The State of the Sound: Music in Illinois | ALPLM | Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum Exhibits

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The Spirit of Possibility Moves Us

Generations of musicians have come to Illinois by train, bus, and automobile. The Land of Lincoln has offered the promise of jobs, housing, and a new way of looking at things. Rhythms and lyrics that carried these desires shaped a sound that has a global reach. This community of Illinois music reflects our American diversity: Spiritual and Blues, Country, Soul and Rock, International, and Hip–Hop and House.

This music helps us imagine who we are. And through the boundless energy of our imagination, we can reach our potential. In this beautiful hall in the center of the country, you will discover how the sound of the heartland lives within all of us.

You will celebrate who we can be when we sing a song together.

– Dave Hoekstra

Gospel

Dr. Lena McLin, Chicago, IL, (born in Georgia)

Gospel

Sound of Higher Ground

The sonic description of Gospel music is a harvest of all that comes from the heart: love, pain, memory and hope. The voice is the vessel to deliver the news. The voice can be solo or it can shape rainbows in a choir. Like a centerpiece on a table, this declaration is surrounded by instrumentation that ranges from an earth-shaking guitar to a cresting organ.

Thomas A. Dorsey, Chicago, IL, (born in Georgia)

Gospel

Chicago is the birthplace of American gospel. Chicagoan Thomas A. Dorsey – “The Father of Gospel Music” – wrote songs that touched Dr. Martin Luther King and Elvis Presley. Chicago’s Soul Stirrers illustrated the bridge between gospel and soul music with young members like Sam Cooke, Lou Rawls, and Johnnie Taylor. The Gospel spirit traveled into Chicago area homes from 1963 to 1984 through the popular Jubilee Showcase television show.

Mahalia Jackson, Chicago, IL, (born in Louisiana)

Gospel

The Gospel sound is precious and timeless. It bends notes and walks the mainline. The most deliberate hymn contains a wide range of expression. All Gospel music contains unparalleled devotion.

It celebrates the purity of the soul.

Gospel

Mahalia Jackson 1957 Performance Contract

By 1957, Mahalia Jackson stood at the pinnacle of her career as the country’s top gospel singer and was now on Columbia Records. This contract to perform at New York City’s prestigious Town Hall in 1957 provides a glimpse into Jackson’s famed business acumen, as she notes to increase her performance fees.

Courtesy of Robert M. Marovich

Gospel

Curtis Mayfield Performance Music Score of "It’s Alright"

Curtis Mayfield regularly included his 1963 Impressions hit, "It’s Alright," in his live shows. This is a marked-up performance "Rhythm" score for the song, which has been covered by Etta James, Phil Collins, Huey Lewis, Bruce Springsteen, and was recently featured in the Disney movie Soul.

Courtesy of the Curtis Mayfield Estate

The Blues

Muddy Waters, Chicago, IL, (born in Mississippi)

The Blues

The Blues Grew into its Wings in Illinois

The blues are a sparrow that flew north over the Mississippi River and landed in Illinois.

Out of the nest came the electricity of Muddy Waters and the haunting call of Howlin’ Wolf. Waters (McKinley Morganfield) carried the muscle of Mother Earth while Wolf (Chester Burnett) was possessed by a wicked bolt of “Smokestack Lightning.”

The Rolling Stones took their name from the 1950 Muddy Waters song Rollin’ Stone. Sun Records founder Sam Phillips said Howlin’ Wolf’s vocals contained all the raw beauty he thought about in one man. And Sam recorded Elvis Presley. Scores of rock musicians embraced the raw attitude and emotion of the blues.

Willie Dixon, Chicago, IL, (born in Mississippi)

The Blues

Chicago bandleader, songwriter, and bassist Willie Dixon dispatched his profound rhythms across the world. Dixon’s sound was a passport to rock n’ roll. Led Zeppelin never would have had “Whole Lotta Love” without Dixon’s “You Need Love.” Dixon was also an early architect at Chess Records before flying off to Chicago’s Cobra Records in the late 1950s where he produced nascent tracks for Buddy Guy, Otis Rush, and Magic Sam.

