For the last nine weeks, this series has counted down this critic and fan’s choices for the most important Chicago Artists Who Changed Popular Music, from 1 to 50.
As I’ve noted at the end of each installment, that number is completely arbitrary: We could have gone with 100 or 1,000. The entries also are entirely subjective: Every reader and listener can and should have their own list, and I’d be eager to hear them.
This series simply was a place to get the conversation started, in the context of a city that all too often slights its artistic legacy, as became crystal clear when brilliant videographer and web guru Andrew Gill and I visited one location after another that illustrates just how little Chicago cares about its musical history.
Thanks again to Andrew for helping to pull this series together, as well as to WBEZ online majordomo Tricia Bobeda, former digital intern Jack Howard, and everyone on the WBEZ web team.
Now, I’d like to recap the list one more time, and share a link to YouTube playlist of all of our videos.
PART ONE
The Blues
1. Otis Rush 2. Howlin’ Wolf 3. Koko Taylor 4. Muddy Waters 5. Willie Dixon 6. Buddy Guy
“The argument can be made that all modern popular music began when Southern musicians who migrated to the North electrified their sounds in an attempt to be heard in the big city — and that means it all started here on Maxwell Street.”
PART TWO
Chess Records
7. Chuck Berry 8. Etta James 9. Bo Diddley
“The story of early rock ’n’ roll in Chicago is, of course, the story of a record label.”
PART THREE
Gospel
10. Rev. Thomas A. Dorsey 11. Mahalia Jackson 12. Albertina Walker 13. The Staple Singers
“Chicago looms as large in gospel music as it does in the electric blues, thanks in large part to the pioneering Rev. Thomas A. Dorsey and the extraordinary women who followed in his footsteps.”
PART FOUR
Rock in the ‘60s and ‘70s
14. The Shadows of Knight 15. The Paul Butterfield Blues Band 16. Chicago 17. Styx 18. Ides of March/Survivor
“Rock in this city pretty much sucked through the ’60s and ’70s ...The commercial success of some of these mediocre to downright despicable sounds did, sad to say, have an impact beyond the shores of Lake Michigan, mostly for the worst.”
PART FIVE
Soul and R&B
9. Curtis Mayfield 20. Sam Cooke 21. Lou Rawls 22. Gene Chandler 23. Chaka Khan 24. Earth, Wind & Fire 25. Donny Hathaway 26. R. Kelly
“Some music historians call the African-American sounds that emerged in Chicago in the mid-’60s and thrived for the next decade and a half “soft soul.” This always has seemed like a misnomer to me.”
PART SIX
House Music
27. Frankie Knuckles 28. Steve “Silk” Hurley 29. Cajmere/Green Velvet 30. Ron Hardy 31. Felix da Housecat
“House is a music of defiant celebration and unquestioning acceptance, and it is pure Chicago.”
PART SEVEN
Rock in the ’80s
32. Big Black 33. The Effigies 34. Naked Raygun 35. Screeching Weasel 36. Ministry
“If Chicago rock was for the most part incredibly lame through much of the ’60s and ’70s, it came roaring back with unprecedented aggression and innovation in the punk and indie-rock underground of the ’80s.”
PART EIGHT
Alt Rock
37. Eleventh Dream Day 38. Material Issue 39. The Smashing Pumpkins 40. Urge Overkill 41. Liz Phair 42. Veruca Salt 43. Wilco
“Seattle was of course first and most famous. But Chicago followed a close second.”
PART NINE
Hip Hop
44. Common 45. Kanye West 46. Lupe Fiasco 47. Rhymefest 48. Kid Sister 49. Chief Keef 50. Chance the Rapper.
“The city that works is a place where real people come together to make things happen — including great art. And, yes, that even includes that notorious egotist, Kanye.”