This Day in Music History: Styx/Equinox (12/01)

Equinox is the fifth album by Styx, released on this day in 1975. The album was the band's first release for A&M Records (with whom they signed earlier in 1975, after the unexpected success of the single "Lady").

The album also marked the final appearance of original Styx guitarist John Curulewski who was fired abruptly following the release of Equinox. The band went into a frantic search to find a replacement for their upcoming tour to support the album. Soon after, they found Tommy Shaw.

The album's biggest hit was the track "Lorelei", which was Styx's second US Top 30 hit. Another well known song in the album was "Suite Madame Blue" which was written about the upcoming Bicentennial of the US. The track became a staple for all Styx tours with Dennis DeYoung.

Although Equinox stalled at #58, it went Gold in 1977 shortly before the release of The Grand Illusion.

I covered this album in more depth here (Side One), and here (Side Two).

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Music Monday (Styx/Equinox, Side One)

So at this point, Styx had just left Wooden Nickel Records and signed with A&M. From here on out is most of the music the casual fan knows, with the four previous albums being completely forgotten. Well with one exception: the single "Lady".

In March of 1975, "Lady" peaked at #6 on the charts. In December of that same year, Styx released their first album on the A&M label, Equinox.

In Honor of the Equinox

Equinox is one of my favorite words. It always makes me think of two things:

One of my favorite episodes of Star Trek Voyager...

..and a great album by Styx

I named my youngest daughter from a song on this album.

 

Top 10 Ways Lorelei is Not Allowed to Use Her Arm Cast

So after a brief bullfighting incident my daughter Lorelei is now in an arm cast for a broken wrist. The doctor gave her basic instructions (dont get it wet, keep it elevated, etc) but in the Blocker household we had to develop our own special list of do's and don't's....well, mostly just the don't's part...

Lorelei is not allowed to:

1) Run around the apartment yelling "Hulk smash!" and try to tear down the walls
2) Attempt to deflect bullets like Wonder Woman
3) Pretend to be MegaMan and use it as a blaster
4) Contact Star Command like Buzz Lightyear
5) Hide candy inside for midnight snacks
6) Claim that she had Tommy John surgery and will be back pitching in the majors soon
7) Crack walnuts
8) Have a sword in one hand and use her cast as a shield like a Roman soldier
9) Extort lunch money from defenseless kids
10) Pretend that she had a Robot arm installed

***UPDATE***

More suggestions have been coming in so I have a few more to add to the list:

11) Hold on to the top of the stairs with her good arm and pretend to swat at airplanes like King Kong

12) Claim that her arm was partially assimilated by the Borg