Dennis DeYoung Just Found Out the Cars Hated Styx

Dennis DeYoung has only just discovered that the Cars hated Styx. He was responding to a 2006 interview republished online by Classic Rock last month, which it seems he’s never encountered before.

In the article, the late Ric Ocasek spoke of the Cars’ early days: “We opened for about anybody in the beginning. We opened for bands that we really hated, like Styx. Most of those bands would go watch us on the side of the stage to see what the fuck was going on. And it seemed that the people were relating to us and not relating to them. So they got a little pissed.”

DeYoung wrote on his Facebook page: “A pal in radio sent me this and I had a good chuckle. First, I really like the Cars’ music and thought they had very tasteful musicians. Concise catchy pop tunes.”

READ MORE: Dennis DeYoung Says ‘I Was Begging for My Life and Job’ With Styx

He admits that he “really didn’t know they hated us – but that’s not unusual for new bands who are trying to take the mantle from the reigning chart toppers. It’s as old a story as you can get.”

As to the idea of Styx was “pissed” about Cars fans “relating to them more than us,” DeYoung says that “nonsense” and “the real knee slapper. The Cars opened for us on some West Coast dates on the Paradise Tour [in 1981] and, if memory serves, at the Forum in L.A. That year we sold out six shows between the Forum and the Los Angeles Sports Arena. We were as big as it gets, and the idea that our fans were anything more than polite to them is ludicrous.”

Styx Didn’t Give the Cars a Second Thought

DeYoung said he’d watched part of a Cars performance from the wings because he enjoyed their music, but concluded “they were better to listen to than watch. The idea that we would be envious of them is silly. We didn’t give them a second thought, much less a first.”

He concluded by telling surviving members Eliot Easton and Greg Hawkes: “You played some nice parts – be well.”