Music Time (song)

"Music Time" is the sole studio track released on the live Styx album, Caught in the Act. It peaked at number 40 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.

When the concert was released on DVD, the video for this song was included. The theme is cartoonish and cheerful, with bright pastel sets and oversized props. The video features singer/songwriter Dennis DeYoung in various costumes (including a classic hobo look, and a fast food uniform), singing and acting out the lyrics. ("My job is boring," he sings, as he pulls the switch on a condemned man in the electric chair, "I'm overworked and underpaid.") The opening and closing scenes show aliens watching the main body of the video, and singing a refrain of "Hey everybody, it's music time!"

Styx singer/guitarist Tommy Shaw made no secret of his dislike of the song, and by the time the video was shot, Shaw had in fact left the band. This is why most of the scenes appear to depict a four-man group, and the guitarist playing Shaw's solo is only shown from the torso. Though he was no longer an official member of the band, Shaw allowed himself to be filmed separately from the others, in New York (where he was working on his first solo album), while the rest of the production was filmed in Los Angeles. He refused to participate in one comedic scene in a restaurant, in which the band members's heads appeared on dinner plates and in salad bowls.

"I must have come off as a real dope," said Shaw, "because they were saying 'Just let us shoot it, just so that we can say that we did, but we won't use it', and I was like, 'Hello? I don't think so.' . . . It was kind of childish, but that's how it is in a band." Shaw's most prominent appearance in the video occurs near the end, where he dances alone and appears to wave cheerfully at the rest of the band, as if from a great distance.^[1]

Although Styx would hit the singles chart big with 1990's "Show Me The Way" and "Love At First Sight", "Music Time", to date, was the last Styx Billboard Top 40 hit featuring all three of the Styx songwriting core of DeYoung, Shaw, and singer/guitarist James "JY" Young.

Personnel

• Dennis DeYoung-keyboards, lead vocals
• James Young-rhythm guitar, vocals
• Tommy Shaw-lead guitar, vocals
• Chuck Panozzo-bass guitar, vocals
• John Panozzo-drums, vocals

References