Boredom Led the Band Styx to Record One of Their Final Big Hits in 1991

In 1991, Styx released “Love At First Sight”. The song, written by band members Glen Burtnik, Dennis DeYoung, and James “J.Y.” Young, is part of their Edge Of The Century album.

“Love At First Sight” is a romantic song. It says in part, “Love at first sight / So rare, and so exciting / I only hope this love we found can last.”

Styx had plenty of other hits before this song. However, Styx did not have another big hit on the Billboard Hot 100 after “Love At First Sight”.

Six years later, in 1997, they had a Top 30 hit on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart with “Paradise”. Interestingly, between 1991 and 1997, Styx didn’t release any more songs. “Paradise” became their next single after “Love At First Sight”. 

The Story Behind “Love At First Sight” by Styx

It may seem that the idea for “Love At First Sight” came from a relationship. But the song actually came from boredom in trying to create Edge Of The Century.

“We were taking forever in the studio recording the Edge Of The Century album, and I was bored out of my mind,” Burtnik tells Songfacts. “So while songs were being tweaked in the control room, I would go out in the studio and play the big beautiful piano they had. Eventually I came up with a good chunk of the music. And at night, I’d go back to my Chicago apartment to work up a demo of the tune on my sequencer. 

“I showed what I had to Dennis DeYoung, who wrote most of the lyrics, and James Young chimed in on the bridge,” he adds. “It came out worthy of including on the record, so my work was done. Now, it may be possible Dennis was writing the song about somebody. But I was just trying to get another song on a major release album.”

Edge Of The Century also includes “Show Me The Way”. That song became the band’s final Top 5 hit. Although the success of Styx faded after this song, the band still had numerous other hits throughout their career.

In 1973, Styx released “Lady”. It was their second single, and “Lady” became Styx’s first Top 5 hit. Other successful Styx singles include “Come Sail Away“, “Renegade”, and “Babe”. “Babe” is Styx’s only No.1 single, staying at the top of the charts for two weeks. “Babe” is on Cornerstone, a record that gave Styx their only Grammy nomination. After “Babe”, Styx had Top 10 hits with “The Best Of Times”, “Too Much Time On My Hands”, “Mr. Roboto”, and “Don’t Let It End”.

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