"Too Much Time on My Hands" | ||||
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Single by Styx | ||||
from the album Paradise Theatre | ||||
B-side | "Queen of Spades" | |||
Released | March 1981 | |||
Recorded | 1980 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 4:31 | |||
Label | A&M | |||
Songwriter(s) | Tommy Shaw | |||
Producer(s) | Styx | |||
Styx singles chronology | ||||
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"Too Much Time on My Hands" is a song by American rock band Styx, released as the second single from their tenth album Paradise Theatre . It was written and sung by Tommy Shaw, who also plays the lead guitar solo during the break in the song. It was Shaw's only top 10 single as a writer and vocalist with Styx.
The inspiration for its lyrics came from Shaw's experiences in a bar in Niles, Michigan, U.S. [2] The lyrics are about an unemployed man who has "given up hope for the afternoon soaps / and a bottle of cold brew." [3]
Record World said that "Tommy Shaw's vocal is a perfect vehicle for this message about modern man's boredom and praised the "brisk beat and winding guitars." [4] Allmusic critic Eduardo Rivadavia regarded "Too Much Time on My Hands" as one of Shaw's best singles. [5] Classic Rock critic Malcolm Dome rated it as Styx 6th greatest song, saying that it shows a "new wave aptitude" linking Styx's 1970s material with 1980s music. [1]
PopMatters critic Dennis Shin rated the video as one of "20 ’80s music videos that have aged terribly," criticizing its cheesiness, the "band's period attire," "mullets galore, perms, girls with feathered hair, and Joe Dirt in the baby blue jumpsuit on vocals." [6]
It reached #9 on the US Billboard Hot 100 the week of May 23 1981, [7] No. 2 on the Top Rock Tracks chart, and No. 4 on the RPM Top Singles chart of Canada.
Chart (1981) | Peak position |
---|---|
Australia (Kent Music Report) [8] | 67 |
Canada Top Singles | 4 |
US Billboard Hot 100 | 9 |
Year-end chart (1981) | Rank |
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US Top Pop Singles (Billboard) [9] | 54 |
Styx is an American rock band formed in Chicago, Illinois, in 1972. They are known for blending melodic hard rock guitar with acoustic guitar, synthesizers mixed with acoustic piano, upbeat tracks with power ballads, and incorporating elements of international musical theatre. The band established themselves with a progressive rock sound during the 1970s, and began to incorporate pop rock and soft rock elements in the 1980s.
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Paradise Theatre is the tenth studio album by American rock band Styx, released on January 16, 1981, by A&M Records. It was the band's most commercially successful album, peaking at #1 for 3 weeks on the Billboard 200 in April and May 1981 (non-consecutively). It was also the band's fourth consecutive album to be certified triple-platinum by the RIAA.
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"Babe" is a song by the American rock band Styx. It was the lead single from the band's 1979 triple-platinum album Cornerstone. The song was Styx's first, and only, US number-one single, spending two weeks at No. 1 in December 1979, serving as the penultimate number-one single of the 1970s. "Babe" also went to No. 9 on the Adult Contemporary chart. It additionally held the number-one spot for six weeks on the Canadian RPM national singles chart, charting in December 1979 and becoming the opening chart-topper of the 1980s. It was also the band's only UK Top 40 hit, peaking at No. 6. It also reached No. 1 in South Africa.
"Don't Let It End" is the third track and the second top 10 single on the 1983 album Kilroy Was Here, by Styx.
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