Paradise Theatre

Paradise Theater is a concept album released by the rock band Styx in January 1981 (see 1981 in music). The album, a fictional account of Chicago's Paradise Theater from its opening to closing (and eventual abandonment), is used as a metaphor for America's changing times from the late 1970s into the 1980s. (Dennis DeYoung confirmed this on an episode of In the Studio with Redbeard which devoted an entire episode to the making of the album. "The B... more

Paradise Theater is a concept album released by the rock band Styx in January 1981 (see 1981 in music). The album, a fictional account of Chicago's Paradise Theater from its opening to closing (and eventual abandonment), is used as a metaphor for America's changing times from the late 1970s into the 1980s. (Dennis DeYoung confirmed this on an episode of In the Studio with Redbeard which devoted an entire episode to the making of the album. "The Best of Times", written by Dennis DeYoung, went to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. "Too Much Time on My Hands", written by Tommy Shaw, went to #9 on the Billboard Hot 100, Shaw's only top 10 hit for Styx. "Rockin' The Paradise" went to #1 on the Top Rock Track Chart. The song "Snowblind" (lyrics by James Young with additional lyrics from Shaw, music by Young and DeYoung) was an attack on drug addiction. The track would come under fire for supposedly having backward messages and was branded by reactionary fundamentalists and Tipper Gore's PMRC as ... less