Remember When Styx Finally Released the Hit Album They’d Been Chasing in 1977?

There have certainly been examples of rock bands that immediately grabbed the public’s attention with their very first recordings. But there are many outfits who have had to scrape and claw their way to the mainstream.

The legendary rock band Styx certainly falls into the latter category. When they finally hit big in 1977, they managed to do it with an album that somehow kept everything in perspective.

Seeking a Breakthrough

Styx already understood the concept of delayed gratification quite well. Forming in Illinois in 1972, the band released the single “Lady” in 1973. The song didn’t initially do anything on the charts. But a word-of-mouth groundswell of sorts, boosted by DJs who loved the song, helped it become a Top 10 hit two years after its release.

Still, Styx struggled to capitalize on that success and move up into the top tier of rock bands. Their album sales mostly stagnated, and they had to settle for opening act slots to keep up their touring schedule. Even more frustrating for the band, they watched as other acts playing a similar brand of melodic rock, a la Boston and Kansas, started to clean up.

The band made a move crucial to their future success when they brought Tommy Shaw aboard for the Crystal Ball album in 1976. Shaw gave the band a second ace guitarist to join James “J.Y.” Young. He also added to the singing and songwriting equation to supplement keyboardist Dennis DeYoung. All the pieces were in place. But Styx still had to make the leap.

‘Grand’ Plans

Styx entitled their sixth album The Grand Illusion after one of its tracks. To try and help with the luck of the enterprise, the band released the LP on July 7, 1977, or 7-7-77. As it turned out, this record had the goods and didn’t need any numerical boost to get it across.

The album showed off the band’s excellent songwriting blend. DeYoung came through with the hit single “Come Sail Away”, with lyrics that seemed to will Styx’s success into existence even when it seemed unlikely. DeYoung also delivered the title track, which looks with a wary eye at the rock stardom the band was about to discover.

Shaw strutted his stuff on “Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)”, a character sketch and motivational message all at once. Young also stepped out to center stage on the stirring rocker “Miss America”. The band boasted an embarrassment of riches, and this album displayed them all.

Building on the ‘Illusion’

In addition to the sharp songwriting, Styx bedecked The Grand Illusion with both the musical ambition left over from their prog days and plenty of unmissable hooks. And those gleaming vocal harmonies, a trademark of the band, were everywhere you turned.

The Grand Illusion rocketed the band into the elite level of rock bands. Styx would go on to prove that success was anything but an illusion, maintaining their status at the top of the heap for many years to come.

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