Howlin' Wolf, Chicago, IL, (born in Mississippi) and his 1954 Chess record Rockin’ Daddy

The Blues

Leonard and Phil Chess opened Chess in 1950 on the south side of Chicago. The brothers tested their earliest records by blaring them out at a bus stop. In a short 25 years, artists like Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Etta James, Howlin' Wolf, and the Rolling Stones heard the call and recorded at Chess.

The Blues

Howlin’ Wolf’s Harmonica

Howlin’ Wolf was an enigmatic singer, guitarist, and harmonica player. His most famous song, “Smokestack Lightin’,” has a memorable harmonica solo in the middle. This is Wolf’s 1950s-era Marine Band harmonica. It is in the Key of A major, a traditional key for Blues and Rock.

Courtesy of Bettye Kelly

Buddy Guy, Chicago, IL, (born in Louisiana)

The Blues

Buddy Guy

Buddy Guy’s electricity and business acumen delivered the blues to a new generation while the Chicago-based record labels Alligator and Delmark Records preserved the blues for the future. The earliest recordings of boogie guitarist Hound Dog Taylor at Alligator (1971) and nine-string guitarist Big Joe Williams (in 1961) at Delmark kept the blues pumping through the advent of pop and rock music.

The Blues

Fender Stratocaster Guitar Owned and Played by Buddy Guy

Buddy Guy’s electricity and business acumen delivered the blues to a new generation while the Chicago-based record labels Alligator and Delmark Records preserved the blues for the future. The earliest recordings of boogie guitarist Hound Dog Taylor at Alligator (1971) and nine-string guitarist Big Joe Williams (in 1961) at Delmark kept the blues pumping through the advent of pop and rock music.

Courtesy of Buddy Guy’s Legends

Junior Wells, Chicago, IL, (born in Tennessee)

The Blues

The blues reached new heights through the hummingbird harmonicas of Junior Wells, a compatriot of Buddy Guy and Paul Butterfield, a southside Chicago native. The Paul Butterfield Blues Band meshed electric blues with rock and jazz. This progression was not lost on Bob Dylan who recruited the Paul Butterfield Blues Band for his first electric performance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. Dylan’s traditionalists were upset. Traditions have continued to be redefined by modern-day Chicago blues artists like guitarist Toronzo Cannon, the soulful Lurrie Bell, and harmonica player Billy Branch.

Koko Taylor, Chicago, IL, (born in Tennessee)

The Blues

The timeless “Wang Dang Doodle” was written by Willie Dixon, but the late Koko Taylor made it her own and opened the door for countless female blues artists. The torch is proudly carried today by contemporary blues singers such as Alligator’s Shemika Copeland who was bequeathed the title “Queen of the Blues” by Koko’s daughter. The blues arguably were born in the South. But this historic 20th-century migration reminds us that the blues were liberated in Chicago.

The Blues

Handwritten Lyrics for “I’m Wanted All Over the World” by Willie Dixon

Willie Dixon wrote the song “I’m Wanted All Over the World” for his 1971 Yambo Records album Peace? It has been covered many times, most famously by George Thorogood and the Destroyers in 1980. These lyrics are in Willie’s hand.

Courtesy of the Alex Dixon and the Willie Dixon Family

The Blues

Howlin’ Wolf’s Gun License

Howlin’ Wolf (Chester Burnett) had a big striking voice and was also an imposing figure at 6 foot 3. He carried a firearm for protection, for which he needed this 1960s-era firearms license.

Courtesy of Bettye Kelly

Soul and R&B

Sam Cooke, Chicago, IL, (born in Mississippi)

Soul and R&B

The Heavenly Sound of Illinois Soul and R&B

Some of Soul music’s mightiest figures came from the church: Sam Cooke, Curtis Mayfield, Lou Rawls, Donny Hathaway, Otis Clay, and the Staple Singers in Chicago. The Rev. Al Green in Memphis, the Isley Brothers in Cincinnati, and Marvin Gaye in Detroit.

