Released February 22, 1983 Artist Styx Producer Styx | Length 40:41 Release date 22 February 1983 Label A&M Records | |
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Recorded 1982 at Pumpkin Studios, Oak Lawn, Illinois Kilroy Was Here
(1983) Caught in the Act
(1984) Genres Rock music, Progressive rock, Rock opera, Pop rock Similar Styx albums, Rock music albums | ||
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.
Contents
The album is certified platinum by the RIAA. As of 2016, it is the last studio album by the band to be certified platinum.
Background
"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.
The album spawned two hit singles, "Mr. Roboto" and "Don't Let It End".
Despite its success and well-known hits, after the Kilroy Tour, the songs were ignored during all subsequent tours, with the exception of segments from "Mr. Roboto" and "Heavy Metal Poisoning" performed in the 'Cyclo-medley'. DeYoung did perform the songs "Mr. Roboto" and "Don't Let It End" during his solo tours.
Controversy
The song Heavy Metal Poisoning is the fifth track on the album. This song begins with the backmasked Latin words "annuit cœptis, novus ordo seclorum". Translated from the Latin, these words mean "[he/she/it] has favored our undertakings, a new order of the ages". These are the two mottoes from the Great Seal of the United States on the reverse side of the United States one-dollar bill.
The band created the album Kilroy Was Here partly as a mocking response to fundamentalist Christian groups and other anti-rock-music activists who had previously influenced the Arkansas State Senate to pass a bill requiring that all records containing backward masking be labeled as such by the manufacturer. Cited in the legislation were albums by The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Electric Light Orchestra, Queen, and Styx.
Music video
Three of the four videos for the album - "Mr. Roboto", "Don't Let It End", and "Heavy Metal Poisoning" - were filmed at the same time and used footage from the minifilm. A fourth video, "Haven't We Been Here Before", was filmed a few months after the album was released; it did not interact with the album's story.
Personnel
Charts
Album - Billboard (North America)
Singles - Billboard (North America)
Songs
1Mr Roboto5:29
2Cold War4:27
3Don't Let It End4:56