MR

For the Paradise Theatre album, after two top 10 singles and a huge amount of momentum, Styx chose to release "Nothing Ever Goes As Planned" as the third single, which stiffed at #54, killing momentum and resulting it not achieving the 4 big singles that Hi Infidelity and ESCAPE achieved. Should a different single have been released to have kept the momentum going and do better on the charts? And if so, what should it have been?

No doubt Snowblind would have been Styx's second coming of Renegade, and Paradise Theatre album would have sold a million more copies. I then would have followed it with Rockin The Paradise and the album would have had Hotel California written all over it.

When the album first came out most of my friends were addicted to Rockin the Paradise. We played it over and over and over again.
I remember walking through the hallways in between classes in high school and hearing it on boomboxes very often.

I really think that was the best option for a 3rd single. They would have had to eliminate AD1928, but they could have started it out with a guitar solo like in Caught in the Act.

Snowblind is the best song on the album, and I would have released it 4th, but I'm not too sure how it would have done on pop radio.
I'm shocked it didn't go to number 1 or 2 on the rock charts. It got TONS of airplay in the San Jose/San Fran area in 1981.

I thought NEGAP WAS a single...? Didn't really like that one much, but it was okay. I don't think of Styx as a reggae band. I remember their tour for that and they did the limbo on stage... not what I think of as Styx.

NEGAP was the 3rd single off of Paradise.
But whoever made the decision to release that song instead of Rockin the Paradise should have gotten smacked upside the head!

RTP or half penny

Half Penny is a great, great song. But it would not have been a good song to release as a single. It is not a pop song. Or even a pop/rock song. It's a killer deep album cut.

She Cares should have been the third single. Yeah, its not the greatest song ever but at that time, it would have gone over well on the charts with it's poppy/sappy sound and keeping the album relevant a bit longer. That would have set them up to release Snowblind as the fourth single. With the harder sounding hair bands about to burst on the scene, SB would have been a great segueway into the new era. Yes, we would have had more Tommy than Dennis on the radio at that point but I think for this album, it would have been a winning formula.

I still think Rockin the Paradise and then Snowblind as the 3rd and 4th singles, but I do agree that She Cares would have done much better than Nothing ever Goes as Planned.

Releasing NEGAP was just as bad as releasing High Time off of Kilroy as the 3rd single.

The singles are SELDOM the best songs on a record. Renegade being an exception.

NEGAP was a great song. It's not a single - but it's still a great song. Just like Lonely People which is likely the best song on the album.

I also think NEGAP is a cool song, just not a single. Although my daughter has me play it over and over and over again for her!
And I feel the same way with Lonely People. It's a fantastic song, one of my favs on the album, but not a single.
Styx' best songs were the long, progressive tunes. By far. Dennis did a great job with all the hit singles on the later albums, and he helped bring tremendous fame to the band, but by and far his best material came when he was writing epic tunes like Castle Walls.

I used to hear Rocking the Paradise all the time on the radio, so I am surprised it wasn't a single. I think it should have been the next release. She Cares is a weak song, but maybe it should have been third. Not sure if it had the chops some of the others had, though.

Lonely People is one of Dennis' great musical accomplishments, but would not have made a good single in my book.

Half Penny is a really great song, but not sure how well it would have done out of context from the album.

I am not a fan of Snowblind, but probably it may have done ok as the 3rd or 4th single.


Bugsy

brywool wrote:The singles are SELDOM the best songs on a record. Renegade being an exception.

Wrong.

Renegade is not the best song off Pieces of Eight.

CSA the single is the best song off TGI

SMTW is the best song off Edge

BOT for many is the best song off Paradise

toph said: Wrong.

"Renegade is not the best song off Pieces of Eight.

CSA the single is the best song off TGI

SMTW is the best song off Edge

BOT for many is the best song off Paradise"


Well, I guess we all have different tastes. My favs are
P08 - Queen of Spades
TGI - Castle Walls
Edge - Love is the Ritual
Paradise - Snowblind or Half Penny or Lonley People (too hard to choose one!).