Kilroy Was Here (album)
| Kilroy Was Here | ||||
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| Studio album by Styx | ||||
| Released | February 22, 1983 | |||
| Recorded | 1982 at Pumpkin Studios, Oak Lawn, Illinois | |||
| Genre | Progressive rock, pop rock, rock | |||
| Length | 40:41 | |||
| Label | A&M | |||
| Producer | Styx | |||
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| Singles from Kilroy Was Here | ||||
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| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |
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| Rolling Stone |
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Kilroy Was Here is the eleventh studio album by the rock band Styx, released on February 22, 1983. The album is named after a famous World War II graffito, "Kilroy was here." It was the final album of original material to be released by the "classic" lineup of Dennis DeYoung, Tommy Shaw, James "J.Y." Young, John Panozzo, and Chuck Panozzo.
The album is certified platinum by the RIAA. As of 2016, it is the last studio album by the band to be certified platinum.
"Kilroy Was Here" was conceived by lead singer Dennis DeYoung as an album and accompanying stage show, which opened with a short film of the same name. While the supporting tour was a financial disaster, the album debuted at #10 on the Billboard 200 in its first week and sold over 1 million copies (although some sources say 2.5 million copies) and peaked at #3 on the US charts; however, it broke the streak of multi-platinum albums for Styx, and ushered in a more keyboard-oriented, theatrical direction. In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, James Young talked about the creative differences in the band, and what led to their breakup: "Dennis really wanted to do these soft, intimate love ballads, and that was against the grain for me and Tommy Shaw, so our differences got magnified, because Dennis was insisting on going outside the boundaries we lived with. He's an assertive and strongly opinionated guy."
The album's somewhat rock-operatic story tells of a future where rock music is outlawed by a fascist government and the "MMM (the Majority for Musical Morality)". The story's protagonist, Robert Orin Charles Kilroy (DeYoung), is a former rock star who has been imprisoned by MMM leader Dr. Righteous (Young). He escapes using a disguise (according to the album's famous song "Mr. Roboto") when he becomes aware that a young musician, Jonathan Chance (Shaw), is on a mission to bring rock music back.
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Wikipedia