Tension is flaring between Dennis DeYoung and one of his former Styx bandmates.
On Facebook, DeYoung cited a recent interview where guitarist James "JY" Young claimed "he's not a ballad a guy." Things really began to sour with "Mister Roboto," which Young believes harmed the band's popularity with male fans.
DeYoung instead blamed it on Tommy Shaw's departure from the band. "If he hadn’t [quit] we would have made another album and got those guys right back. I know because we saw them [during tours] in 1996 and '97."
Dennis takes issue with JY claiming that "if he were in charge, the band would have been very different musically. 'We just wanna rock..'" De Young said, "That was never Styx. Sure, we rocked, but there was more gold to be mined. Remember the first third of 'Lady' is a pop ballad."
DeYoung then tore into Young's writing ability, noting, "If JY had been bringing great rock songs to every album it would have been fantastic, and they would have been on the albums -- but he didn’t."
JY says he "always believed getting the best songs on the albums was the most important thing."
Dennis closes by asking JY to "stop denigrating me and thereby the band that has given us all so very much. It's really not helpful to the Styx legacy or you our fans. For me it’s unthinkable that I would ever disparage his songs. We were in it together, a band... all for one."
Styx gave DeYoung the boot in 1999.
Source: Premiere photo credit - iHM archive