Chicago Behind the Music

they blew out of the Windy City with a bold new sound we're not doing that Matt we're dancing with the vocal everything that they did was fresh and exciting by the early seventies acog Oh was world famous but their names and faces stayed hidden behind a logo you think of Chicago you think of that logo behind the trademark were seven hard living young men who were all too human the fuel of cocaine became really important on the road we have the drug plane and we had the meditation never go rock and roll for their volatile lead guitarists the struggle with stardom was fatal his state of mind mixed unfortunately with his love for firearms there were a lot of rumors that Terry was playing Russian roulette he was aiming the gun at his own head the last words that came out of his mouth were it's not loaded when Terry was no longer with us we were no longer Chicago [Music] in time the hits died out a label said man if you get rid of the horn section will sign you but Chicago found a way to survive they needed to be reminded of their greatness the 80s brought Chicago a second wave of soft rock success a success that some called a sellout I would rather fail with an album full of music that we really really want to do then have a mega hit of crap now Chicago was a democratic machine until one band member wound up with all the clout he was ready to go wanted to be a star and once that happens you both move on it's like a divorce to have somebody leave and still be able to go on there's a testament to how deep the band is now for the first time on TV in their own words the story of the men behind the most famous logo in rock-and-roll Chicago behind the music [Applause] [Music] [Music] Chicago Illinois is a town known for hard work and for more than three decades the band that bears its name has been one of the hardest working groups in pop music [Music] what I want to be Chicago has taken its signature brass bass sound on the road every year for the past 33 years [Music] since the first time Chicago's horns were heard on the radio in 1969 they've sold over 120 million albums and they've charted 20 top-ten singles Chicago's Labor's have been honored with Grammy Awards and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame their hometown even named a street after them it's the American dream when you think about it but if Chicago has lived a dream they've also survived a nightmare it hasn't been all happy stuff you know it's been far more profound and deeper and and darker in one fatal moment they lost their heart and soul it hit us so deep that we thought well maybe this is the way it's supposed to end I could never talk about this for you know it's been what 20 how many years since he died but through highs and lows year in and year out Chicago has never stopped playing their unique catalogue of classic songs I turn on a Chicago album and I don't care how many times I've heard it I hear it fresh and new each time I think we have survived and music solely music [Music] just the star the band's beginnings can be traced back to the campus of Chicago's DePaul University in music major Walt Pyro's ATAR I was pursuing a classical degree but enjoyed a schizoid existence playing rock and roll and you know whatever band I could get in what was playing top 40 hits in a band with guitarist Terry Kath and drummer Danny Seraphin [Music] then in February of 1967 Walt recruited to DePaul University classmates trumpet player Lee lockni and trombonist Jimmy Pankau he apparently had had this dream about starting a rock-and-roll group with a horn section but a rock-and-roll band with horns that were an integral part of the music [Music] On February 15th the new band met at Walt's apartment the last to arrive was keyboard player Robert Lamm a music major from Chicago's Roosevelt University it just sounded really good in it it grooved really nicely felt great that night we decided take it as far as we could they called themselves the big thing and their sound was something new a rock group whose horn section formed the heart of the band and whose Rock and Roll soul was guitarist Terry Kath Terry was incredibly soulful he had a great Charles quality to his voice and he'd sang with such passion [Music] that first night together the six young men made a pact the only way anybody would ever leave the band is if they quit or they died and you know they would never be fired with some members still in college the big thing work weekend's on the Midwest club circuit playing the radio hits of the time they also added original songs to their playlist the club owners didn't like that at all I ain't paying you guys to be artsy fartsy I'm paying you to be a show bird give me a show or get the hell out by August of 67 Walt was looking to break out of the clubs he called up another college buddy who'd become a producer for CBS Records in Los Angeles Jimmy Guercio flew back to Chicago to catch the big thing they were powerful man who was I thought they were great by then the big thing had developed a trademark sound I heard our horn section as another lead voice we're doing we're dancing with the vocal [Music] but dances they might the band singers could not keep up with a horn section we needed a tenor voice because both Robert and Terry had had more baritone