Heavy Metal Poisoning

Personally, I think that the band was trying to be ironic with this song...the whole story behind the Kilroy Was Here album involved censorship, particularly of rock and roll. According to the story, Kilroy was a rock star who was thrown in jail after being falsely accused of a murder that occurred at one of his band's concerts. The main antagonist of the story was a prominent public figure who basically framed Kilroy to further help his goal to ban rock. This song, I think, was meant to show that. I don't think that Styx really believes what they are singing about...they may just have written this to say that what politicians, public figures, people in high positions,etc. want may not always be what the public wants.
Other than that, I totally agree with everyone here when it comes to the lack of comments about Styx. They really deserve more notice when it comes to their lyrics.

Wow... I can't believe no one has said anything about this song. It is probably one of most controversial Styx songs in my opinion. The guy is talking about the evils of rock and roll and how they are so often accompanied by sex and illegal drugs. I will say that I havce nothing againsat rock and roll, but it seems to me that it is a misconception that everyone who listens to rock and roll are druggies and sleep around. So I guess there are to sides to weigh. BTW, does anyone know what the latin phrase at the beginning of the song song means?

Of course you're right, both about how it's surprising that Styx has so few comments and about this song's meaning. And the Latin phrase (I very recently learned that this was what the jumble at the song's beginning was in reverse) means something to the tune of "God has been with us through our undertakings." It really pisses me off that people have so often accused Styx of being Antichristian rockers, they having written this well-meaning song with such a nice, Christian message at the beginning. Hell, they even wrote Show Me the Way way back when, which could easily be passed of as a contemporary Christian song. I'm pro Styx all the way, man.

WHO'S WITH ME?

I'M WITH YOU!

I think this song is sarcastically bashing rock in roll. Isn't Kilroy some crazy concept album about the future? How could they put this a serious song in a concept album? It must not be serious.

Personally, I think that the band was trying to be ironic with this song...the whole story behind the Kilroy Was Here album involved censorship, particularly of rock and roll. According to the story, Kilroy was a rock star who was thrown in jail after being falsely accused of a murder that occurred at one of his band's concerts. The main antagonist of the story was a prominent public figure who basically framed Kilroy to further help his goal to ban rock. This song, I think, was meant to show that. I don't think that Styx really believes what they are singing about...they may just have written this to say that what politicians, public figures, people in high positions,etc. want may not always be what the public wants.
Other than that, I totally agree with everyone here when it comes to the lack of comments about Styx. They really deserve more notice when it comes to their lyrics.

This song could also apply to all the bands that tell listeners that they are being brainwashed, even though it is actually the bands that are doing the brainwashing.

I'M WITH YOU TOO, OS WAS HERE!

The backward phrases at the beginning are Latin. They're "annuit coeptis; novus ordo seclorum." The first one means "Approved to begin" and the other one means "New Order of the Ages." They are the mottos on the back of an American $1 bill. It's not a Christian phrase, it's Masonic.

The song must be understood in the context of the Kilroy was Here concept. In the KWH production, JY was playing Dr. Righteous, a powerful religious leader who had all rock music made illegal, and he's the bad guy of the story. Heavy Metal Poisoning is his anthem, his justification for why he banned rock music.

I have the old video casseste (anyone remember these?) for the album, it was called Caught in the Act and it was a live concert. Anyway, it had a story to tell using songs such as Mr. Roboto (written for the Paradise Theater tour). Anyway, the story goes that Kilroy was framed for a murder and he escaped Dr. Righteous's prison by disabling a Roboto (Dr. Righteous' evil henchmen to clarify) and putting it on as a disguise. Later he meets up with Jonathon Chance (Tommy Shaw) and whats his face (John Pinazzo) and they started this concert in a hall where Dr. Righteous had labeled it like the rock hall of shame type thing. Anyway, They start this concert with the roboto and all that whatnot and then they go through the concert celebrating and trying to bring back rock and roll and tell everyone that censorship is wrong. So then Dr. Righetous comes and rains on the parade singing his fancy Heavy Metal Poisoning. The song itself is basically a reverse phycology thing literally saying rock is poison for th emind, but really saying (since styx does the song...) that censorship is bad and rock isn't the bad thing here. It wasn't like they are a satanist band (Though in the video, someone had said that their songs contained "backwards satanic messages" on the paradise theater album ((JY complained about it right before they sang snowblind)) but that's a load of crap anyway. Any song backwards sounds like the work of the devil, I don't care if Styx sang it or if Newsboys (a christian band) sang it.

This song is a sarcastic comment. It is song by "Dr. Righteous" an anti-rock activist in the story for the album "Kilroy was here."

In the official video released with Kilroy Was Here, you see Dr. Righteous singing, as if he was one of those TV Evangelists, who preach on TV. During it, he takes a kid who obviously likes rock, and pulls him on stage with the help of who appear to be the kid's parents. He then starts to get rid of the kid's rock clothes and such to make the kid more moral, but before he can finish, another person comes in with a pair of guitars, he gives one to the kid and they proceed to rock out before being chased away by Dr. Righteous's guards.