I am so happy to read about the farting (not crap). Let me continue the degeneration with a sincere question for the music experts. The last time I was at the Electrical Audio I ate maybe fifteen of the hot dogs from the Hot Doug's. This made me seriously constipated. Very early in the morning one of the days we were there in the control room I finally had the urge to go to the bathroom. My condition was well known, so I eagerly announced to my brother and Albiz that I thought this was going to be "the one." I left, went to the bathroom, managed to produce a meager collection of pebbles, and came back into the control room. They asked me how things went, and for some reason all I could think of was the Styx record "Pieces of Eight," which I uttered. Maybe I said this because "eight" sounds like "ate" ("pieces of ate," she will make sense in a minute), but consciously I think I had in mind the coins.

Anyway, the three of us realized, I'm pretty sure at once, that Styx record titles and song names were all code words and phrases either for shit or the experience of trying to go to the bathroom. Witness:

"The Grand Illusion"

"Fooling Yourself"

"Kilroy was here"

"Cornerstone"

"Renegade"

"Come Sail Away"

"Paradise Theater"

"Babe"

etc.

We then quickly realized that many band names were code for the same thing. I don't want to spoil the fun, but you will see if you think about this (and have never thought about it before) that the list is endless. The bands run from the famous (e.g., The Rolling Stones) to the forgettable (e.g., The Firm).

My girlfriend was not impressed. But a few weeks ago, when we were in a record store, she held up a record and asked me, "is this a good one?"

The record was Steely Dan's third album, "Pretzel Logic."

So here is my question. It's maybe not so hard to find other band names and record and song titles that can take on this double meaning. You can do the same with Movies (Titanic) and TV shows (The 10,000 Pyramid). But was Styx's entire career built on the double entendre? The evidence seems a little startling.

First of all, Styx by itself is a homophone for "sticks," which is an unmistakable image. But beyond that I was just overwhelmed when earlier today I went to their website, styxworld.com. I had no idea. They have a record called "The Serpent is Rising." A live record called "Caught in the Act" (if you hate Styx as much as I do then their live act is by definition shit -- catching their stage act is virtually the same as walking into a bathroom and catching all five members sitting on toilets, taking shits.) There is also a compilation called "Rockers." The band never made rock music that most of us would recognize as such, so what else could this mean?
But consider some of the lesser known songs:
"Having a Ball"
"After you Leave Me"
"Midnight Ride"
"The Grand Finale"
"Why me"
"Boat on the River"
"Half Penny, Two Penny"
"Too Much Time on my Hands"
"Waiting for Our Time"
"Yes I Can"
"Heavy Water"
"Just Fell In"
"Kiss Your Ass Goodbye"
and for Christ's sake,
"Movement for the Common Man"

Coincidence? Maybe. I've named nearly two records of "material," but I'm admittedly being selective with the evidence, some of which by itself is unconvincing.

But this is what's so stunning. They have a song from "The Serpent is Rising" called "Plexiglas Toilet" -- curiously, the title is given in parentheses. The lyrics from the website, they speak for themselves:

(plexiglas toilet)

Don't sit on the Plexiglas toilet
Said the momma to her son
Wipe the butt clean with the paper
Make it nice for everyone
But don't sit down on the Plexiglas toilet yeah

A boy of 5 stands close to the toilet
Holds the lid up with one hand
Won't let go the lid for fear that
On his banana it will land
Don't sit down on the Plexiglas toilet yeah

Boy goes up he eats the enchilada
With the sauce that burns the heart
Family comes to visit family
momma says don't belch and fart

Don't sit on the Plexiglas toilet
Said the momma to her son
Wipe the butt clean with the paper
Make it nice for everyone
But don't sit down on the Plexiglas toilet yeah

Everybody Sing!

Don't sit on the Plexiglas toilet
Said the momma to her son
Wipe the butt clean with the paper
Make it nice for everyone
But don't sit down on the Plexiglas toilet yeah

Don't sit on the Plexiglas toilet
Said the momma to her son
Wipe the butt clean with the paper
Make it nice for everyone
But don't sit down on the Plexiglas toilet yeah


WTF! Was Styx all a big fucking joke? The music has always been laughably shitty, but WTF?

I now defer to the geniuses of this website. Please tell me that other bands can be made to seem as if they were trying to encode the same symbolism. Please, find a band for which the same can be said as convincingly, or tell me, yes, this is what Styx was all about -- to say, "Styx is shit" has always been both figuratively and literally true.

Biz

Brick Layer Cake





Duh.

...Slint...

KING KONG

(As in King Kong's finger)

Godspeed You Black Emperor!

The Fall.

...and The Dirtbombs (this one may not be coded).

Van Morrison -
"Brown-Eyed Girl"
"Ro Ro Rosey"
"Chick-a-Boom"
"Come Running"
When that evening sun goes down"
"You've got the Power"
"Warm Love"
"Bulbs"
"Joyous Sound"
"Mechanical Bliss"
"You make me feel so Free"
"Full force Gale"
"Cleaning windows"
"Dweller on the Threshold"
"Got to Go Back b/w In the Garden"
"Did Ye get healed? b/w Allow Me"
"Celtic Excavation"


salut! Herr Biznono for this enlightenment.

Black Dice
!!!
Mudhoney
Stone Roses
Superchunk

Another:

Archers of Loaf-
"Bacteria"
"Chumming the Oceans"
"Floating Friends"
"Backwash"
"Fashion Bleeds"
"Greatest of All Time"
"Hate Paste"
"Learo, You're a Hole"
"Plumb Line"
"Rental Sting"
"Sickfile"
"Slow Worm"
"The Worst Has Yet To Come"