I’ve seen Styx three times in concert, although not since 1980. A girlfriend of mine really liked them, and I did too, so for a while Styx held the title of the band I had seen most often. Other performers have since tied or surpassed them.
I still go back and forth over the best Styx song. Some days it’s “Crystal Ball.” Other days it’s “Suite Madame Blue.”
Today, it’s “Suite Madame Blue.”
Written by Dennis DeYoung and released on the 1975 album Equinox, the song was inspired by all the buildup surrounding America’s coming Bicentennial. But it isn’t a simple flag-waving celebration. DeYoung portrays the United States as a once-beautiful woman who has grown older while refusing to confront what has happened to her. Vietnam, Watergate and the energy crisis were all hanging over the country at the time.
The song begins quietly, with DeYoung’s voice accompanied by acoustic guitar, before gradually becoming something much larger. The keyboards arrive, the electric guitars take over, and the final section turns into the kind of grand, theatrical rock that Styx could perform better than almost anyone.
During the 1980s, Styx moved in a direction that I frequently disliked, and eventually I stopped following them. Recently, though, I’ve found myself rediscovering the 1970s version of the band—the more muscular and progressive Styx heard on songs like this one.
Some credit for that rediscovery goes to BoStyx, a tribute band that performs the music of both Boston and Styx remarkably well. If you like either band, they are worth seeing.
But start with the original.
“Suite Madame Blue” is Styx at its most ambitious: beautiful, bombastic, uneasy and unmistakably American.