Staple Singers, Chicago, IL

Soul and R&B

Controversy sometimes occurred when artists crossed over

Controversy sometimes occurred when artists crossed over from the church to apply religious lessons in secular music but the music remained filled with clarity and dignity. It played well in the mist of the morning but just as well as under the sheets of a candlelit bedtime.

Curtis Mayfield, Chicago, IL

Soul and R&B

Curtis Mayfield

And there were lessons to be learned by listening to Mayfield’s bountiful songbook (“People Get Ready," “This is My Country,” “Keep on Pushing"), the Five Stairsteps timeless “O-o-h Child” and Hathaway’s “The Ghetto.”

Chaka Khan, the “Queen of Funk,” Chicago, IL

Soul and R&B

When it came time to dance, Rhythm and Blues (R&B) took the stage.

When it came time to dance, Rhythm and Blues (R&B) took the stage. Rhythm and Blues were created as it sounds: a Funk bottom establishing the rhythm, a shot of Blues for the emotional measure, and later some electronic Disco for the party.

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Soul and R&B

Grammy Award for “Tell Me Something Good” by Rufus

The 1974 song “Tell Me Something Good” was written by Stevie Wonder and Rufus frontwoman Chaka Khan. It won the 1975 Grammy Award for Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group, or Chorus. Rufus member Ron Stockert (keyboards and vocals) received the award.

Courtesy of Bruce Horn

Tyrone Davis, Chicago, IL, (born in Mississippi)

Soul and R&B

The gritty sound of Illinois Rhythm and Blues stretched from Tyrone “The Wonder Boy” Davis (“Turn Back the Hands of Time”) in Chicago to Ike and Tina Turner emerging from East St. Louis (Il.) and St. Louis. Rhythm and Blues expanded on the faith of Soul music by adding spectral group vocals, fiery horns, and a sense of artistic anarchy that was open to Rock music, modern Jazz, and later Hip-Hop.

Soul and R&B

Portrait of Jennifer Hudson as Aretha Franklin from Respect Movie, Created by Alexa Holland

Academy- and Grammy Award-winner Jennifer Hudson stars and sings in the 2021 biopic of Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin, Respect. Alexa Holland created this digital portrait of Hudson as Franklin for use in the film.

Courtesy of Jennifer Hudson

Soul and R&B

Curtis Mayfield Grammy Nomination Plaque for Super Fly

Enigmatic singer and guitarist Curtis Mayfield, known as the Gentle Genius, wrote and recorded songs for the landmark soundtrack to the 1972 movie Super Fly. He received a Grammy nomination for the album and the song “Freddie’s Dead.”

Courtesy of the Curtis Mayfield Estate

Jazz

Louis Armstrong, Chicago, IL, (born in Louisiana)

Jazz

Freedom of Jazz rooted in Illinois

The origins of Jazz are heard in Louis Armstrong, who brought his emancipating sound to Chicago from New Orleans in 1922. Armstrong’s free-spirited phrasing on the coronet/trumpet and tight combination of melody and rhythm allowed him to become the first Jazz soloist. Generations heard adventure in his improvisation, extending from horn to scat-oriented vocals.

Everyone else followed.

In their own very distinct style.

Jazz

The Louis Armstrong Story Vol. 1 33rpm LP Record by Louis Armstrong and His Hot 5

Released in 1956, this mono recorded compilation album by Columbia Records captured the Jazz legend’s early 1920s sound, when he lived, performed, and recorded these songs in Chicago.

Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum

Benny Goodman, third from left, with his band in 1952

Jazz

Benny Goodman was a famous American jazz clarinetist and bandleader, known as the “King of Swing.” He was born in Chicago in 1909 to Jewish immigrants from Russia. He learned to play the clarinet at a young age and soon became a professional musician, playing in various bands and clubs in Chicago. He was influenced by New Orleans jazz musicians such as Jimmie Noone and Louis Armstrong. He moved to New York in 1929 and formed his own band in 1934.

