Paradise Theater (album)

Paradise Theater (album)

Paradise Theatre is the tenth album by the rock band Styx, released in January 1981 (see 1981 in music).

A concept album, the album is a fictional account of Chicago's Paradise Theatre from its opening to closing (and eventual abandonment), used as a metaphor for America's changing times from the late 1970s into the 1980s. (Dennis DeYoung confirmed this in an episode of In the Studio with Redbeard which devoted an entire episode to the making of the album.)

"The Best of Times", written by Dennis DeYoung, went to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. "Too Much Time on My Hands", written by Tommy Shaw, went to #9 on the Billboard Hot 100, Shaw's only top 10 hit for Styx. "Rockin' The Paradise"—written by DeYoung, Shaw and James Young—went to #8 on the Top Rock Track Chart.

The song "Snowblind" (lyrics by Young, music by Young and DeYoung) was an attack on drug addiction. The track would come under fire for supposedly having backward messages and was branded by Tipper Gore's PMRC as "Satanistic." James Young and DeYoung denied this on the In the Studio episode devoted to the making of Paradise Theatre. Other impartial sources have also said that the claim of Satanic messages on this record is completely false.

Paradise Theatre became Styx's only US #1 album. It was the band's fourth consecutive triple-platinum album.