The mid-1980s were a weird time for rockers torn between diving into the softer synthesizer sound or doubling down on the harder guitars. No band struggled more with that fork in the road than Styx who started of as a rock group for the boys but slowly turned into a female favorite.
And at its heart was the tug-of-war over “Mr. Roboto,” the lead single of the ambitious Kilroy Was Here concept album that broke the band up twice. Once in the early ’80s and then again in the early ’90s.
Even though the band regrouped in 1995, they would not play “Roboto” live again until May 30, 2018 when they kicked off their summer tour with Joan Jett and Tesla.
In Chicago, where Styx was from, in the early 1980s, there were only a few other big rock bands: Cheap Trick, REO Speedwagon, and Chicago. None of them brought the hard rock that was taking over from hair metal acts like Motley Crue, metal bands like Iron Maiden, or whatever you’d call Def Leppard.
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