You are pretty funny. F, can I call you F? It's much more suitable as it can mean so many things. First of all, I agree with you that Styx, in its current state, is not the band it once was or should be today. After Brave New World, it is obvious the guys sorely miss Dennis DeYoung at the helm. Tommy is great, but I feel that he is not a good leader for the group.

Now, that said...Tommy may have not been an original member, but he sure seemed to be the fire that lit Styx up in the mid-70's and helped them with a hit here or there in the 80s too. He helped transform an otherwise boring pomp-rock group (see Styx II) from Chicago into the rock giants they became in the early 80s.

Just remember, sometimes the best era of a band does not include its original members. For example Journey was an instrumental-latin-influenced band before Steve Perry joined up in 1977. And how about Van Halen? They were doing a bunch of cover songs and wasting their talents until Sammy joined them in 1985. (ha!)

Robert