voices and they couldn't really get up to Terry that's where he sings the voice they needed belong to a local bass player named Peter Cetera [Music] in December of 67 cetera join the big thing and big things were about to happen it was really the final piece of the puzzle that really shaped Chicago I mean in a sense of the sound that was the three really fine singers you got the three horn players and a really great rhythm section BAM there was the whole band producer Jimmy Guercio came on board as their manager Guercio renamed the band Chicago Transit Authority bankrolled them with his own money and brought them to Los Angeles in the summer of 68 Guercio booked the band in local clubs when they won the praise of a very special fan I felt somebody tapped me on the back and I turned around it's jimmy hendrix staring me in the face he says i got to tell you your guitar player is way better than me he says the horns are like one set of lungs I'm sitting there I'm going okay somebody slipped me acid by the end of the year their popularity was growing in Guercio got then CBS label chief clive davis to listen to his CTA demo I loved what Jimmy had played for Bayon and indeed I did make a deal with Jimmy Guercio for Chicago in January of 69 CTA began work on their first album for CBS and I said we're gonna do this record in two weeks they said to look to you know by this time it was panic set in we were petrified [Music] ten days later CTA emerged from the studio with enough material for a double album I said well it's the best we can do and if it doesn't work I'll live with it Chicago Transit Authority was released in April of 69 the album was a groundbreaking fusion of jazz and rock but its first singles beginnings and does anybody really know what time it is went nowhere that December Guercio booked the group on a two-week European tour across the water a surprise was waiting we sold over a million units of the first element France we went to Europe we were gods [Music] coming up Chicago hits it big back home here's a song it's zooming up the charts destined for number one and later the sudden death of Terry cat he had a premonition that he was gonna die young maybe that's why he lived his life so fast when behind the music continues on their debut album Chicago Transit Authority didn't sound like any other rock and roll band on the radio in just two years their dream of a horn centered rock group had become a full-blown reality they've actually interspersed horns with rock-and-roll and that was not commonplace at that point [Music] at first CTAs unique sound was a hard sell we tried releasing singles off the first album and AM radio would not play them with Chicago it took a long time because it was not easily identifiable what it was with the release of CT a second album in January of 1970 producer and manager Jimmy Guercio gave the band a marketing makeover they would now be called simply Chicago there would be no photos of the seven phases in the band on Chicago's album covers the group would come to be identified by a logo listen in a lot of respects the group might resent me for it but I I wanted to market it in a certain way well we used to and moan because we wanted our mugs and the front albums like everyone else but it was really for the best because we wanted it to be the group and not try to single in on any individuals we're a democracy you know we do what's best for the whole [Music] Chicago had a new law but their sound still met with resistance their second album got little radio play and concerned CBS record executives turned to Guercio give me something to go to radio all these tracks or seven eight minutes and we get it at a number of these records and I think Clive got very involved we absolutely worked all the edits to shape the song so that they could fit into the sole length of the time Guercio and Davis made Chicago songs shorter and more radio-friendly we were all pretty pissed off about it because oh how dare they cut up my music you know we were artists they were highly critical of the butchering of their material yeah I agreed with them actually but it was a compromise to be on the radio make me smile was the first song that they edited and it turned out to be Chicago's first hit in 1970 I was just cruising down Santa Monica Boulevard and turned on the radio here's a song it's zooming up the charts destined for number one a new song by a new group called Chicago make me smile [Music] make me smile burst into the top ten and opened the commercial floodgates for Chicago in the winter of 71 Chicago three became the number two album in the nation and all of Chicago's first three albums were on the charts over the next four years Chicago would release five albums that would hit number one on the Billboard charts [Music] it's like a tidal wave a tsunami they just kept peeking and peeking and peeping was almost like we could fired on record and it was going to be a number one hit for a while there was just a slam-dunk there was gonna be hit after hit was amazing but for the seven serious musicians in the band chart success came with a price I noticed that Ann Terry Kath also noticed that the music that we were recording was not quite as experimental as previous albums had been I'm not sure that Terry was very happy with a direction