Music Blurbs, Vol. 26

Styx and Chicago
Two of the most successful American bands of the rock era are teaming up for a tour in which they share top billing. Formed in Chicago in 1972, Styx began as a progressive-leaning hard rock band, recording four albums for small label Wooden Nickel; those gained the group a following but didn’t represent a commercial breakthrough. That break would come when Styx was picked up by A&M, releasing Equinox, their first U.S. Gold record. A shift toward more pop-oriented material brought worldwide success: a string of five multi-Platinum selling albums and a raft of hit singles. Ballad-oriented songwriter Dennis DeYoung left in 1999; the band has continued as a harder-rocking act with peak-era guitarists James Young and Tommy Shaw still on board. Starting in 1967, fellow Midwesterners Chicago helped usher in the horn section as a component of rock music; along with numerous hit albums and singles, the group has earned five Grammys and induction into the Grammy Hall of Fame. The current ten-man touring lineup features founding member and multi-instrumentalist Lee Loughnane.

Squeeze
Debuting near the start of the new wave era in late ‘70s England, London-based Squeeze always stood apart from many of their contemporaries. With two very different lead singers – both excellent songwriters whom critics sometimes compared to Lennon and McCartney – the band combined sharp melodies with wry lyrics. Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook ave co-helmed the group since its start, a timeline punctuated with extended hiatuses. A major influence on the more tuneful end of the “college rock” and alternative rock scenes, Squeeze’s tours often provided a springboard for other groups (including Dire Straits, R.E.M., U2 and XTC) to come to prominence. While the band’s commercial apex came in the ‘80s with hits like “Cool for Cats,” “Up the Junction,” Tempted” (with short-term vocalist Paul Carrack on lead vocals) and “Black Coffee in Bed,” Squeeze continues to this day with a focus on both live work and studio releases. The band’s latest record, Trixies is a concept album – and number-one charting record in the UK – featuring songs Difford and Tilbrook composed more than 50 years ago when both were London teenagers.

Weezer
Debuting in the early 1990s, Los Angeles-based quartet Weezer showcased a winning combination of alt-rock, power pop and a dose of punk. That mix earned early success for the band: “Undone – The Sweater Song,” “Buddy Holly” and “Say it Ain’t So” all stormed the US Modern Rock singles charts, reaching the Top Ten. The album that spawned those songs, Weezer (also known as The Blue Album) sold more than five million copies in the U.S. alone. a million-seller. The band’s followup album, 1996’s Pinkerton was widely considered a critical and commercial disaster, but still sold a million copies (as did both a 2001 album known as The Green Album and 2005’s Make Believe). The group has persisted since then, with a raft of color-coded album covers and titles. In 2022 Weezer released four albums in the space of ten months. Their latest, yet again titled Weezer (also to be known as The Gold Album) was released in August. A lead single “C.E.O.” is being touted as a sequel to “Undone – The Sweater Song.”

Lynyrd Skynyrd
The quintessential Southern rock band, Lynyrd Skynyrd got their start in late ‘60s Jacksonville, Florida, as part of the same musical scene that would eventually bring forth the Allman Brothers Band. The group landed a record deal in the early 1970s, working with Blood, Sweat & Tears founder Al Kooper to produce their million-selling debut album. The spotlight track on Pronounced ‘Lĕh-‘nérd ‘Skin-‘nérd was “Free Bird,” a long song with an extended jam (with three guitars) that soon went on to become a staple of FM radio and an anthem of ‘70s rock. Four more hit albums would follow, but a plane crash in rural Mississippi took the lives of lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines and four others. After a decade-long hiatus, Lynyrd Skynyrd reformed with Johnny Van Zant (Ronnie’s younger brother) taking over as lead singer. The group returned to touring and (for a time) releasing new records; 2012’s Last of a Dyin’ Breed is their most recent studio release. The current lineup features Van Zant plus Rickey Medlocke (a member of the band from its early days) plus seven comparatively newer members.

Coheed and Cambria
With a deft mix of progressive rock, metal, post-hardcore and alt-rock, upstate New York band Coheed and Cambria combines ambitious projects – often in the form of thematically-linked concept albums – with a powerful and complex musical character. While the peak era of progressive rock is generally thought to have long since come and gone, Coheed and Cambria put the lie to that assumption: six of their 11 albums to date have climbed to the Top Ten on the Billboard 200 chart. The group’s Vaxis trilogy – 2018’s The Unheavenly Creatures, 2022’s A Window of the Waking Mind and The Father of Make Believe from 2025 – follow on with a story line established in 2012 with a pair of albums as part of a concept called The Afterman, itself part of a larger story known as The Amory Wars. Critics tend to agree with fans, giving high marks to Coheed and Cambria’s songwriting and musicianship.