Jazz

Clarinet and Cleaning Cloth Owned by Benny Goodman

Benny Goodman singlehandedly made the clarinet cool. He was the premier Jazz bandleader of his era.

Courtesy of Benjie Lasseau, daughter of Benny Goodman

Miles Davis, Alton, IL

Jazz

Trumpet player-composer Miles Davis was the birth of cool. He wrapped the free-flowing tones of his Martin Committee trumpet into a bouquet for the world. Davis was born in 1926 on a clarion call out of Alton, IL, and raised in East St. Louis. By 1944, he had joined saxophonist Charlie Parker’s quartet in New York City. Davis died in 1991 of a stroke and respiratory failure. He is buried with a black Martin Committee trumpet in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, NY.

Jazz

This Martin Committee red custom trumpet and mouthpiece was made for jazz legend Miles Davis and he used it for concert performances throughout the 1980s which turned out to be the last phase of his nearly 50-year career. The iconic jazz empresario recorded and release seven records during this experimental period.

Courtesy of Miles Davis Properties, LLC

Herbie Hancock, Chicago, IL

Jazz

Herbie Hancock

Chicago-born keyboardist Herbie Hancock has taken jazz to worlds that Louis Armstrong might never have imagined. His six-decade career defies classification. Between 1963 and 1968 Hancock was a member of the second Miles Davis Quintet and later used a pastiche of fusion, funk, and electronics for crossover hits like 1973’s “Chameleon” and 1983 DJ scratch hit “Rockit.” Hancock guested on Fender Rhodes on Stevie Wonder’s “As” as one of the hallmark tracks on 1976’s “Songs in the Key of Life.” Hancock’s 2010 “Imagine Project” included collaborations with Jeff Beck, fellow Chicagoan Chaka Khan, Los Lobos, and others.

Hancock’s sonic crusades remind us that jazz is full of possibilities. Just like America itself.

Jazz

Jacket Worn by Herbie Hancock in Round Midnight

Jazz mastermind Herbie Hancock’s nearly six-decade career has defied classification. Hancock wore this jacket in the 1986 film, Round Midnight, in which he played Eddie Wayne. Hancock also won a Best Original Score Academy Award for the film.

Courtesy of Herbie Hancock

Folk

Andrew Bird, Lake Forest, IL

Folk

The Common Good of Illinois Folk music

From its humanitarian base, Illinois folk music is a hybrid of banjo, fiddle, guitar, harmonica, ukulele, poetry – and more. The sound is a fertile product of its environment, keeping loyal to cultural identity. It has been said that if it was never new and it never gets old, then it is a Folk song. There is no regard for style or fashion.

Steve Goodman, Chicago, IL

Folk

Illinois singer-songwriters like Steve Goodman, John Prine, and Andrew Bird found the welcome urban landscape of Chicago a fertile ground for their music. Chicago is America’s biggest small town.

Folk

Handwritten Lyrics of “City of New Orleans” by Steve Goodman

Originally featured on Steve Goodman’s self-titled debut in 1971, “The City of New Orleans” is arguably his most famous and enduring song. Both Arlo Guthrie and Willie Nelson recorded hit versions. Nelson’s cover won a Grammy in 1984 for Best Country Song following Goodman’s death.

Courtesy of Rosanne Goodman

Burl Ives, Hunt City, IL

Folk

Human connections are easily made. Goodman even had fun covering Burl Ives’ traditional hobo ballad “Big Rock Candy Mountain.” Actor-songwriter Ives (1909-1995) was from rural Jasper County, Illinois. Like a train filled with smiling dreamers, the Illinois folk sound moved across the mountains and rivers of America.

Win Stracke, Chicago, IL, (born in Kansas)

Folk

In 1957 Chicagoan James Roger McGuinn enrolled in the Old Town School of Folk Music, co-founded by folkies Frank Hamilton and Win Stracke. Hamilton was a house musician at the Gate of Horn nightclub on the near north side of Chicago. Future Bob Dylan manager Albert Grossman had opened the Gate of Horn in 1956. McGuinn learned banjo finger picking and 12-string guitar at the school. His studies took flight in co-founding the Byrds and influencing R.E.M., Tom Petty, and Wilco.