because it became this machine I mean it was calculated that we were gonna stop stop being a band that played arrangements and become more of song oriented I was uncomfortable with it because I didn't want to just do that [Music] by the summer of 76 Chicago had been touring for nearly a decade and the relentless concert schedule was taking a toll Terry told me once he said Jim we played 250 to one-nighters in one year there were tours where he'd come back and say I've had it you know I've had it I can't do this anymore you know but of course he'd go back I felt that this music had an impact on the youth of the world and could break down barriers curse you had a global view and I and I can't say he was totally wrong but the way he was going about it was just really destructive more destructive was the band's escalating use of drugs different times in the band different people got out of Billie out of whack we partied a lot and it affected our our work schedule I think he started to bother Guercio it became more and more difficult for me to get the quality writing I needed the performances I needed vocally cocaine infected me and and not just the cocaine itself the overdoing of the cocaine well I would go up on statement I'd be like you don't like liar it's impossible to play [Music] the fuel of cocaine became really important on the road was getting more and more unpleasant for me [Music] but while Guercio was having trouble with the band the band was also having trouble with Guercio came to a point that we wanted to be a little more hands-on and grow a little bit and learn a little bit more he was financial - I mean a sense that we wanted a bigger cut of the pie Danny kind of whipped all of us up into a frenzy about you know you know he's just totally screwing us and we need to you know we need to renegotiate Guercio agreed to give the band a larger share of royalties but their relationship was already beyond repair if I'm going up the hill I need loyalty in October of 77 the band confronted their longtime mentor it was a band decision but it came down that we sat down in a room you know and and just said I just it's just not working I can't say I thought it was a good thing but it seemed to be what everybody wanted to do there was friction and there was some animosity and there was lawyers you know typical rock and roll you know after 10 years 11 top 10 singles in 5 number one albums Chicago parted with Jimmy Guercio we're just gonna not have any acrimony here where's your where's the management contract and I tore it up where's the recording contract Network it wasn't for Jimmy Grigio I don't I truly believe that it would never been Chicago the split with Garcia would mark the end of Chicago's golden era of success within four months tragedy would threaten to destroy them [Music] coming up Chicago loses its soul he did have an edge and he did take everything to the wall he did have a love for guns and later Chicago loses its voice something happens that just doesn't make it all right anymore and you get a divorce when behind the music continues music created a lot of success and so the tragedy to me is kind of what you do with that success when Chicago broke with their longtime manager and producer Jimmy Guercio in October of 1977 the band was at the height of its popularity [Music] after playing together for 10 years they now enjoyed all the privileges and pitfalls of rock and roll superstardom a lot of success a lot of time a lot of traveling a lot of women around in pursuit we had women scaling buildings and the fire department you know coming and taking them off a building there seem to be a motive behavior that was created to fit some sort of image that we had of the way that we thought we should act because we were rock stars we go into places we don't even want to be too expensive we're all immortal you know couldn't do anything wrong we're invincible but not everyone was enjoying the ride [Music] of all the people in the band Terry had the hardest time with success it messed with he was torn between wanting to be a good man wanting to be a great musician and fame fame was didn't matter to him [Music] in a group known for its horns it was Terry Kass hard-edged guitar and soulful vocals that kept the band rooted in rock and roll I've never played with the guitar players as good as Terry Hendrix told me he says I'm pretty good man but this cat blows me away besides being him just a brilliant guitarist he was a soulful creative anti-establishment anti-fashion anti politically correct guy there was a down from the bootstraps gutsy soulful quality to him that that's how what he was he was the soul of the man and there was something about him on the road when things were tense or things were falling apart where he would just step in and just pull it together [Music] according to his wife contradictions seem to define Terry Kaif he was romantic he was generous but he did have an edge he did have a love for guns where that came from I have no idea but we had tons of guns he did live his life fast life in the fast lane he was completely self-destructive you know he was my hero by that time we had Michelle our daughter and we had just bought a house in Malibu and things had gotten out of control in his life with the band and with touring and he was