They kept having hits for another ten years, so it seems like it was a success.
They kept having hits for another ten years, so it seems like it was a success.
I owned a house in the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles from 1966 to 1995.
In the yearly 70’s-—There was a house 4 away from me on a 1/2 cul de sac that seems to have bands in their garage with frequency.
Came home from work one late afternoon & was very tired. Kids from the neighborhood were sitting on my CURVE-—and a band was playing VERY LOUDLY in the open garage of that house—wrong me. I CALLED THE LAPD.
They came & broke it up. KIDS were MAD at me. IT WAS CHICAGO-—before they were really big. Told the kids if they wanted to have a NOISE fight, I could get a top fuel dragster over to my driveway the next day & FIRE IT UP.
THEN we will see WHO can more noise.
A second time the same house had the same PROBLEM-—THE cops came & told them to shut it down. As the cops were telling me they had shut it down, one of those IDIOTS grabbed the mic, turned up the amp & YELLED :”F U” at me & the cops.
Cops went right back & ARRESTED THEM ALL.
He just wants some attention.
Interesting. I have to say that never followed them terribly closely. I knew that their early stuff was harder and had a strong jazz flavor. And I knew that Terry Kath died. And then they seemed to get “commercial” and have huge hits. I assumed they decided to change direction because they no longer had Kath in the band. But maybe it was really the new producer.
If you liked 80s ballads. Without the horn backbone they were blah.
Yeah, the ladies love Cetera. And if you love the ladies, by default, you love Cetera.
I saw the title and thought finally, some politician who had power in Chicago admits he wrecked Chicago.
Oh well, hope for another day.
Meanwhile, this guy was a jerk.
I would pin Chicago V as the point where they went soft.
Cetera sporting the Bauhaus tshirt while singing an 80’s ballad. Culture clash.
I noticed the changes but I didn’t know this story. I like most of what they have done and, as an old trumpet player, I like the horns.
I love early Chicago. They, along with Steely Dan ,were my gateway into jazz. However, after Terry died they were never the same. They became chick music.
Well, no one knows Chicago like “Leonid and Friends”, and they have no problem with the 1982 stuff:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKhauqqEYpo
I remember the year because I was a freshman at U of Chicago when it “Hard to Say I’m Sorry” was topping the charts, ESPECIALLY in Chicago. I heard it played constantly during orientation week. By the end of the year, it was all “Flashdance (What a Feeling)” and “Every Breath You Take”. WBBM radio had a four song rotation, it seemed.
I am not particularly a Chicago fan, but Leonid and Friends recreation (not just a cover) of their work gave me a better appreciation of the band’s work, and I will take my wife to see them later this month.
Oh damn. What a terrible story.
Chicago was the first band that caught my early musical ear. I was YOUNG but loved music. How they played all those instruments and sounded so great was a huge, first influence on my wanting to be a musician.
I heard the changes and I think after Wishing You Were Hear I got bored, but by then I was getting into so many other bands and genres the loss was hardly noticed.
Sad. They were great.
Cetera is kind of like Phil Collins.
Most people know Phil from his sappy 80s solo songs, but they don’t know what a bad-ass he was on drums.
Same with Cetera, definitely one of the best bassists in rock.
I liked their 82 and on stuff a lot better than the late seventies material when Terry Kath died. They were stale. No way they could replace him.
He tried to get rid of the horns.
He was a total POS.
I was in college in the early 80’s.
Chicago 16 was “we have ladies in the house” music. That, and Steely Dan’s Gaucho.
Made me a very happy young man.
Laura Denise...I know you are out there...the album still makes me smile.