[10] The band created the album Kilroy Was Here partly to mockingly respond to Christian groups and other anti-rock-music activists who had previously influenced the Arkansas State Senate to pass a bill requiring that all records containing backmasking be labeled as such by the manufacturer.

Cited in the legislation were albums by The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Electric Light Orchestra, Queen, and Styx themselves.

The hard rocker "Heavy Metal Poisoning," the fifth track on the album, begins with the backmasked Latin words "annuit cœptis, novus ordo seclorum.

The story's protagonist, Robert Orin Charles Kilroy (DeYoung), is a former rock star who has been imprisoned by MMM leader Dr. Everett Righteous (Young).

[15] He escapes using a disguise (according to the album's song "Mr. Roboto") when he becomes aware that a young musician, Jonathan Chance (Shaw), is on a mission to bring rock music back.

Vocalist and keyboardist Dennis DeYoung conceived Kilroy Was Here as an album and accompanying stage show, which opened with a short film of the same name.