just dying inside [Music] harry was getting out of hand he was carrying guns around all the time and he was high cuz he was using way too much drugs he had a premonition that he was gonna die young he told me that when I first met him maybe that's why he lived his life so fast [Applause] in January of 1978 while the band took a break from touring Kath paid a visit to Danny Seraphin I mean he told me that I'm worried about myself I'm doing too much drugs I got a discipline Bacchus I got a stop and he wanted you but I think he took one last bender and you know tragedy struck on January 23rd 1978 Chicago roadie Donnie Johnson threw a party at his San Fernando Valley home when the party broke up Terry Kath stayed Terry was not happy at that time and Terry had been up for long periods of time there was a lot of rumors that Terry was playing Russian roulette die said he he had a 9-millimeter automatic that he was cleaning his theory is that Terry forgot that he had a round chambered and he took the clip out and he didn't clear the chamber he took the clip out and pulled the trigger and when you have the clip up the gun doesn't fire put it back in the last words that came out of his mouth were it's not loaded don't worry it's not loaded and the gun went off and Donnie said he just kind of laid his head back on the back of it on the back of the chair and he was gone Los Angeles Police detectives went to Terry's Malibu home to deliver the grim news to his wife camellia and two-year-old daughter Michelle the walk from that door which was on Pacific Coast Highway to the front door of the house was I do remember that walk for the rest of my life and it was in slow motion and I feel like it took forever to get to that door because there's a part of me that was aware that something had happened when the phone rang that night when I got the news the blooded me I didn't want to answer the phone it was just a bad ring to that phone when I got the call that Terry it shot himself with his dad I said I can't he'll believe you so I went to the house I saw Terry was like in the couch you know his head laid back him and I sat next to him and you know I told him that I hope that he's found peace he broke my heart I had seen him less than eight hours before I got the call the first thing I did as I went up to the den in the house and looked at his footprints in the carpet he had just been there in that room last night in Los Angeles Terry Kath what what he thought was an empty pistol to his head the rock music star from the Chicago pulled the trigger he was killed instantly Terry calf was laid to rest on january 28th 1978 he was 31 years old [Music] I had been asked to eulogize at the service I said yes but you know I had to get loaded for that one that was the first time I seen him at the funeral and that's when I realized that he wasn't really there anymore I kind of have a picture of of the memorial but I don't really know what was going on in my head I was just trying to get through it I directly blame drugs for Terry's death you know and you know sheer guns but heading up in high and been I've been up all night and he was out a destructive path and he knew it speculation about the nature of Terry calf's death quickly spread through the press and music community including rumors of suicide Terry had a just a hunger for life for him to to take his life it just wasn't him Terry died of an accidental gunshot wound I know that it was not intentionally inflicted he didn't commit suicide it was a senseless accident [Music] kath sudden death cast a pall over chicago's plans for the future the managers the agents the attorneys the record company public relations people also you guys got to stay together yeah what else are they gonna say I remember saying to somebody you know if it was me I wouldn't I would want the band to go on we still enjoy playing together and we were still successful and enjoyed what we were doing we got to keep going and Terry I am convinced he's looking down his his being is smiling down on this entity because we carried the flag I do think of of Terry virtually every day because especially out on the road I sing his song I seen color my world [Music] so I when I'm singing it I hear his voice I don't hear my voice true I feel lucky because he's very much in my life still every day Terry's in my life he's in my life to my daughter since I was so young when my father died about two years old I got to know my father through all the stories I heard from my mom it's really funny because sometimes I'll be someplace all of a sudden there will be a song with my dad singing it'll be at a time when I was thinking about it and it was almost like okay I'm here you know I'm here for you that's the way I know that he's around me through his songs through his music someone's personality is so alive and they have such a hunger for life and they live the way he lived they don't die [Music] coming up the Chicago hit machine breaks down a label said man if you get rid of the horn section will sign you it's like telling Alton Johnny get rid of the piano and later when opportunity knocks one band member walks out the door hey I could kind of go out there on my own when behind the music continues think you started taking on a different sound after Terry died because that was