Editing Styx (band) (section)

=== 1980s and superstardom ===
Their 1979 album ''[[Cornerstone (Styx album)|Cornerstone]]'' yielded their first No. 1 hit, the DeYoung ballad "[[Babe (Styx song)|Babe]]". By early 1980, "Babe" had become the band's biggest international hit and first million-selling single, reaching No. 6 in the UK.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.everyhit.com/ |title=everyHit.com - UK Top 40 Chart Archive, British Singles & Album Charts |website= Everyhit.com |access-date=March 28, 2010}}</ref> The album also included the No. 26 DeYoung hit upbeat "[[Why Me (Styx song)|Why Me]]" and the rocker "[[Borrowed Time (Styx song)|Borrowed Time]]" (U.S. No. 64), which was co-written with Shaw, plus Shaw's folksy "[[Boat on the River]]" (1980), which was a hit in much of Europe and Japan. The popularity of the album, which reached No. 2 on the [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' 200]], helped win the band a [[People's Choice Awards|People's Choice Award]] for Best New Song in 1980. At the [[22nd Grammy Awards]], Styx was a nominee for [[Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group]] and ''Cornerstone'''s engineers [[Gary Loizzo]] and Rob Kingsland were nominated for a Grammy for Best Engineered Recording. The band was also named the most popular rock band in the U.S. in the 1980 year end Gallup Poll.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2008-05-18-0805160516-story.html| title=From Styx to stage|author=Chris Jones |website= chicagotribune.com| date=May 18, 2008 }}</ref>

With the success of "Babe," DeYoung's push for a more mainstream direction gained momentum, while Shaw and Young favored a more rock oriented approach. This arguing over musical direction led to ongoing tension in early 1980 after Shaw objected to the ballad "First Time" being released as the second single from ''Cornerstone''. Although the song was generating substantial airplay in some major markets, A&M pulled the plug on the single's official release, replacing it with "Why Me". The argument resulted in DeYoung being briefly fired. However, things were quickly smoothed over.<ref>''VH-1 Behind the Music Remastered''</ref> While “First Time” did not chart in the US (because it was not released), it became a huge hit single in [[the Philippines]] in 1981.

In January 1981, Styx released ''[[Paradise Theatre (album)|Paradise Theatre]]'', a [[concept album]] that became their biggest hit, reaching No.&nbsp;1 on the ''Billboard'' pop albums chart and yielding five singles, including the top ten hits "[[The Best of Times (song)|The Best of Times]]" by DeYoung (No. 3 Billboard, No. 1 Radio & Records) and "[[Too Much Time on My Hands]]" by Shaw (No. 9), his only top 10 single as a member of the band. ''Paradise Theatre'' became the band's fourth consecutive [[multi-platinum]] album. Based on yet another Dennis DeYoung concept, the Paradise Theatre was a historic Chicago theatre that had been built in the 20s only to fall on hard times and close a mere 30 years after it opened. DeYoung used the Paradise as a metaphor for the United States in the late 1970s/early 1980s.

An ambitious year long world tour commenced in 1981 in support of the album and was one of the top-grossing tours of the year. The tour had numerous Broadway and movie infused elements, including a dramatic opening featuring a theatre sweep and DeYoung by himself next to a player piano and the show ending with traditional movie credits. Throughout the tour and throughout the 1980s and beyond, the band would open their shows with "[[Rockin' the Paradise]]", the opening track from ''Paradise Theatre'' which charted at No. 8 on the Top Rocks Track Chart and aired on the [[MTV]] cable channel.{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}}

The band was accused by a [[California]] religious group and later the [[Parents Music Resource Center]] of [[backmasking]] [[Satanism|Satanic]] messages in their anti-[[cocaine]] anthem, "[[Snowblind (Styx song)|Snowblind]]".<ref name=clark>{{cite news|last=Clark|first=Dick|title=Styx and stones...|newspaper=[[Times-News (Hendersonville, North Carolina)|Times-News]]|date=March 29, 1983}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://theatre.wazzontv.com/2011/03/09/styx_snowblind_81_live/|title=Wazzontv.com|date=January 10, 2016|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160110022905/http://theatre.wazzontv.com/2011/03/09/styx_snowblind_81_live/|archive-date=January 10, 2016}}</ref> [[James Young (American musician)|James "JY" Young]] has denied this charge during his introduction for "Snowblind" when played live. [[Dennis DeYoung]] has denied the accusation as well, joking on the ''[[In the Studio with Redbeard]]'' program "we had enough trouble to make the music sound right forward." Also, Young quotes, "If we were going to put some message in our songs, we would have put it so it was in the song forward. Not so you would have to buy some $400 [[tape recorder]] to hear it."