

But concerning “The Best of Times,” I attempt to do my incredibly most effective to take the attitude of “live and let live.” There’s a couple of occurrences in the final, I guess, six or seven years, have forced me out of just getting complacent about it all. For the final 25 years, J.Y. [Styx guitarist and vocalist James Young], largely, but Tommy [Shaw] also, have been clear about their feelings about some of the songs I’d written. Most particularly, the ballads. And of course, the lightning rod for all Styx fans is “Mr. Roboto.” I know it is all untrue, all the things that was stated and has been stated, It was a story they decided to inform back in 1999 when they replaced me when I was sick. Because the story they must have told was, “Well, we replaced the sick colleague, because we really wanted to go on the road and make some money and didn’t want to wait for him to get better.” That’s what truly occurred. But that is not a fantastic story to inform. So they started to inform this story that it was truly about my ballads and the Kilroy Was Here project, which is a fantastic story to inform, except that was 17 years earlier.

Study Additional: Why Dennis DeYoung Never Wanted ‘Mr. Roboto’ to Be a Styx Single

Watch Styx’s Video For ‘Mr. Roboto’

It had no bearing on the truth that we had substantial comeback tours in 1996 and 1997, initiated by me. I got sick in the starting of 1998, in January, and we began recording Brave New World later that year. It was in the course of the recording of that album that the tour was contemplated. I stated, “Yeah, I’m in. Just give me six more months to recover from this thing.” Matt, I can now say this, it is like extended COVID. I had one thing like that in 1998. The upper respiratory virus that I caught had weakened my immune technique and produced my eyes sensitive to light. The light sensitivity generally produced me really feel fatigued and tired and I couldn’t truly execute like I wanted to. I asked for these six months to recover. That’s what occurred. They replaced me and then for a year and a half, they traveled the nation and toured making use of the Styx name and they didn’t spend me any dollars at all for the use of the name. We had no deal worked out. Then, they went on VH1’s Behind the Music and stated some rather pointed, what I felt, have been uncalled for items about me and the music that we had designed collectively. I’ve stated this a million instances to you: Those Styx albums, if you like them, had to do with the 5 guys who designed the music.

Study Additional: Underrated Styx:The Most Overlooked Song From Each Album

Right.

The songwriters wrote songs, but the records that have been produced from these songs, that was truly a collective group work. I imply, we all contributed mightily to every other’s songs and to the accomplishment of the band. That’s what occurred. Nobody was standing in there and saying, “This is how this goes.” All you require to do is appear at how the songs have been divided up on each and every album. It was pretty much the exact same. X quantity to me, X quantity to Tommy and X quantity to J.Y. As I say on my Facebook web page, “Mr. Roboto” was a creation by the band. I wrote the song, and you know, as Tommy pointed out – he brought in the Vocoder to the band, not me. It was a optimistic. We have been carrying out items and getting exciting carrying out it.

So I wrote that Facebook post, to say, “Why did you do this?” Why did you say these items, all of these years, about music that you know complete nicely that we designed collectively? None of it could have been designed in the exact same way. It could have in no way been as fantastic with out all of us sitting in these rooms. I just do not have an understanding of why that required to be accomplished. It’s been hurtful to the complete concept of what ever Styx was and what they stood for, for all of their fans. So my Facebook web page was my way of saying, okay, now 25 years later, you say good items about “The Best of Times,” which I appreciate. And you play “Mr. Roboto” each and every evening in the initial encore spot to adoring fans. I just consider that it was so unnecessary to do all of that.

Watch Styx’s Video For ‘The Best of Times’

Styx is such a significant portion of your legacy of perform. So I can have an understanding of why it remains a sensitive subject for you.
The most hurtful portion about all of this to me is what it did to simply a single of the most loyal fanbases in classic rock history. To this day, men and women will be at odds with every other on social media arguing about this point, 25 years later. That’s just the worst portion for me. Because the truth that a Styx fan would disparage any of us — and they do, based on their point of view, is hurtful to me. That’s the final factor I wanted. I wanted them to all come collectively and delight in what we designed.

The band’s manager, Charlie Brusco, stated lately that he and Tommy and J.Y. have not spoken to you in 25 years. Have you attempted to attain out?
I did it via back channels. I’ve been carrying out this for, I consider, the final seven or eight years. I was attempting to get a single final tour. I do not want to go back into the band. I wanted a single final tour for the fans. Charlie Brusco, I did study some of the items and I did listen to that, but [it’s not true]. He stated that I stated the band would in no way be in a position to be thriving with out me. I in no way stated something like that. When they decided to give me an ultimatum about displaying up for the initial day of rehearsal for a tour, when they knew I was sick, I referred to as up J.Y. and Tommy and begged them not to do that. The caricature of me as some sort of bullying tyrant is certainly crazy. As I stated, all you require to do is appear at how the albums [were credited]. Everyone is represented as songwriters. It’s beyond silly. But they produced that story up. I in no way stated something like that.