when we realized that a piece of the magic [Music] after the sudden shocking death of their lead guitarist Terry calf the six surviving members of Chicago decided to press on in the spring of 1978 they faced the difficult task of replacing the Rock and Roll soul there wouldn't be anybody like Terry but yet we were trying to find somebody like Terry as heartbreaking it was to parade guitar players in and out you know it was part of the whole closure process in the fall of 78 eight months after cats death a new chapter in the Chicago story began with the release of the band's 12th album the sales numbers for hot streets were disappointing and there were no top-ten singles by the end of 1980 when Chicago 14 sold less than a million copies their all-time low the ban was clearly in a slump well that success that had happened all of a sudden we hit the wall all of a sudden nothing could go right my contention is that when Terry was no longer with us that we were no longer Chicago faced with lackluster sales Columbia Records dropped Chicago from the label [Music] all of a sudden I started thinking do we fit it they could not get a song played on the air some record executives still had an interest in Chicago but only if changes were made a label said man if you get rid of the horn section will sign you that's like telling Alton Jana to get rid of the piano the band kept its horns but did make one change his Grammy winning songwriter Bill Champlin joined the group vocally Chaplin was the perfect complement to lead singer Peter Cetera [Music] it was pretty instant that once Peter and I hit the microphone we kind of went whoa this is this is pretty cool Chicago went into the studio to record a new album in the summer of 1981 they had no label but they had a new producer named David Foster I'm sitting there and they're playing and it's unbelievable except for one thing and the one thing that was wrong was that the songs weren't good and I said you know what guys I'm sorry but there's nothing here that's equal to what I know and love about Chicago working with David was kind of a good shot in the arm we were sinking fast both commercially emotionally you know Peter I know he was having thoughts of leaving the band Robert was having a real rough time you know creatively Bobby lamb was really going through some tough stuff when I first came into the group and I think that he more than anybody probably resented me being there because I was a keyboard player - at first I resented it I didn't think we needed it but I think history has shown us we did need David Foster to come in and and kick us in the ass they needed to be reminded of their greatness and how great they could be again working with Foster did just that in June of 82 Chicago's 16 vaulted the band back into the top 10 for the first time in six years then in the spring of 84 the band followed up with their greatest commercial success produced by Foster Chicago 17 sold more than six million copies [Music] that was to come back and I just remember my wife saying now that this is happening enjoy every minute it was like dying you know and being dead for a minute or two and coming back you know you appreciate life a lot more but there was a downside to Chicago's newfound success radio was expecting Chicago just to keep pumping out those ballads because they were doing it so well it's really a shocking thing to have been once considered avant-garde almost and now and now be kind of dismissed as kind of wimpy but being pigeon-holed as soft rockers wasn't the only problem when MTV came into existence we started doing videos along with everybody else so we made Peter Cetera the star because he sing all the tunes cetera was ready to go the lost weight was looking good since its earliest days Chicago had been the faceless band behind the logo now with the spotlight squarely on Peter Cetera dynamics within the group began to change Peter had pretty much started calling the shots in a sense and you know that was hard for guys to accept that he was sort of breaking away from the thing that was that that democracy we had or the collective whole that's when I said this this isn't a good thing anybody that's in a group structure sooner or later wants to say hey I want if I could kind of go out there on my own in May of 85 Peter Cetera walked away from Chicago for a career as a solo artist he left behind 18 years of music and friendship we spent a lot of you know a lot of years together and we spent most of that time laughing cetera didn't look back to this day he rarely talks publicly about his time with Chicago and he declined behind the music's request for an interview he also denied this program use of the songs he wrote for Chicago it's like a divorce you know you you you go through the good times and you have some of the bad times and you get a divorce and once that happens you you both move on [Music] Chicago replaced cetera with singer-songwriter Jason chef and in the fall of 86 they released their 18th album will you still love me went to number three pop number one AC and that's when I finally started feeling like okay you're in the band a lot of people had written Chicago off when Peter left but it was proven at that time that Chicago is stronger than any individual member but that theory would once more be