Some of classic rock’s most notable bands will take over the stage at the Show-Me Center March 23 for REO Speedwagon’s latest tour with Styx and Don Felder, formerly of the Eagles.

Founding member and piano player Neal Doughty said the group began “pretty much by accident” in the late 60s at the University of Illinois at Champagne.

“We were all engineering students and just started the band for fun,” Doughty said. “We were playing cover songs all over campus, and we just happened to have a more updated playlist than some of the others. We were playing stuff from the West Coast and from England, the Doors and Hendrix; a lot of stuff that people hadn’t heard yet, and the following kept getting better.”

Doughty said things took off when a producer came out from New York City to scout the band.

“It was pouring down rain that day and nobody was leaving,” he said. “That was all he needed to see. Pretty soon after that we recorded our first album.”

Their most famous album “Hi-Infidelity” released in 1980 recently went platinum, indicating more than one million copies sold.

“That's pretty rare, maybe 100 albums in history that have been able to do that,” he said. “So that’s sort of our crowning touch.”

As for REO’s relationship with co-headliner Styx, Doughty said a lot has changed since the two bands were at the top of their genre a few decades ago. In 1981, Hi-Infidelity and Styx’s “Paradise Theatre” were number one and number two on the charts for months.

“In the 80s we were fighting it out,” he said. “And we hadn’t even met them yet and we were like ‘Those guys, who do they think they are?’ and of course the whole thing was just so unreal. Now they’re just about our favorite band to tour with. It’s like both bands are a part of the same brotherhood.”

Doughty said much has changed over the years in the way that music is consumed, and REO, he said is doing what they can to maintain appeal with fans.

“It used to be you’d buy an album 12 inches square with pull-out notes and all that but now people want to make their own playlist, one song at a time,” he said.

Their newest song, not yet recorded, Doughty said was written completely during sound checks, a first for them.

“We’ll see how that goes over in Cape Girardeau,” he said. “I think everybody is gonna like it.”

Doughty said for them, it doesn’t matter if there’s ten people in the audience or 10,000. The love of music is what keeps them playing.

In response to their most frequently asked question, ‘how did you come up with the name?’ Doughty said it was the only thing he learned in college.

“It’s the name of an old truck I learned about in engineering class,” he said. “The very day we were looking for a name for a band that one came up when we were learning about transportation. It’s an old, high-speed heavy truck.”