Styx

Styx weren’t the only guitar-heavy ’70s act to embrace synthesizers, but they were one of the most enduring and successful examples of rockers going New Wave. That spirit of adventure has been a Styx hallmark since Dennis DeYoung and his friends started playing music together in Chicago during the ’60s. After adding guitarist James “J.Y.” Young in 1970, the band scored some modest regional hits, but their popularity soared in 1975 when guitarist/vocalist Tommy Shaw joined the group and a major-label record deal propelled the dewy power ballad “Lady” into the Top 10. Grandiose hits such as “Come Sail Away,” which combined brittle piano pirouettes with brawny guitars, led to Styx storming arenas and radio with the pointed “Blue Collar Man (Long Nights)” and the outsider ode “Renegade.” The band enjoyed further commercial success with 1981’s Paradise Theatre and the 1983 LP Kilroy Was Here, which included the digital-prog hit “Mr. Roboto.” Numerous lineup changes ensued over the years, including DeYoung departing and Canadian rocker Lawrence Gowan entering the fold, but Styx have kept their vibrant creative spark alive—and in 2017, they released the prog-leaning hard-rock epic The Mission, a concept album telling the story of astronauts flying to Mars.