Sons of Never Wrong, Chicago, IL

Folk

And consider all of these Illinois voices – steadily filled with hopeful harmonies – sometimes blood harmonies – but always coming together in a chorus of community. Take time to listen to the words, for they are the songbooks of our beautiful world.

Carl Sandburg, Galesburg, IL

Folk

Carl Sandburg’s Washburn Guitar

Carl Sandburg, famed literary giant and Lincoln biographer, was also an accomplished musician. He collected music and musical instruments, such as this unique ca. 1925 “Bell-Shaped” Washburn guitar model 5270 from Chicago.

Courtesy of the National Park Service, Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site, CARL 111681

John Prine, Maywood, IL

Folk

John Prine’s Stage Prop Collection

John Prine was a music legend and an Illinois music treasure. He “exhibited” this collection of materials on a table during almost every performance. These materials provided comfort and emotional support for Prine as he faced large audiences.

Courtesy of the Prine Family

Folk

Steve Goodman Cubs Jacket

Chicago-born folk musician/songwriter Steve Goodman enjoyed a beloved but tragically short career. He penned the Chicago Cubs’s “Go Cubs Go” anthem, which has become a staple after every win at Wrigley Field. Goodman often performed the song in this jacket.

Courtesy of Rosanne Goodman

International

Mariachi Herencia de México, Mexican-American band from Chicago, IL

International

What is the sound of a dream?

The sound of hope is all around us. It can be the romantic guitarron and marimba brought to Illinois by Mexican immigrants. It is the joyful accordion delivered by the seekers of opportunity from Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Mexico.

The Dovers, Irish-influenced Rock Band from Chicago, IL

International

The Irish carried their flutes, tin whistles, and even harps to the New America. The Germans and Ukrainians imported the lilt of the zither, a guitar-like string instrument that was later played by Dolly Parton. These sounds are warm reminders of a home in a new home.

International

Seàn Cleland’s fiddle from The Drovers

Founded in 1988, The Drovers were a popular touring Irish band from Chicago. They recorded several albums and were also featured in two motion pictures, Backdraft (1991) and Blink (1993). The band’s founder, Seàn Cleland, modified this fiddle to run through an amplifier for live performances.

Courtesy of Seàn Cleland, The Drovers founder and fiddle player

Asrat Aemro Selassie, Chicago, IL, (born in Ethiopia)

International

The late Asrat Selassie and his band Dallol migrated to Chicago from Ethiopia in 1980. Dallol became the backing band for Ziggy Marley in the late 1980s and in 1985 Selassie co-founded the Wild Hare reggae club near Chicago’s Wrigley Field. The historic venue booked iconic acts like Jimmy Cliff, Toots and the Maytals, and more. The Wild Hare became an important point of entry for Caribbean immigrants in the Chicago area.

Tatsu Aoki, Chicago, IL, (born in Japan)

International

Multi-instrumentalist Tatsu Aoki left his native Tokyo Japan in 1977 to study filmmaking at the School of the Art Institute in Chicago. He became a long-time bassist for the late Chicago bop saxophonist Fred Anderson and also has collaborated with Chicago jazz giants like Von Freeman and Jeff Parker. That’s the magic of aspiration.

Sones de México, Mexican-American band from Chicago, IL

International

All of this world music can soothe a singular soul. These hybrids have been played at anniversaries, birthdays, weddings, and funerals across the wide-ranging State of Illinois. The collective elements of this immigrant sound created a new dance card. It is the soundtrack of a land filled with possibility, power, and the promise of a better tomorrow.

International

Donkey Jaw and Antler Instrument from Sones de México

Sones de México is an ensemble organization specializing in Mexican ”Son,” including the regional styles of Huapango, Gustos, Chilenas, Son Jarocho, and more. This traditional jawbone instrument, known as a quijada, produces a powerful buzzing sound like a rattle.

