From the album Pieces of Eight
b/w Sing For the Day
1979 / US
A&M Records 2110-S
RCA Indianapolis Pressing
Fifty years ago, I was a huge Styx fan. It started with the single for "Lorelei" and continued with the albums Grand Illusion and Pieces of Eight. Somewhere in one of my moves, I lost those albums and haven't replaced them. Unfortunately, Styx hasn't aged well for me. I do still have this 7" of "Renegade", as well as the 7" of "Blue Collar Man". Why do I still have them? They're a link to the past, I suppose. And they jam..for Styx songs.
"Renegade" is mostly known today as an anthem for the Pittsburgh Steelers. It's played between the 3rd and 4th quarter during their home games to fire up the crowd. I don't know why they chose "Renegade", but they did. It was written by Tommy Shaw, as was the B-side "Sing For the Day". It was part of a long songwriting tradition of songs about "wanted men", such as "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "Gimme Some Water". Of course, it opens with that ominous, spoken-word section about the hangman coming down from the gallows, then it kicks into a guitar jam. The solo is actually played by James Young. Even though "Sing For the Day" is also a Tommy Shaw song, it features Dennis DeYoung in the chorus and plenty of his over-the-top keyboard antics. A little Dennis DeYoung goes a long way. In fact, they had to cut over a minute of the song for the single version.
On Discogs, it shows a picture sleeve for this release, but I bought it back in the day and mine never had one. Not sure what's up with that. A few years ago, I vowed not to buy anymore 45's, unless they were in their picture sleeve. That vow lasted until a few months ago when I bought a big mystery box of singles for $10. None of them had sleeves. Some of them have been entered into my Discogs database, so they may end up in future RANDO posts. Speaking of future posts, the next RANDO has been selected and it's another 7", The Nightcrawlers "The Little Black Egg". Maybe this was a dumb idea. Peace.
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