Styx briefly tried to move forward without Tommy Shaw in the early-’90s, but ran out of gas after 1990’s gold-selling Edge of the Century. A proposed 1992 follow-up would have arrived just as Nirvana was in ascension.
Everything had suddenly changed, former frontman Dennis DeYoung admits in a new social media post. “Grunge reared its rainy head and Seattle soaked the earth that same year,” DeYoung says. “These tunes must have smelled like wet flannel to record companies as they chased the next grunger.”
Styx lost their deal with long-time label A&M and soon broke up, leaving behind a heavily bootlegged set of songs written and demoed by DeYoung, James “J.Y.” Young and Shaw replacement Glen Burtnik.
What Happened to Styx’s ‘Son of Edge’ Album?
Known by fans as Son of Edge or Edge of the Century II, the lost LP “was recorded and mixed in the White Room, which was my house in Frankfort, Illinois,” DeYoung added. “We used some existing tracks of Glen’s on some tunes but we all recorded new overdubs and vocals – which reminds me that the lead vocals throughout are too low and the snare too loud, an annoying holdover from the late ’80s and early ’90s. Since when is the snare the star of the show? Bollocks!”
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Styx wouldn’t release another album until decade’s end, as 1999’s Brave New World heralded Shaw’s return. In between, two new bonus tracks appeared on 1996’s Greatest Hits Part 2, “It Takes Love” and “Little Suzie.” “If Glen and [‘Edge of the Century’ co-writer] Bob Burger ever wrote a better song than ‘It Takes Love,’ I ain’t heard it,” DeYoung said. “It’s a hit record. Wrong time, I guess.”
A classic-era Styx concert. (Paul Natkin, Getty Images)
Burtnik also appeared on 2003’s Cyclorama, Styx’s first studio project with DeYoung’s successor Lawrence Gowan. He ended up re-recording one of the album’s songs, “Kiss Your Ass Goodbye,” for a solo project.
“Everyone played great on it, and Tommy came up with a nice guitar counter-point, but the Styx production philosophy is a bit restrictive – and for a reason,” Burtnik later told Melodic Rock. “Whereas they feel a need to make records that sound ‘like Styx’ – music that will to a certain extent fit in with their past sound – I am free of such considerations. I don’t need to limit myself or live up to some preconceptions. Hardly anybody buys my records!”
Listen to Styx’s ‘It Takes Love’
What Are Dennis DeYoung’s Future Plans?
In the meantime, the YouTube stream that sparked DeYoung’s thoughts on the Son of Edge era has now been deleted. “I’m not certain who posted this but someone on the inside must have had a hand in it. Not me. I’ve wanted to for years but feared possible lawsuits. Nobody wants that,” he said. “Listening back reminds me that these dudes can sure write, sing and play very catchy songs.”
DeYoung added that he’s at work on an autobiography, which “will talk in depth about these times.”
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Gallery Credit: Nick DeRiso
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