Know what is being talked about!
I know, that is an odd heading, about something that did not happen. But it was a disaster that came close to happening, which is why it bears mentioning.
So basically, I had requested the Styx albums Edge of the Century and Styx II. Someone else did the actual downloading of the albums, but I supervised - and I am glad I did, because after getting Edge of the Century, he asked if we were now bound for the original Styx album. Apparently he had heard my request as Edge of the Century and Styx, too.
Well, for starters, can you imagine? Getting on the computer, scrolling down to where the next album you were planning to check out was supposed to be waiting for you, and instead finding an album that should not have been there at all? Money spent in such a way that there was no way to get it back, on an album I knew nothing about and had no reason to own, from a musical era I am not a big fan of at that - truly, I could have been asking for the River Styx.
I had intended to get to Styx II right away, too, so this would have totally messed up my plans. It would have been like, Now what? Do I just forget about really early Styx and go straight to parodying Edge of the Century? Do I parody Styx? It is here, so I suppose we will listen to it, but we have no idea what we will think of any of these songs, and we never should have had it. And then what? Do I get the album I was supposed to or not?
Then when my friend came home from work, it would have been like, I hated to do this to him, but he left me no choice. And he would have been very confused. What? I got you exactly what you asked for!
he would say.
I may write about screaming over horror and organ notes. My getting Styx II might have been responsible for this bit of trouble and this bit of trouble. But all is worth it if it means I got the album I asked for.
Styx II may not be an album I consider anything to write home about by its own merits. It is all I have out of the first four Styx albums, and it gave me the impression that one is enough. (Judging from the fact that it is the biggest seller out of said four albums, it seems the same is true for a significant number of Styx fans.) And Styx II did at least have one big hit with Lady. Styx did not even manage that. Is this telling?
There is certainly the possibility that Styx would have made me lose interest in finding out what Styx II would have been like. As noted above, perhaps not such a deal from a casual listening perspective, but considering that Styx II was the album that made my parodying what it is today, that makes the thought of skipping it a bit worrying.
Prior to doing Styx II, I had been going off of the Lego Pirates of the Caribbean video game. It was fun for a while, but then I realized that it provides little material, is difficult to relate to popular music, and has no regard for what suits the 18th century - all realizations Styx II helped me reach. Missing Styx II would mean I would not have the inspiration to introduce Bootstrap Bill into my strip, or switch to using officially canon PotC material when I did, and who knows how much longer it would have taken me to find my place then.
Styx II was also the album where I discovered the joy of having a mandolin solo behind the lyrics you are adjusting to be about old fashioned pirates. So, if I had gotten the wrong album, would I ever have been able to set aside my dislike of slow songs when confronted with Ordinary World?
You will have to have read the paragraphs above to know why these things are listed, but here are the problems getting Styx would have meant:
Davycould have been the only parody for Styx II
18th-Century Worldmight never have been written
And all this can be determined without even knowing any of the details of Styx. Sometimes I think it could be interesting to do research on, to know just how good a thing it is that I did not get it. But on the other hand, I have enough of a list already.