“On Fire At 40″ Watch Dennis DeYoung Talk Styx Album “Kilroy Was Here” Turning 40

1983 was a great year for Rock albums, in 2023 we find ourselves 40 years away from that.

With “On Fire At 40″ we take some time to speak to artists and band members about their albums celebrating this signifcant anniversary.

Each month we’ll speak to a different artist or band member about their album.

This month we speak with Dennis DeYoung about the Styx album “Kilroy Was Here” which was released February 22nd, 1983.

“Kilroy” is a concept album that involved things going on in the world at the time.

The Parents Music Resource Center, or PMRC had been created to try and get albums rated because of ther content..

It was not only about what was clearly part of the music but also about accusations of satanic messages put into songs using backwards masking.

On the album track “Heavy Metal Poisoning” Styx did indeed use backward masking on purpose.

The message in the song was the Latin words “annuit cœptis, novus ordo seclorum”.

Translated from the Latin, these words mean “[he] has favored our undertakings, a new order of the ages”.

The phrase is one of two mottoes from the Great Seal of the United States on the reverse side of the one-dollar bill.

Dennis spoke to that and so much more.

He touched on influences such as Pink Floyd, which songs were written first, a look at what influenced “Mr Roboto” and more.

Watch below as Dennis talks “Kilroy Was Here” with us and below that, check out some videos from the album.

We kicked off the series speaking to Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen about “Pyromania”.

The album was released on January 20th, 1983.

We spoke to Rick just a few days before that 40th anniversary.

We discussed the personnel change in the band as Pete Willis left and Phil Collen was added to the band.

Rick gave us insight into “Mutt” Lange’s contribution to the album.

We also spoke about MTV’s influence on music in those days and what Thin Lizzy’s Phil Lynott told Joe Elliott after hearing the album.

Watch below as Rick talks “Pyromania” with us and below that, check out some videos from the album.

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