Why was Dennis DeYoung booted out of Styx?

(Credit: Press / A&M Records)

Thu 25 December 2025 16:37, UK

It’s easy to forget that the likes of Styx were the towering musical pillars of classic rock for many music fans.

Pop hagiography will generally map out a rock trajectory following punk’s insurrectionary smoking crater, regaling a tale that everybody was enthralled with the new wave’s ephemeral explosion of turbo-charged garage bands and synth-soaked pop groups, snuffing out classic rock’s FM radio heyday virtually overnight.

For a solid chunk of US record buyers, however, your Depeche Modes or The B-52s barely made a dent on their musical soundtrack. Punk passed straight past the likes of the Eagles or The Doobie Brothers as far as the majority of rock fans were concerned, the late 1970s and early 1980s shimmering with Boston’s polished guitar attack, REO Speedwagon’s glossy balladry, and the jazzy AOR pumped out of Toto’s hit factory.

It’s this arena, pop-rock whirlwind that forged Styx’s commercial peak. Hailing from the world of progressive hard rock in the early 1970s, primary frontman Dennis DeYoung eagerly sought to push the band toward poppier, radio-friendly fare, hoarding the lion’s share of the hits under his songwriting pen and keenly orchestrating the grand conceptual narratives the band would indulge in during their MTV pomp.

Styx would go on to sell over 20 million records, hits such as ‘Babe’, ‘Lady’, and ‘Mr Roboto’, the day’s essential records for those who pop forget during the new wave’s chart domination.

After a soft hiatus in 1984, Styx bounced back the next decade with new material pleasing their longtime fans. Yet, shortly after 1999’s Brave New World, DeYoung found himself booted from the band he had helped found all those years ago.

So what happened?

Officially, the rest of the Styx team, James Young and Tommy Shaw, now captaining the band, decided to part ways due to DeYoung’s health issues. Suffering a nasty bout of the flu that left him sensitive to lights and easily fatigued, the request to delay touring in support of Brave New World for six months was rejected, recruiting Lawrence Gowan to take DeYoung’s place, remaining a part of Styx ever since. DeYoung would eventually sue, afforded the rights to use the Styx name for his solo career.

Bad blood may have been simmering for years previously, however. Fan speculation has circled for years regarding some disgruntlement at DeYoung’s assumed leadership of the group, as well as an eagerness to pull away from his pop penchants toward their prior hard rock stylings. There’s also the inconsistency. While DeYoung’s brief convalescence was supposedly too much, all the stops were pulled out to ensure bassist Chuck Panozzo was able to play with the group while being treated for HIV, and even afforded a part-time membership.

DeYoung has made efforts to get the old gang back together, but to no avail. “This is not about me, it’s not about money — it’s to relive, and reinforce, what lucky sonofabitches we were to find each other,” he confessed to Classic Rock in 2021. “And show the people that we appreciate what you’ve done for us. I’m sick over the fact that we can’t do it one more time, but what am I going to do? I just can’t for the life of me understand it.”

Why was Dennis DeYoung booted out of Styx?

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