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36 of 38 found the following review helpful:
 It Exceeded My Expectations And Then Some! Apr 24, 2007
By K. Palmer
As it is said in several of the excellent customer reviews of this book, I wasn't expecting much when I found that only one member of the "classic" Styx lineup participated in the book (Tommy Shaw in an interview done in 1993 - he refused the author's requests for further discussions over the years). But I have to say, Sterling Whitaker has pulled together a fascinating summary of a band whose story needed to be told. Using primarily band managers, tour managers, crew members, record executives along with very good interviews with more recent band memebers Todd Sucherman and Glen Burtnik, Whitaker tells a fascinating story that was hard for me to put down (and I am as plodding a reader as there is).
Whitaker tells the story from day one when Dennis DeYoung joined up with John and Chuck Panozzo in the mid-60s to their struggles to gain attention, plus the sudden rise to fame from the sudden popularity of "Lady" (two years after it was first released), to mega-stardom with four straight triple platinum albums to the demise of the band due to the "Kilroy" debacle, to less-than-successful solo careers to reunion and more dramatic dysfunction. If you are reading this, you probably already know the story.
Whitaker plays no favorites in the Shaw/DeYoung/Young debate that cropped up after the band got back together in the mid-90s. You get the impression that all of them let their egos just get the better of them and the price was the fracture of what could have been a baby boomer juggernaut. I think Glen Burtnik gives the best take on the entire situation by saying that in the end, all the bickering was just silly. That's been my take on it as well. I will say that the person who comes off the worst in the whole book to me is DeYoung's wife Suzanne who is pretty much portrayed as insufferable by everyone involved.
Whitaker spends a great deal of time on the solo careers of the above three artists, which I think is actually the strongest part of the book. I followed all three solo careers and after reading this passage, I'm starting to think I was the only one! It definitely shows that Styx was bigger together than its individual parts.
I also was fascinated to learn how poorly Styx' records from the 1990s on have sold. It's just amazing that a band that sold tens of millions of albums in its heyday can't sell 50,000 copies of their newest releases.
Chuck Panozzo has a book coming out in the near future and I have a feeling it is going to pale in comparison to this terrific effort. I'm looking forward to Whitaker's next book on Van Halen, which should be even more fun!
21 of 21 found the following review helpful:
A Sterling effort and a Grand Book Mar 26, 2007
By Todd Perego
The first tape I purchased as a kid with my own money was "Kilroy Was Here" by Styx. I can still remember singing "double all I gotto, Mr. Roboto" with my sister before we knew what the words really were. Little did I know this was the record that tore the band's classic line-up apart, basically for good! Since then I have been a huge fan of Styx, particularly Dennis DeYoung. I have followed the reunions and the re-break-up and the replacements and the lawsuits and the bad blood. Throughout that time I have always wondered, What REALLY happened? And also, How did it all start?
This book tells you all of it. From their South side of Chicago beginnings to the current status of all the members (past and present). The author undertook a monumental effort to painstakingly interview many folks who were close to the band. From managers to agents to road crew members to members (like Tommy Shaw and Glen Burtnik) to fans, Sterling Whitaker got everyone who would participate to give their honest, sometimes angry, feelings about the band and their experiences with Styx.
The book is filled with narratives and point-counter point perpectives and the reader is left with a sense of completeness through every phase, high and low, of the band's legacy. If you are fan of Styx or any of the members...If you are a fan of classic rock and roll...this is a must read biography.
You will be exposed to the underside of the music industry and the lives behind the memorable music that is still a staple of classic rock stations all over this country. If you ever wondered about anything regarding Styx...the answer is in this book! Though you may not come away from this experience liking certain people as much as you believed you would, the result is an in-depth profile of rock superstars who were and are just regular people. They have the same hang-ups and problems every one else has, their's were just magnified by star power, ego, influence, and money.
Read this book. It was not an easy story to tell and equally not an easy book to write. Sterling Whitaker does both with amazing effectiveness.
16 of 16 found the following review helpful:
Very well presented Mar 26, 2007
By Ron Stevens
Many rock bands self-destruct after having success, and Styx is no exception. But the explosive arguments are only a small portion of the story. The Grand Delusion takes you on a journey following a band from Chicago that made it big. From their beginning to mega-stardom, to solo careers, reunions, and on to today Whitaker presents the group and those that worked with them along the way.
Whitaker has really done his homework for this book: There are extensive interviews with people that worked with Styx, as well as some band members (several people, most notably Dennis DeYoung and James 'JY' Young, declined to participate). In these interviews you get the story from the people that were there, along with their emotions and reasoning for why they did what they did. In what could have been a story full of mud-slinging and name-calling, The Grand Delusion is so much better by presenting honest quotations by those that were interviewed. It is the most complete story about the group Styx available.
8 of 8 found the following review helpful:
"...And in the end...The band critics couldn't touch, finally tore itself apart!" Apr 23, 2007
By M. Wright
Welcome to The Grand Delusion....
A book that has been a long time coming and well worth the wait!!! Very well thought out and organized. Special emphasis was placed on the early years of the band, from the start through their first four albums. A great deal of time and effort was made to cronical how the music that shaped what Styx would become was created.
Unlike a lot of "unauthorized" bio's, where you get nothing more then the authors "take" on events, Sterling set up the book in such a way that the people that knew the band the best tell the stories, as they recalled them. Sterling is really nothing more then a guide on this trip. Leading us from one event to the other. If he had a personal "agenda" with respect to his book, I couldn't find it.
For those that think this will be nothing more then a 300+ page rant on Dennis. Surprisingly, nothing is further from the truth. Oh make no mistake... Dennis DeYoung is taken to task in this book. But it also shows the method and motives behind his "madness". And I think a lot of people will be surprised by what is revealed.
Glen Burtnik provides the most meaningful, and biting, look at the band. He is equal parts funny and critical about the "silliness" that was/is the Styx life. Glen's perspectives alone are worth the price of the book!!!
If I had to pay Sterling one specific complement about the book; it would be the special attention that was paid to John Curuewlski. He made sure that JC's contributions (and, as the book indicates, they were many) to Styx were brought to light. Often overlooked is the canon of Styx, he's finally given the credit he so greatly deserved!
As a life long Styx fan, I found this book enlightening, honest, funny and angering. But I honestly can't find anything I don't like about it. I do wish Dennis and JY had chosen to participate. And it would have been nice to hear from Gowan. But... the opportunity was there, and was not accepted. One can't fault the author for that.
I only hope that if there's an audio version, that Glen does the narration!!
9 of 10 found the following review helpful:
 Get an Editor....please Aug 04, 2007
By Robert Young
Being a diehard Styx fan all my life, I enjoyed Whitaker's behind the scenes look into the history of this great band. But if you are going to publish a book like this, why in the world would you not get an editor? Though there are many good things about the book, it was very amateurish in its publication. Extra spaces EVERYWHERE, some typos, and redundancies galore (for example, he starts a new chapter by saying the same thing found at the end of the previous one and with every album, he states that song X "was the obvious choice" for the radio single). I thought I was going to scream if I had to read "By the time..." one more time.
If he would have given this to an editor who could have given him some feedback, the publication could have been so much better.
That being said, Whitaker did an outstanding job of compiling and arranging quotes from others to tell the story. He did leave some questions unanswered and didn't include some things I would have like to have seen. However, I read it from cover to cover and enjoyed it as would any serious fan of the band. Just know going in that you'll have to overlook some of the problems I outlined above and you will enjoy the book.
One side note, the binding of the book isn't that great as one of my pages fell out.
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