Too Much Time On My Hands

This Classic Rock staple was written by Styx guitarist Tommy Shaw, who also sang lead on the track. Shaw says he was asked to write one more song for the album, which followed the theme of a concert hall rising to prominence and then crumbling (based on a real venue: the Paradise Theatre in Chicago). Shaw liked the concept, but was having trouble writing songs that fit, which is why "Too Much Time On My Hands" doesn't follow the theme. He had a long drive to the recording studio, and on one trip, the bassline popped into his head: "dun-dun dun-dun dun-dun-dun-dun." When he arrived, he quickly had the band record what was in his head so he wouldn't lose it. He found himself calling out chord changes as they played, which laid the groundwork for the track.

The song is about a guy who spends his days at the local bar, blustering on about world events or whatever else pops into his head. He's got nothing better to do, and aided by alcohol, he gets a little crazy as he sees his life slipping away. Tommy Shaw drew inspiration from a real bar in Niles, Michigan, where he was living. He told Styxworld: "I think officially it was called Mark's Tavern, but everybody called it Mark's Bar. It was the local watering hole. The drinks were good, and the drinks were cheap. You could go in there with 20 bucks and be a hero, you know - buying rounds of drinks. And you'd always run into somebody you knew in there. That was the basis of the song."

Paradise Theater was Styx's only #1 album in the US (it peaked at #8 in the UK), but their fourth consecutive US triple-platinum album. Released in 1981, the album has a place in music history as being one of the albums which freaked out the religious right and Tipper Gore, in the thick of the 1980s moral panic. Styx was one of the bands explicitly forbidden from putting subliminal backmasking into their albums for the purpose of promoting Satanism or drug use. The Styx song from this album to draw this reaction is "Snowblind," ironically a song with a strong anti-drug message. The fallout from the Senate ruling (and Tipper's PMRC) is the reason we have "Parental Advisory" stickers on album labels today.