Kilroy Was Here by Styx (1983)

Title:

A possible callback to a WWII-era meme that has spawned a number of conspiracy theories, and introduces our main character. No complaints from me.

Album Art:

Awesome. The neon-laser font, the Mr. Roboto heads in the foreground, and the people forming a pro-freedom of music angry mob in the background sets up the story immediately.

Overall:

I need a little love for the high-camp parodic rendition of albums like 2112 that is Kilroy Was Here. This is the least subtle iteration of the rock opera out there and it’s a whole lot of fun. The despotic government is represented by Dr. Righteous (James Young) who attempts to capture our hero Kilroy (Dennis DeYoung) as he leads the people in rebellion through the power of heavy metal man! Slightly ironic considering the lack of anything heavy on this record. While the songs are not by any definition metal, they are legitimately good. This is a fun album to listen to – Heavy Metal Poisoning is a standout and I really need some metal band that doesn’t take itself too seriously to open a show with a cover of this - the chorus is literally “sex and drugs…and rock n roll!”. Now the songs on the album are not really in the right order for the plot to make a whole lot of narrative sense, and I’ve read a number of critiques to that effect. I kind of agree, but I also want to return to the “fun to listen to” thing – this album is great in the way B-movies are great. Yes, the timing is weird and it doesn’t really make sense if you get too close, but just go with it and you’ll probably have a great time along the way. There are great vocals by Dennis DeYoung and Tommy Shaw (playing idealistic young rock fan Jonathan Chance) along with epic synth/guitar battles and sweeping dramatic solos all over the place. And buried in all the ridiculousness are some genuinely tender moments like “Just Get Through This Night”, a hopeful ballad about making it through hard times.

Track By Track:

1.     Mr. Roboto

This opening track sets the scene for the upcoming album with an intro full of “futuristic” synths that couldn’t sound more 80s to a modern ear. This song is so much fun and even if you’re not into the crazy robot shit, you have to move along with that beat. There’s a fantastic build-up from that intro the iconic robot vocals and some interesting lyrics – “my brain IBM” is a great line. Mr. Roboto also introduces our Dennis-DeYoung-voiced hero Kilroy, breaking out of prison by pretending to be a robot prison guard. Although I don’t entirely blame you if you had to find that out from the Wikipedia article, because the plot really only shows up in the last minute-ish of the song. I think it kind of comes together during the “throw away the mask” line, but Mr. DeYoung (as will be a recurring problem with this record) can’t quite wrestle the ideas he’s playing with into narrative formation.

2.     Cold War

Track two on this record brings us David and Goliath recast in the world of the MMM (that’s Dr. Righteous’ Majority for Musical Morality for those unfamiliar with the lore). Once again, the synths are seriously paying for themselves on this album, there are just so many cool sounds in this song. Message-wise this is an uplifting little ditty about history favouring the good guys in the end – no matter how much power the tyrants of the world manage to amass. I also want to point out just how relevant the line about Dr. Righteous’ rhetoric beginning to “almost make sense” because of how constantly and intensely he spews it, insert cleverly worded remark about the age of social media here. My only complaints are that this outro is about thirty seconds too long and that “cold war” is probably not the appropriate word considering out protagonists are gearing up to kick some robotic ass (instead of, say, conducting a propaganda campaign).

3.     Don’t Let It End

From the music video, it seems like Don’t Let It End is about Kilroy missing his wife while in prison, but that doesn’t really come across in the actual song (also didn’t he break out already?). I always thought it was more about not letting rock music die out, but maybe it can be both. This one starts off pure ballad until Tommy Shaw gets bored about halfway through and decides to remind you that he can play guitar pretty well.

4.     High Time

Ballad’s over folks, it’s time for a robo-barbershop quartet. High Time kicks off with some more “high tech” noises and then surges into a full-blown revolution. The lyrics rail against Dr. Righteous and the MMM – the kids ain’t gonna take it anymore old man! Chronologically, this one actually takes place before Mr. Roboto and, according to the accompanying film, describes Kilroy hearing some kids playing forbidden music and being inspired to break out of jail. The sound is as expansive and all-encompassing as the revolution is hoped to be and although there’s very little rock sound in this defence of the genre, a few guitar squeals do manage to break through that wall of synths.

5.     Heavy Metal Poisoning

This song might be why I like this album as much as I do, it is the schlockiest, B-moviest, most over the top, and most enjoyable song on this record. It’s also supremely ironic that this Dr. Righteous-centric song decrying the evils of rock and roll is closest thing to a rock song this record has. The drums sound awesome, the guitar gets a little more front-and-center attention, and there’s even a killer little solo. Lyrically this is the MMM mission statement; they’re here to save the kids from being corrupted and James Young delivers a hilarious performance. He’s absolutely chewing up amazingly campy lines like “toxic wasteland in your ear canal” and I can’t get enough.

6.     Just Get Through This Night

If Heavy Metal Poisoning is most ridiculous song on the album, then Just Get Through This Night is the most genuine. Aside from being a close runner-up for my favourite song on the record, it performs the very necessary function of letting the listener breathe for a second after the amped-up energy of the last two tracks.

The song is from Jonathan Chance’s perspective as he waits in hiding for Kilroy to meet up with him. Not every ballad in this story works, but this one captures a perfect cocktail of anxiety, hope, fear, and anticipation. I also have to mention that the moody, vaguely Eastern-sounding into builds a great atmosphere for the rest of the song.

7.     Double Life

Double Life is where this album goes a little of the rails in terms of plot. The internet can’t even agree on whether this is supposed be from Kilroy’s or Dr. Righteous’ perspectives – which tells you a lot of what you need to know about it. It does seem more likely that it’s Dr. R, but what exactly is going on in terms of the story the album is telling is pretty murky. Now this song still is very fun to listen to, the beat is head-bob-ably excellent and once again I have to mention all the epic synth noises – does it need to be longer than three minutes though? No.

8.     Haven’t We Been Here Before?

We haven’t quite made back onto the rails yet, and this one is another ballad and therefore not as redeemably ear-wormy as Double Life. I do like the tone of this song; it feels hopeful, but not triumphant. I see it as Kilroy and Chance regrouping after a setback, learning from their failures and figuring out how to keep the underground rock music movement going. Overall, this is simply one ballad too many for this album.

9.     Don’t Let It End (reprise)

We’re back baby! The best thing Dennis DeYoung ever did was write this song for this album and then make it the alum closer. There’s an orchestral intro that segues into a mashup of Mr. Roboto and Don’t Let It End that feels like a sequel set-up. If the last track was the aftermath of a failed coup attempt, this is the triumphant return-of-the-Jedi comeback where our heroes prove that rock n roll will never be defeated – roll credits! It might get a little confused in the middle, but this album begins and ends on great notes.