Courtesy of Sones de México Ensemble

Walter "Li'l Wally" Jagiello, Chicago, IL, (Polish heritage)

International

Li’l Wally’s Chemnitzer Concertina

Li’l Wally (Walter Jagiello) was a Chicago-style polka master musician who sang in both Polish and English. This highly decorated concertina (similar to an accordion) was Wally’s prized possession and primary instrument, along with the drums.

Courtesy of the Estate of Walter Jagiello and Jay Jay Record Co.

Eddie Blazonczyk, Chicago, IL, (Polish heritage)

International

Eddie Blazonczyk, Sr., 1986 Grammy Award for Best Polka Recording

Eddies Blazonczyk, Sr.’s, Versatones won this Grammy Award for the record, Another Polka Celebration. He recorded the album in his own Chicago studio for his Bel-Aire label, which he started in 1963.

Courtesy of Eddie Blazonczyk, Jr.

Americana & Country

Gretchen Wilson, Pocahontas, IL

Americana & Country

Road to Adventure — Country Music in Illinois

During the mid-20th century, it was common to hear Country and Western music on the radio. It was a compass to the American migration, whether it be to northern industrial cities or west along the magical ribbon of Route 66. By the 1980s, more country radio stations fell into the hands of corporate ownership and focus groups. The truth was lost. A new generation of adventurous Country singers had limited options.

Americana was born.

Jason Ringenberg (The Godfather of Americana), Kewanee, IL

Americana & Country

Americana music is identified with a progressive Country

Americana music is identified with a progressive Country sound that incorporates Rock, Folk, and Bluegrass. But it stretches into a pastiche of American roots music that includes Gospel, Blues, lost Honky-Tonk, and Rhythm and Blues Music. The generous rewards for the listener have been all over the map.

Alison Kraus, Decatur, IL

Americana & Country

Who could have imagined a young girl from Decatur, IL, (Alison Krauss) having a successful artistic collaboration with the lead singer of Led Zeppelin (Robert Plant)?

The Mekons, Chicago, IL

Americana & Country

Or a punk band from Leeds, England (the Mekons, with Jon Langford and Sally Timms) landing in Chicago and learning about traditional country music and dress under the charms of the Sundowners?

The Waco Brothers, Chicago, IL

Americana & Country

As the Mekons concentrated more on punk, Jon Langford started The Waco Brothers from his desire to perform more country-influenced music.

Robbie Fulks, long-time Chicago resident

Americana & Country

There are no boundaries in the music of Chicago’s Robbie Fulks with a repertoire that includes traditional Country, Folk, Pop, Bluegrass, and Michael Jackson.

Shel Silverstein, Chicago, IL

Americana & Country

Don’t forget Chicago songwriter Shel Silverstein (1930-1999). Besides being a successful children’s author and poet, the former Roosevelt University student wrote the country hit “A Boy Named Sue” for Johnny Cash,” “Tequila Shelia” for Bobby Bare Sr., and “Queen of the Silver Dollar” for Emmylou Harris.

Wilco, Chicago, IL

Americana & Country

If you find the right exit ramps, Country music remains compelling, rebellious, and full of discovery. Its Illinois roots are responsible for much of that energy.

Farm Aid 1

Americana & Country

The first-ever Farm Aid Concert was held at the University of Illinois's Memorial Stadium, on September 22, 1985. Performers included Willy Nelson, Bob Dylan, Billy Joel, B.B. King, Loretta Lynn, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty, and many more of the royalty of Country music. The event drew 80,000 people and raised $9 million for U.S. family farms.

Courtesy of Mike DuBois

Rock

Chicago, Chicago, IL

Rock

Rock and Roll's Genuine Sound

Illinois rock n’ roll is a cacophony of true emotion. Guitars, drums, keyboards, horns, tambourines, and voices come together from Zion to Metropolis. Bend me, shape me. rock n’ roll is liberation. It can be about love and loneliness and cars and bars.

