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The Catalyst interview: James ‘JY’ Young of Styx

Guitarist James “JY” Young is the only person on the planet who can say he’s performed at every single Styx concert, ever. Young joined the explosive Chicago rock band in 1970, when it was known as TW4, and is still a key component today.
Here’s another pertinent factoid: Styx is the only act in history to score four consecutive triple-platinum albums.
While the heady days of The Grand Illusion, Pieces of Eight, Cornerstone and Paradise Theatre are more than four decades past, Styx remains a monster touring act. The band stops at Clearwater’s Baycare Sound amphitheater Saturday, Jan. 11.
The current incarnation of Styx also includes guitarist, singer and songwriter Tommy Shaw, who joined the band in 1975 and was on just about all of those gargantuan records.
Only the Beach Boys can claim more intra-band drama and dysfunction, but Styx has soldiered on and triumphed.
In a nutshell, Young and Shaw severed ties in 1999 with Young’s fellow founding member Dennis DeYoung (no relation to this writer), who’d written and sung the lion’s share of the biggest Styx songs, including “Come Sail Away,” “The Grand Illusion,” “Babe,” “The Best of Times,” “Lady” and the polarizing “Mr. Roboto.”
Young composed “Miss America,” Shaw contributed “Renegade,” “Too Much Time on My Hands,” “Fooling Yourself,” “Blue Collar Man” and other signature songs, but DeYoung came to be seen (and heard) as the voice of Styx. In time his predilection for ballads, and musical theater, began to rub his hard-rocking bandmates the wrong way.
It depends on which band member you ask, but the bottom line is that musical (and personal) differences drove them apart. Styx broke up, re-formed, DeYoung was fired, he came back, they broke up again, DeYoung sued Young and Shaw over use of the band name. He lost.
There’s no love lost there. Along with Young and Shaw, Styx 2025 includes Lawrence Gowan (playing keyboards and singing the DeYoung numbers), drummer Todd Sucherman, acoustic guitarist Will Evankovich and bassist Terry Gowan (founding bassist Chuck Panozzo makes sporadic appearances with the band, but does not tour).
Find tickets for the Clearwater concert at this link.
St. Pete Catalyst: I wanted to start with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame …
JY Young: We’re never going to get there. There’s about 10 people who are in charge of deciding. And Jann Wenner being the editor-in-chief of Rolling Stone, and the guy who’s been there forever, he kind of makes all the decisions. Him and his minions.
Is it, as a lot of us suspect, that bands who have been really, really popular and sold millions of records aren’t “cool” enough for Mr. Wenner?
That’s one way of putting it. Another one is that he wants to control it. He came up with the notion for it, and so he’s going to do whatever he wants with it. And I’ve actually met the man and taken him to lunch, because I realized he had the power over this whole thing.
And after the lunch, I recognized that he absolutely had the power over the whole thing. I had a friend that worked at Rolling Stone for a while, in some capacity, and he absolutely reinforced the notion I’m giving you.
Ultimately, that’s one man’s opinion – “Do you like this band? Do you hate this band?” I don’t know. We have had tremendous success, sold millions of albums, got tons of airplay and sold millions of concert tickets, millions of T-shirts. If somehow this one man doesn’t put the stamp of approval on us, that’s not gonna end my day.
OK, I’ll go here. When you get into the Hall of Fame – which of course Styx will – you’ll have to get onstage with Dennis again. Are you ready for that?
(Long pause, then laughing). Well, we’ve worked successfully without Dennis for a decade now. So it’s not really a concern of mine.
Do you see it as a kind of vindication for you and Tommy that you’ve done so well with Dennis in the rearview mirror? Like “We ARE a great band, we don’t need that guy.”
I don’t think Dennis really enjoyed going on the road. He just didn’t like it, and for me, it was the most fun that I would have. Being in the studio and making records … it takes time and it takes patience to make a great record. And Dennis had that – he could work very hard at that in the studio, and assert himself in his own way. And I would assert myself the best I could to move things in my direction, and Tommy would also. Tommy wrote some great stuff – “Renegade,” “Too Much Time on My Hands.”
Is this something you don’t think about any more because you don’t really have to?
I can listen to the music we created together, and that continues to live, and sound great to me. We all worked together to make that happen. Dennis and Tommy wrote a little bit more than I did, but I certainly got my two cents in there.
I don’t know … nothing is exactly as anyone would think it should’ve been or might’ve been, but it’s just the way different individuals co-exist: Sometimes very well with each other, and sometimes you don’t.
OK, I’m about to leave this branch of the tree, I promise, but there’s no chance, right? Of a reunion or a one-off show with Dennis?
If Tommy Shaw came up and said it, I might consider it. But for anyone else to suggest it … I mean, Tommy is really the Alpha at this point in time. And I’m the guy who’s been here for the whole thing. We had a blast doing it.
And I love being live onstage with this band. Todd Sucherman has been voted Best Rock Drummer in Modern Drummer magazine for, I think, the last 10 years. We’ve got home run hitters at every position in the current lineup. The band can’t get any better that I can see.
You’ve been touring for more than five decades. Doesn’t it kind of wear you out after a while, the traveling? You’ve still got family in Chicago – and you’re not the young rock star any more.
When I’m on the stage, I feel like I’m 25 years old. I’m 75, at this point. But this actually is the Fountain of Youth for me, to be up there, and there are females of different ages that are screaming my name out and smiling at me, so … I might not get it at home every day, but I can get it onstage!
I read somewhere that you’re playing “Mr. Roboto” now?
Well, that’s our only 45 RPM single that sold a million copies. It sounds like a children’s record on some levels because it’s gimmicky. It’s not a song that I would have ever written, but Dennis wrote it – God bless ‘im – and it’s a Number One song. And people request the daylights out of that song. They want to hear us play it.
And we’re there to please the people, and please ourselves at the same time. OK, do I love every Styx song that we play? No. But, you know, you have to give the people what they want!

Styx today (photo by Jason Powell). James Young is at center, flanked by Chuck Panozzo (in glasses) and Tommy Shaw.

Cynthia Barrs
January 15, 2025at12:17 pm
Every member, past and present, has contributed to the success of Styx. But their current lineup is my favorite. They sound incredible while also interacting with the crowd and each other. So long as they are touring I will continue travelling to see them perform live
Wolf
January 5, 2025at8:26 pm
Quite the one sided comment indeed…Dennis.
EJD1984
January 4, 2025at6:43 pm
I still think it’s shameful that Young and Shaw haven’t had the decency to have even call to talk with Dennis in 25+ years after firing him from the he founded and is the true soul of STYX. And they keep trying to erase him.
They would have NO career if it wasn’t for him, and owe him a full reconciliation for one more album and tour for the fans.
The current version of “Styx” is more of a cover band these days.