Album Flashback: Cornerstone by Styx

In 1978 came Styx's eighth studio album Pieces of Eight, a huge success that producedclassics like Renegade, Blue Collar Man (Long Nights), and Sing for the Day. Pieces of Eight was a great Styx album for sure, but it was the ninth studio album that really sealed the deal for me.

Released in 1979, Cornerstone included the massive hit ballad Babe, along with two other singles, Why Me? and Borrowed Time. All three of those songs knocked me off my feet.

The electric piano opening of Babe signaled a power ballad before power ballads were the hip thing to do. A classic power ballad that still stands with the best of them today.

Another electric piano opening, much shorter, and then the heavy guitar chords blasting in for Borrowed Time, a song about enjoying life because its too short not to live it any other way. In concert DeYoung stepped away from his keyboards for this rocker because that's the kind of song it is.

The first verse of Borrowed Time sets the tone.

Borrowed Time (DeYoung, Shaw)

I was so cool back in sixty-five.
I had it made 'cause I understood what to do to survive.
I had my car and I made the scene.
Didn't give a damn about no gasoline.

No, no . . .
'Cause they can go to hell

That verse sums up the way my friends and I lived.

From the uplifting tone and lyrics of the song Lights to the lyrics that assure you you're not alone in the song Why Me, Styx takes you on a musical journey with Cornerstone that makes use of both subtle musical interludes and outright in-your-face rock and roll.