Category: The Secret History of Chicago Music

Secret History readers often ask about my criteria for including an artist. Sometimes they want me to cover an early-90s band, but I’m still reluctant—that’s when I started going to shows myself, so it seems too recent. I definitely felt that way when I launched this series in 2005, but I guess we’ll see.  I’m […]

The Secret History of Chicago Music may have my name on it, but it’s never a one-man show. I often consult experts, especially when I’m covering an unfamiliar genre or I hit a dead end in my research. Earlier this month, in fact, I turned to Chris Young of the excellent blog Downstate Sounds to […]

In August I said I thought the Secret History of Chicago Music might be running out of 1960s garage bands to cover. I’ve been a fan of the Rooks for ages, for instance, but I’d given up on writing a story because I couldn’t reach any former members to fill in the gaps in my […]

Sometimes you have to play the long game. I’ve been trying for years to get the story of local 1960s girl group the Same. My interview requests didn’t lead anywhere, and I couldn’t track down much info about their only release—the 1967 single “Sunshine, Flowers and Rain”—or about the women who’d created it.  Thankfully, Chicago […]

I’ve never liked the term “one-hit wonder.” This is partly because it’s often misused; I’ve seen Americans describe T. Rex as a one-hit wonder because “Bang a Gong (Get It On)” was Marc Bolan’s only stateside smash, but in the UK he had 11 top-ten hits in three years.  I also find “one-hit wonder” a […]

I know I’m indulging in nostalgia for the “good old days” before the global consolidation of the entertainment industry, but it sure seems like it used to be easier for a talented artist to luck into a shot at fame—something more lasting than 15 seconds of Internet virality. In the 1960s, the workings of the […]

Long ago, an early fan of the Secret History of Chicago Music stopped me at a grocery store. Not only was I surprised that this gentleman had recognized me—I tend to think of myself as a faceless columnist—but I was also taken aback by his first question. “You do that garage-band column in the Chicago […]

I’d like to think the narrative has changed on Chicago and disco since the infamous Disco Demolition Night at Comiskey Park in 1979. White rock fans blowing up disco records was never a good look, in no small part because the genre was so heavily Black, Brown, and queer. I’ll allow that some of the […]

Lately the Secret History of Chicago Music has been playing a losing game, trying to keep up with the all-too-frequent passings of underappreciated musicians from the 1960s and ’70s. I’ll celebrate some living artists soon, but first I want to shine a light on Gerald Sims, who died in May. Sims made immortal contributions to […]

Musicians who transcend genre and expectation often have to settle for being described decades later as “ahead of their time.” Multifaceted jazz pianist and vocalist Dorothy Donegan overcame racial prejudice, sexism, and musical gatekeeping to grow into her own bad self in the 1950s—to borrow a contemporary phrase, she gave zero fucks. She once described […]

When Ramsey Lewis died in September, the Secret History of Chicago Music didn’t weigh in—the keyboardist, composer, and radio personality was hardly a secret, and the news of his passing prompted an international outpouring. The same was true of Maurice White from Earth, Wind & Fire, who’d had an early gig as Lewis’s drummer and […]