Tommy Shaw Insists Styx ‘Didn’t Hate ‘Mr. Roboto”

Tommy Shaw has shared details on the complex relationship between Styx and one of their most famous songs.

The 1983 single “Mr. Roboto” will always mark a major turning point in Styx’s history. Despite its commercial success, the theatrical nature of the song was reflective of where original singer Dennis DeYoung wanted to take the band’s sound. Shaw and the rest of the group preferred a traditional rock style, and the creative differences eventually resulted in a schism within the band that led to DeYoung’s departure.

For decades, Styx abandoned “Mr. Roboto,” but in 2018 the song returned to their set list. In a recent conversation with Sirius XM’s Eddie Trunk, Shaw insisted the narrative surrounding “Mr. Roboto” was all wrong.

READ MORE: Did ‘Mr. Roboto’ Really End Styx’s Classic Era?

“We didn’t hate ‘Mr. Roboto,’” the guitarist declared, “we just didn’t like the (recorded) version.”

As Shaw recalled, he found renewed interest in performing “Mr. Roboto” after hearing a band’s cover of the tune on Spotify.

“They did it the way we do it now. They played it as a rock song,” Shaw explained. “It was awesome! So I went back to the band and I said, ‘Here’s how we play Mr. Roboto. It’s a rock song.’ And man does it live up to its reputation.”

Adding ‘Mr. Roboto’ Back Into the Set List Was an ‘Absolute Necessity’

Lawrence Gowan, who joined Styx in 1999, wasn’t around for the initial discourse surrounding “Mr. Roboto.” Still, as he admitted to Trunk, he was happy the band decided to un-retire the song.

“When I came into the band, I never heard J.Y. (Young), Tommy, Chuck (Panozzo) say anything disparaging about ‘Mr. Roboto’ or that album,” Gowan noted. “But they, apparently, had a very bad time on that (Kilroy Was Here) tour.”

READ MORE: Top 10 Styx Songs

“But as that song kept gaining cultural reference,” Gowan continued, “and the prescient nature of that song – predicting that technology is going to do to us what it’s done – to my mind it made it an absolute necessity that we play the song.”

Styx recently wrapped a residency at the Venetian in Las Vegas. They will head out on the Brotherhood of Rock tour with Kevin Cronin and Don Felder starting in May.