T
TightwadSquarepants
Guest
When is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame going to "smarten up" and allow Robert Lamm, Pankow, Loughnane, Parazaider, Peter Cetera (yeah, I know he left the band in 85), Terry Kath (yeah, I know he died in 78), Danny Seraphine (yeah, I know he got kicked out of the band in 90), Laudir De Oliviera, Bill Champlain, Jason Scheff, DaWayne Bailey, Tris Imboden, Donnie Dacus and Chris Pinnick, otherwise known as CHICAGO in?
I know they've always been a favorite target of the rock critics, but look at what they've accomplished. They rank behind only the Beach Boys as the most successful American rock band in terms of album sales, 3 number one Billboard Top 40 hits ("If You Leave Me Now, Hard to Say I'm Sorry and Look Away), 19 Top 10 singles, 51 Top 100 Billboard Singles (most of which entered the Top 40), 120 million albums sold, 30 albums (20 of which were not Greatest Hits or Box sets), Grammy award winning...well, I could go on, but a lot of people would say commercial success should not be the sole indicator of entrance into the Hall.
Between 1969 and 1977, Chicago put out some of the most innovative music of the last half of the 20th century. Their fusion of rock, rhythm and blues, jazz and classical influences was groundbreaking. Prior to that time, nobody was using a horn section in rock music, other than Blood, Sweat and Tears, who were produced by Chicago's producer James William Guercio. But Chicago had been doing this kind of music before them.
Now if Chicago could only lay claim to a incredible brass section, well, it would probably not be enough, but with the talented writing of keyboard player Robert Lamm, the instantly recognizable tenors of Peter Cetera, the percussion of Danny Seraphine and, most importantly, the guitar work of axe-man the late, great Terry Kath...Chicago had it all. Jimi Hendrix heard Chicago play a gig at the Whisky-a-Go-Go in LA and remarked that he thought Kath was a better player than himself. And if you go back and listen to some of the work Terry did on those first few albums, you'd see that he was very much Hendrix's equal in talent.
Unfortunately, most people these days only remember the work Chicago did in the 1980's as a definite pop/adult contemporary band that produced a lot of ballads that AC radio plays even to this day. True fans of Chicago's 70's product will often say the band "sold-out." I'm not so sure they had a choice for two main reasons. First, the music landscape was rapidly changing by the late 70's and early 80's and Chicago was quickly finding themselves obsolete. It was a sink or swim situation. Secondly, and most importantly, without Kath's presence, Chicago simply couldn't sound like they had before. Robert Lamm has said that publicly. He also went as far as to say that Terry was the heart and soul of the band...the glue that held the band together. Without the glue, they had to start over. And despite not being as groundbreaking or innovative as hits like "25 or 6 to 4", "Beginnings", "Dialogue" and others, it wasn't bad. In fact, their success in the 80's was greater than it had been in the 70's.
Despite the change, Chicago has withstood the test of time and need and deserve to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Just one person's opinion.
I know they've always been a favorite target of the rock critics, but look at what they've accomplished. They rank behind only the Beach Boys as the most successful American rock band in terms of album sales, 3 number one Billboard Top 40 hits ("If You Leave Me Now, Hard to Say I'm Sorry and Look Away), 19 Top 10 singles, 51 Top 100 Billboard Singles (most of which entered the Top 40), 120 million albums sold, 30 albums (20 of which were not Greatest Hits or Box sets), Grammy award winning...well, I could go on, but a lot of people would say commercial success should not be the sole indicator of entrance into the Hall.
Between 1969 and 1977, Chicago put out some of the most innovative music of the last half of the 20th century. Their fusion of rock, rhythm and blues, jazz and classical influences was groundbreaking. Prior to that time, nobody was using a horn section in rock music, other than Blood, Sweat and Tears, who were produced by Chicago's producer James William Guercio. But Chicago had been doing this kind of music before them.
Now if Chicago could only lay claim to a incredible brass section, well, it would probably not be enough, but with the talented writing of keyboard player Robert Lamm, the instantly recognizable tenors of Peter Cetera, the percussion of Danny Seraphine and, most importantly, the guitar work of axe-man the late, great Terry Kath...Chicago had it all. Jimi Hendrix heard Chicago play a gig at the Whisky-a-Go-Go in LA and remarked that he thought Kath was a better player than himself. And if you go back and listen to some of the work Terry did on those first few albums, you'd see that he was very much Hendrix's equal in talent.
Unfortunately, most people these days only remember the work Chicago did in the 1980's as a definite pop/adult contemporary band that produced a lot of ballads that AC radio plays even to this day. True fans of Chicago's 70's product will often say the band "sold-out." I'm not so sure they had a choice for two main reasons. First, the music landscape was rapidly changing by the late 70's and early 80's and Chicago was quickly finding themselves obsolete. It was a sink or swim situation. Secondly, and most importantly, without Kath's presence, Chicago simply couldn't sound like they had before. Robert Lamm has said that publicly. He also went as far as to say that Terry was the heart and soul of the band...the glue that held the band together. Without the glue, they had to start over. And despite not being as groundbreaking or innovative as hits like "25 or 6 to 4", "Beginnings", "Dialogue" and others, it wasn't bad. In fact, their success in the 80's was greater than it had been in the 70's.
Despite the change, Chicago has withstood the test of time and need and deserve to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Just one person's opinion.