C’était il y a 43 ans aujourd’hui (le 8 décembre 1979) que Styx a enregistré son seul succès au hit-parade, avec « Babe », écrit et chanté par Dennis DeYoung. La chanson, qui a détrôné le duo monstre de Barbra Streisand et Donna Summer, « No More Tears (Enough Is Enough) », de la première place, a occupé la première place pendant deux semaines.
« Babe » était le premier single de la collection Cornerstone du groupe, qui a atteint la deuxième place et a passé 17 semaines dans le Top 10.
Le guitariste J.Y. Young n’est pas le seul à regretter l’époque des années 70 et 80 où un label comme A&M Records était là pour soutenir les artistes de son catalogue : [“They showed such great sensitivity to so many great rock artists — Peter Frampton, Joe Cocker, Styx, the Police, Supertramp — y’know, that we loved recording for A&M Records. We took less money to be there. We just felt there was human beings operating there. . . Their offices were on Charlie Chaplin’s old film lot, it wasn’t in some giant, black, steel and glass, corporate Warner Brothers, CBS, what have you. . . It just was. . . This was a place where art was created and where art was celebrated. And to be part of it was just phenomenal for us after being with a subsidiary of RCA Records — and they gave us a chance — I’m always grateful for that, but A&M was a unique and special place.”] (:37 OC : . . . et endroit spécial)
Dennis DeYoung a admis que l’écriture de ses légendaires chansons de Styx était avant tout une source d’inspiration pour lui-même : [“The human experience is not that different. And particularly now, at this point of my life, we all long for that moment in our individual lives where things seemed simpler, innocent and we didn’t have the responsibilities and the burden of actually growing up and being an adult. And I was saying that to an audience when I was probably in my early-30’s, and generally speaking, the audience was probably between the ages of 15 and 20. Remember; I was writing those songs for myself so many times to remind myself what I should be thinking. How I should be feeling. I was trying to buoy my own spirits.”] (:36 OC : … mes propres esprits)