In a recent discussion with Rock Interview Series on YouTube, Lawrence Gowan spoke about his initial time with Styx and revealed something that surprised him in his early encounters with the band members.
The musician, whose music videos were occasionally broadcast during late-night hours on MTV, expressed his bewilderment at being recognized by people upon joining the band. He related this recognition to the pervasiveness of television around that time.
His recollection went as follows:
“When I first joined Styx, it shocked me how – I mean, I think they ran [the video] at 3 am or something like that once or twice. It shocked me the number of people I would meet early on who said, ‘I remember seeing your video. [It] was on MTV.’ I’m like, ‘Did you ever go to bed?’ It was odd.
That’s how all-pervasive television was in that area prior to the internet. It’s that people would see things on TV, retain them, and it was this national sense that everyone’s on the same thing at the same time, whereas we all do our own programming now.”
Gowan assumed the position of lead vocalist for Styx in 1999, succeeding Dennis DeYoung. His latest work with the band, the album ‘Crash of the Crown,’ was released in 2021.
