Sasha: Okay, so like, this is going to be old news to everybody but us.
Ariel: Or even so old that it's new news to them, like, "Styx who? I never heard of them."
Sasha: But we saw something mythological like recently --
Ariel: I think it was that character Charon in Book Three of Kill Six Billion Demons.
Sasha: Which is a whole other experience we need to blog about, but yeah, I think you're right.
Ariel: And this Charon guy is supposed to ferry people across the River Styx, even though there's no river in the Kill Six Billion Demons version.
Sasha: However, our boyfriend specializes in being reminded of one thing by a different thing that he remembered because of some other different thing ...
Ariel: Ect, ect.
Sasha: Elle says that's etc., etc.
Ariel: I like ect, ect better because it sounds sort of like you're coughing up a hairball. As in, "Your list is going on too long and it's making me want to barf."
Sasha: Sheesh. I didn't think I was going on that long.
Ariel: No, I just think it's fun to put stuff like ect, ect in wherever it will fit.
Sasha: Like when your girlfriend is trying to make a point about your boyfriend so the readers will have enough background info to --
Ariel: Ect, ect.
Sasha: Grr.
Ariel: Anyway, blah-blah-blah, for some reason our boyfriend played us this Styx album, Equinox.
Sasha: And it was definitely good.
Ariel: Really good, with some songs poking up into the excellent range.
Sasha: A little cheesy sometimes ...
Ariel: But in a good way! And mostly rockin' the rest of the time.
Sasha: With really ripping guitars and terrific keyboards and actually I guess just really good instruments all around.
Ariel: Plus very good harmony singing. And a song called "Born for Adventure."
Sasha: That was a good one.
Ariel: "Midnight Ride" also.
Sasha: Yep. Anyway, we were listening in the car on the BF's iTunes, and when the album was over, it went straight to the next one on its list.
Ariel: Kilroy was Here.
Sasha: We should have listened to him when he tried to get to his phone and skip it.
Ariel: No, because you should never browse your iTunes while driving!
Sasha: But it is okay to turn things off.
Ariel: That would have been a good alternative.
Sasha: To be fair, we ought to say it's really not a terrible album or anything.
Ariel: I actually didn't mind most of it. It was very commercial and poppy. And with a different guitarist who was not as good as the guy on Equinox.
Sasha: Exponentially bigger cheese factor, though.
Ariel: Like, dairy farm level cheesiness.
Sasha: And even some of that was good, like the "Mister Roboto" song at the beginning and the part in the last song when he's singing like Elvis.
Ariel: We had to look up Elvis to see if it really sounded like him when the BF said that's why the singer was singing so differently.
Sasha: It was a really good imitation!
Ariel: But eventually Kilroy was Here was over, and we went on to the album he had originally wanted us to listen to next.
Sasha: What. The. Actual. Hell.
Ariel: Now, to be honest, we're only two and a half songs into this Styx Double-I album, so we are forming an opinion on only part of the information we probably ought to have.
Sasha: But it's like a whole different band.
Ariel: Even better than Equinox
Sasha: Super-terrific guitars all over the place.
Ariel: Songs that start off with pretty piano and end up with screaming guitar solos.
Sasha: Who goes from making this kind of music to making Kilroy was Here?
Ariel: Not the original lead guitarist, apparently.
Sasha: It's honestly nuts.
Ariel: And what's even worse is, this approach apparently worked for them.
Sasha: Sadly true. The BF says they were way more popular with their second lead guitarist than with the original guy.
Ariel: People have no taste.
Sasha: Anyway, we pulled into the driveway halfway through this freaky surreal song called "A Day," and when the music shut off, we just had to come in and express our shock.
Ariel: And astonishment.
Sasha: And bafflement.
Ariel: And ...
Sasha: What are you doing?
Ariel: Finding the thesaurus. Here ... stupefaction!
Sasha: Bewilderment.
Ariel: Discombombulation
Sasha: Befuddlement.
Ariel: Ect, ect.
Sasha: Oh, you did a typo there. It's "discombobulation."
Ariel: I like discombombulation better.
Sasha: Hmm. Maybe I do too.
Ariel: So now you know, people. Later Styx was super-slick and commercial and poppy.
Sasha: And earlier Styx kicked ass.
Ariel: We should go listen to the rest of the Double-I album now.
Sasha and Ariel: Bye, everybody!
