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Cover of The Grand Illusion by Styx
Cover: The Grand Illusion

Song · Styx

“Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)” by Styx

From the album The Grand Illusion (1977)

“Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)” by Styx appears on 29 radio countdowns from 16 stations between 1994 and 2025. It was first released in 1977 on the album The Grand Illusion. Its best result is #150 on the KZEP Memorial Weekend Top 500 (1997). In the combined RockLists rankings it is #800 classic rock song of all time.

29countdowns
16stations
#150best position
0#1 finishes
0top 10 finishes
1994–2025years charted

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Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)

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Tommy Shaw wrote "Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)" for Styx's The Grand Illusion in 1977 and sings it himself, and it went out as the album's second single, following "Come Sail Away". The angry young man started out as Dennis DeYoung, the band's keyboard player, as Shaw first saw him: a guy who eyed the band's success warily and sank into anger or gloom at every setback. Only in later years did Shaw recognize himself in the words.

It's a restless piece that keeps shifting time signatures. Shaw's acoustic guitar and DeYoung's synthesizer lines carry the intro and outro, there are two synthesizer solos, and James Young, Chuck Panozzo and John Panozzo fill out guitar, bass and drums. The band produced it themselves, and Record World heard it start acoustic and build to a swirling finish.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.

RockLists rankings

Classic Rock

Hard Rock & Metal

All Rock Formats

All-time and decade countdowns

Year#StationCountdownof
1994 484 KISW KISW Top 1000 of All Time (1994) 1000
1997 150 104.5 KZEP KZEP Memorial Weekend Top 500 (1997) 500
1997 301 100.7 WZLX WZLX Memorial 500 (1997) 499
1997 655 102.3 WBAB WBAB Top 1,023 Rock and Roll Songs of All Time (1997) 1023
2002 220 92.3 KGON KGON Top 923 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2002) 923
2004 219 92.3 KGON KGON Top 923 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2004) 923
2011 712 100.7 WZLX 100.7 WZLX Top 1100 Countdown (2011) 1100
2011 366 97.9 The Loop The Loop Rock N Roll 500 (2011) 500
2012 732 100.7 WZLX 100.7 WZLX Top 1200 Countdown (2012) 1200
2012 345 Big 100 BIG 500 Memorial Day Countdown (2012) 500
2013 342 Big 100 BIG 500 Labor Day Countdown (2013) 500
2013 398 Big 100 BIG 500 Memorial Day Countdown (2013) 500
2014 498 Big 100 BIG 1000 New Year's Countdown (2014) 1000
2015 453 I-95 I-95 Memorial Day Weekend Top 500 (2015) 500
2015 306 102.9 The Whale 102.9 The Whale Hartford 500 (2015) 500
2016 403 Big 100 BIG 500 Memorial Day Countdown (2016) 500
2017 413 Big 100 BIG 500 Memorial Day Countdown (2017) 500
2018 408 Big 100 BIG 500 Memorial Day Countdown (2018) 500
2020 797 102.5 KZOK KZOK Classic Rock Top 1025 (2020) 1025
2020 353 Q105.7 Q105.7 Memorial Day 500 (2020) 499
2021 256 WCSX WCSX Rock & Roll 500 (2021) 499
2021 1014 Q104.3 Q104.3 Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2021) 1043
2022 872 Q104.3 Q104.3 Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2022) 1043
2022 918 102.5 KZOK KZOK Classic Rock Top 1025 (2022) 1025
2023 356 WMGK WMGK Philly 500 (2023) 500
2023 566 101.5 WPDH WPDH Top 1015 (2023) 1015
2024 864 Q104.3 Q104.3 Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2024) 1043
2024 496 97 Rock 97 Rock N Roll 500 (2024) 499
2025 669 Q104.3 Q104.3 Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2025) 1043

Also listed as: Fooling Yourself; Foolin' Yourself; Fooling yourself (Angry young man); Fooling Yourself (Angry Young Man.

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