put to the test as the band prepared to record Chicago 21 in the fall of 89 drummer Danny Seraphin received a phone call from Chicago's manager Howard Kaufmann but Danny and I don't want you to over react but the band has decided they want to they want to use the session drummer in the next record over the years Seraphin is increasing interest in the business side of the band had created tension between Danny and some of his bandmates Danny wanted to have more control I think what happened was this during the drug era because I was straight management knew they could talk to me so I became kind of the unspoken leader they didn't like a drummer having this much control I don't think he was paying attention to what he should have been paying attention to which was playing Seraphin played live with the band a few more times but hard feelings led to the inevitable and in may of nineteen and got another call from Chicago's manager Howard saying look Danny I just got a call from the band they had a meeting and they bought just don't treat somebody that you've been with 23 years it's like a brother like that you just don't do that it was really hard but it was so it was either gonna pull the band apart if he stayed and I think by asking him to leave the was the only way the band could stay together coming up Chicago makes a musical stand but pays a price not only did they not like they hated it when behind the music continues dia Chicago entered its third decade of music making three of the Bands seven founding members were no longer with the group each departure had been wrenching in its own way but with each loss the remaining members of Chicago pulled together and carried on [Music] to have somebody leave and still be able to go on is a testament to how how deep the band is but as the 80s became the 90s years of soft rock success had painted the band into an artistic corner that was Chicago's niche the power Bell after a hit in a certain genre all your your what I call Pilate Fitch people around you or gonna tell you do that again by the spring of 1993 a restless Chicago entered the recording studio on a mission we went into the studio and and we broke some new ground for us the project called stone of Sisyphus captured the sound of Chicago striving to redefine itself when warner label executives heard the album they weren't happy not only did they not like it they hated it they said that this is an unreleasable album and they weren't gonna put it out they said you know you need to go back in studio and record some ballast or something you know I give us credit and that we just said hey we'd rather not go back in the studio and be we'd rather not be with a company that is thinking that way [Music] I would rather fail with an album full of music that we really really want to do then have a mega-hit of crap heading into the new millennium Chicago has regained some musical momentum today the band's lineup is still anchored by the four remaining founding members Walt powers ater James Pankow Lee lockni and Robert Lamm the others bill Champlin Jason chef drummer Trish Imboden and guitarist Keith Howlin will always be the new guys I've almost been with the band for six years now and I mean it's funny there Chicago fans still think of Bill as a new guy I'm a twenty year old rookie band members may be old or new but Chicago's hit songs are timeless [Music] you know Saturday in the park but you look out there and these people are going [Music] I think we're better entertainers and we're better performers and better players now and stop doing the drugs and booze or you know we probably almost definitely either be out of the business and possibly dead as well the year 2000 marked chicago's 33rd year of rock and roll and there's no end in sight there's a sense that there's just one great album that everybody is just gonna get a masterpiece I think that keeps us going we're still enjoy playing I mean that's the basic [Music] and we've endured largely because we respect each other as people as much as musicians thank God that we throw a party and people come to the shows and as long as they keep showing up man we're gonna keep throwing down because that's our mission that's our purpose we did a lot of living and accomplished a lot and it went by like badly [Applause] but I want to be Oh so let justice next week Cuba Gooding jr. at Giselle was the 2000 vh1 Vogue Fashion Awards with live performances by Lenny Kravitz Destiny's Child Macy Gray and Kid Rock Plus new episodes of your favorite shelves including the premiere of Sinead O'Connor behind the music and one more thing fashion awards Friday night all new all next week only on vh1 [Music]

Channel: EMUSIC TV entertainment

Views: 423,374

Rating: 4.8527198 out of 5

Keywords: Chicago, full episode, one chicago, behind the scenes, share the moment, season 5 episode 20, cpd, saved, highlights, police, drama, interview, bloopers, chicago p.d., burzek, crossover, chicago, alvin olinsky, little girl shot, camille's student, hold up, nbc, season 5, hank voight, jason beghe, hannah shot, elias koteas, camille, camille voight, abduction, robbery, lindsay, halstead, pd, promo, voight cries, preview, trailer, chicago pd

Id: emeUAtihD_g

Length: 43min 27sec (2607 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 23 2018