I was begging for my life and for my job when this occurred. As sick as I was, I did not truly really feel I could fight back. A sticking point with the guys is that I ended up suing them. But like I stated, it was [after] pretty much a year and a half of touring. We hadn’t ever come to an agreement about what I must get for my ownership of the name. But when I saw the Behind the Music factor, that was the factor. That was just like, “Oh my God.” It was devastating to me, to consider that these guys that I had worked with so closely and produced so several men and women content — and their selves, the joy of what we designed. For that to be turned into a show [like that], I defy any individual to see anyplace exactly where I’ve ever offered an interview exactly where I stated something undesirable about anyone else’s music in this band. I’ve stated items about my personal songs that I didn’t like. But I’ve in no way stated a single undesirable word about Tommy’s music or J.Y.’s music. It’s easy for me — since I do not really feel that way. I really like what we designed collectively. I really like some items far more than other folks.

But I could in no way appear and say, “Oh, that song, why is that on there?” Because I know the schedule we have been on, we produced albums [nearly every year] and toured. What we have been producing from a songwriting viewpoint, was the most effective that we could in the time allotted. It wasn’t like somebody was flaking. We have been providing the most effective we could to what we did. The songs that have been brought in have been the songs that have been recorded. There was only a single song in all of that time that was brought in that was turned down. One song. It was turned down by the band, which brought on J.Y. to go back and reevaluate a song he’d written referred to as “Shame Me Down,” for The Grand Illusion. He went back and wrote “Miss America.” Now, that was a fantastic outcome. My really like for this band and nevertheless, for these guys, I just obtain it tricky to reconcile why any of us would be villains in the minds of fans.

Listen to Styx Perform ‘Miss America’

Study Additional: How ‘Lady’ Belatedly Saved Styx

You’ve gone via back channels, but you picked up the telephone to contact me. Do you nevertheless have a way, similarly, to attain Tommy and J.Y.?
I possibly could, yes. I’ve in no way accomplished that. And neither have they. Because they’ve produced it very clear that they’re content with out me. When men and women publicly say the exact same items more than and more than once again for 25 years, you may be nicely-advised to spend interest to it. I just believed, the promoters, it is a modest enterprise. We all know every other’s enterprise. The dollars that was out there — which is one thing that is incredibly critical to them — for a reunion tour, we are possibly the final band who has not accomplished that. There’s been a lot of bands exactly where they do not like every other and they do get collectively. It’s not for the dollars. I do not require dollars, Matt.

[It’s about] the [chance to say] farewell to these fans that gave me a life that fulfilled the dream. We can say thank you. This is what we did, here’s the 3 guys — you know, for the most portion, it is Moe, Larry and Curly, right here we are. We appreciate what you did. I could just disappear. That was my intention. No, unequivocally, I’ve in no way reached out personally to contact any of them. But we have enterprise managers and publishers exactly where we have communicated via third parties. As far as any farewell tour — for me, not the band — they can go on as extended as they want to. I’m not interested in harming them or stopping them. In truth, I’m thrilled that they’re playing “The Best of Times” and “Mr. Roboto,” since it tends to make total sense for the fans. Because they want to hear it. But my point, I guess was, for 25 years, they’ve generally wanted to hear these songs. That’s it. They want to hear these songs.

Okay, so if a Styx farewell tour with you is off the table, what do you nevertheless want from the guys?
I do not want something from the guys. I truly do not.

Would you like to restore the friendship that was when there?
Of course. I in no way wanted it to go the way it did. I was sick. This is the truth that just keeps finding overlooked. I was sick. I wasn’t carrying out something else. I did not do something. You can appear. I did not do something since I was also ill. And then, in January of 2000, as predicted, I played a solo show in Chicago. It was specifically when I stated I’d be in a position to execute [with Styx]. Did I want to play solo? I in no way wanted to do that. I in no way wanted to do a solo album. I only did it since Tommy quit the band in ’83. I only produced [Desert Moon] since he quit. For no other purpose. Our plans have been, J.Y. and I, for [his] assistance of the Kilroy project — he supported it and he had a ball getting Dr. Righteous. He only asked a single factor of me. He wanted to do a stadium tour in 1984.

I stated, “Absolutely.” We’ll do a reside album from Kilroy and we’ll go out and play a stadium tour in ’84 and then Tommy quit. J.Y. and the Panozzos, they nevertheless wanted to [carry on with Styx]. They wanted me to replace Tommy and go out in ’84 and do that stadium tour. I could not have an understanding of how they believed that would perform. Tommy was also useful to the band to stick somebody else in his spot. I know there have been some incredibly tough feelings that for 5 years, I would not replace Tommy in the band. J.Y. would contact me periodically, wanting me to replace Tommy. I just would not. Because I believed that Styx was Tommy Shaw, Dennis DeYoung, James Young and the Panozzos. I primarily based it all on my really like for the Beatles. When they broke up, I hated it and I did not get their solo albums. The initial album I purchased was [Paul McCartney and Wings’] Band on the Run. But you know, when a band that has a fanbase that is that devoted, when you pull back the curtain and you see the wizard, you can not unsee it. What was accomplished [with Styx] was unnecessary. What gets me is when I see “The Best of Times” now getting lauded by Tommy and the exact same factor with “Mr. Roboto,” I consider, nicely, why [has there been] all of the negativity? Who does that serve? Who does that assist? That’s my opinion.