Chicago Songs – Underrated in 2024

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Having a career that spans over 40 decades is one of those bands that you refer to as ‘an institution’.

And with over 30 million records sold, maybe one of the best snubs (besides not being inducted into the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame) in music must do with dissing the many ballads produced by Chicago.

Chicago tunes prior to the 1976 breakout of Peter Cetera’s hit ‘If You Leave Me Now’ were expected by hard-core fans to become rocking amounts a la ’25 or 6 to 4′.

And while Chicago’s Jon Finch continued to rock hard along with Chicago’s up-tempo numbers such as ‘Get Away’ and ‘Along Comes A Woman’, the masterful touch of Chicago producer David Foster created a symphonic approach to huge numbers like ‘Hard to Say I’m Sorry’ and ‘You’re the Inspiration’.

Consequently, most hard-core CTA (Chicago Transit Authority, the group early 70’s moniker) were quickly alienated by the big, sweeping and love-struck stylings (particularly with songs that relegated the horn section to a background texture).

But honestly, a few of these amazing bits, with maestro David Foster’s incredible organizing and production touches, are the best of Chicago.

Chicago tunes could run the gamut in style from 1967 on, but the vocals of Peter Cetera never sounded better or bigger than on ballads such as ‘Hard Habit to Break’ and the above ‘Hard to Say I’m Sorry’.

Upon Cetera’s departure in the mid-80s, Jason Scheff took the helm and incredible (and underrated) tunes like ‘Will You Still Love Me?’ and ‘What sort of Man Would I Be?’ came combining…and perfectly suited Chicago’s incredible line-up (even the world-class horn section).

Bill Champlin gave Chicago a huge hit with ‘Look Away’ before the 90s and grunge relegated precision that was large melody.

And while the current Chicago favors this group over their 80s hey-day’s early work, there is ‘Will You Still Love Me?’, ‘You’re the Inspiration’ and ‘Hard to Say I’m Sorry’ may now be some of the most underrated work each by Chicago.

The Foster/Chicago collaborations have to rank as a few of the recordings that are larger than the band, though Chicago songs cover a wide spectrum.