Best Song Ever! Vol. One, "Music Time", By Styx

"Hey everybody it's music time!"

Anyone who reads this blog regularly (a few of you) and remembers the things they read here (none of you) will recall I was thinking about starting a regular or at least semi-regular segment around here called "Best Song Ever!" Don't believe me? CLICK HERE, DAMMIT!

A quick recap - I have many songs that for reasons I can't quite explain, I can listen to over and over again without even thinking about listening to something else. Sometimes the songs "make sense" to the people who get stuck listening to them several times with me. Some of them "make no sense at all" according to my friends.

I'm reminded that the definition of insanity is to do the exact same thing over and over, but expect different results. With these songs, I do the same thing over and over by listening to them so damned often, but I expect the same results every time. The result I expect is to come to the conclusion that the song is the Best Song Ever! So where does that leave me?

Let's get the ball rolling with one of those "makes no sense at all" songs; the forgotten Styx hit, "Music Time". This song was the last hit song for the band before they broke up, reunited, had another hit or two, broke up again, reunited again without Dennis DeYoung and are now...Ah who gives a damn, "Music Time" is the Best Song Ever!

Released in 1981 as the only studio track and the only new single from the "Caught in the Act" double album, the song had modest success if any at all. When it came out I was living in the stone age, top 40 radio hell known as Marengo, Illinois and I heard the song a lot. I even saw the video, which was bizarre because we didn't have cable nor MTV in our house. So Friday Night Videos & Casey Kasem must have played it plenty for me to even have seen the thing.

The video was freakishly strange, as was the song. I can't remember a damn thing about the video other then I thought it was so completely unlike anything I'd ever seen Styx do before. I was one of those people who thought the whole "Kilroy Was Here" experiment was kind of cool, if not really, REALLY pretentious. That being said, this song was a complete departure from traditional Styx songs.

The song was very frantic and more pop-driven than anything else. There was a hell of a lot of screaming electric guitar work and not as much synthesizer. The lyrics were very silly by way of comparison. Sure, the band had a song called "Plexiglass Toilet" some years before they were famous, but who the hell even knew that other than me and fans of the Doctor Demento Show?

The song was also not some kind of epic showcase of Dennis DeYoung's powerful voice. It was designed to be a fun, crazy, dance song. It has several similarities to other 80's hits. The Pointer Sisters song, "Neutron Dance" comes to mind as do a couple of Huey Lewis & the News songs, "Couple Days Off" (Musically) and "I Know What I Like" (Lyrically).

For whatever reason this remains my FAVORITE Styx song. I was a big fan of Styx as a kid and still upon occasion find myself indulging in the guilty pleasures of the often self-indulgent, occasionally over-produced, Styx catalogue ("Snowblind" fucking ROCKS!). Perhaps it is because this song is rarely played anywhere anymore or remembered at all that makes me go nuts to hear it repeatedly (like I am while writing this post). For whatever reason, this is the Styx song I'll defend to the death and deem worthy of "Best Song Ever!" status. Deal with it!

You can listen to "Music Time" for free at Rhapsody and mock me for it mercilessly later. In fact you can have a listen to the entire "Caught in the Act" album one time there if you've got a yearning for some live Styx action.