REO Speedwagon, Champaign, IL

Rock

There’s a straight-to-the-heart fabric in Illinois rock n’ roll. The sound of REO Speedwagon is direct, while there’s vehicular Berwyn muscle in the Ides of March.

Styx, Chicago, IL

Rock

Sonically ambitious dreams define many of the ballads of Styx and Richard Marx.

Head East, East Central Illinois

Rock

On the flip side, there’s no escaping the working-class endurance of Head East (formed in 1969 in Carbondale).

Dan Fogelberg, Peoria, IL

Rock

Illinois is the mainline of American rock n’ roll. Look no further than Chuck Berry’s road trips from St. Louis to record at Chess Records in Chicago or Dan Fogelberg meshing Southern California rock with his Peoria roots.

OK Go, Chicago, IL

Rock

Possibility has always lived across our prairie horizon. The promise of rock n’ roll is equal to its past.

Power Pop

Cheap Trick, Rockford, IL

Power Pop

Power of Pop along the Illinois Plains

Power Pop. It goes together like the straight and narrow or a bow and an arrow. The Power is aimed at the heart with tight chords, nothing too fancy but always appointed. The Pop is melodic and playful. There is no option but to “Surrender,” as Rockford’s Cheap Trick sang in 1978.

Cryan Shames, Hinsdale, IL

Power Pop

Pop music was a smooth creation of the 1950s and early 1960s that was grounded in song structure. Illinois proved to be a fertile ground for mid-1960s pop bands like the Cryan’ Shames, the New Colony Six, and Shadows of Knight because of hormone-charged high school gymnasiums and teen clubs like the nomadic Dex Card’s Wild Goose in the Chicago area. By the 1970s tireless Central Illinois promoter Len Trumper was booking pop and rock into the Illinois State Armory and the Ice Chateau in Springfield as well as the Pekin Memorial Arena.

Pezband, Oak Park, IL

Power Pop

Power pop amped up in the late 1970s with blazing guitars, drums, occasional keyboards, and driving harmonies. Tommy Gauvenda, guitarist for the Oak Park Pop band Pezband once said that, if New York was the Stones, Chicago was the Beatles. And there was an accessible groove to the heartland sound.

Shoes, Zion, IL

Power Pop

Power Pop exploded across Illinois. For every band that scored major radio airplay, like Cheap Trick, Zion’s Shoes, and Blue Island’s Enuff z’ Nuff, so many others were toiling away in the garages and basements of Champaign-Urbana, Carbondale, Peoria, and other ports.

Power Pop

Material Issue

During the mid-1980s Chicago-based Material Issue quickly gained popularity. Other Chicago bands like the Slugs and Green dipped into the “Mod” movement along with Champaign’s the Outnumbered. These nattily dressed groups were influenced by the Who’s “Quadrophenia.” “Mods” regularly gathered at the small Chicago rock club the West End which was the precursor to the iconic Lounge Ax.

Off Broadway, Oak Park, IL

Power Pop

Off Broadway

Illinois has been a linchpin of Power Pop for sixty years. It never hoped to die before it got old. It evolved with joy and discovery. Power Pop musicians were devoted to blowing off steam and that was all that mattered. Music captured with such uncompromising passion is often the most memorable.

House & Disco

The Emotions, Chicago, IL

House & Disco

The Connection Between Disco and House Music is Unique to Illinois

During Disco’s powerhouse years of the mid-1970s, the Rhythm and Blues-influenced dance music crossed over to rock clubs and nightclubs from Chicago to Carbondale. When Disco was in the groove, it created a sense of freedom and broke down cultural and sexual boundaries.

Earth, Wind & Fire, Chicago, IL

House & Disco

However, gaudy outfits, orgasmic lyrics, layered synthesizers, and blow-dried hair defined Disco on a commercial level. In the early 1980s, Faces on Rush Street emerged as Chicago’s cologne-inspired cousin to Studio 54 in New York. At the same time, celebrity actor Mr. T got his start as a bouncer at Dingbat’s, a near north side Chicago Disco that even hosted a Sunday afternoon “kiddy disco.”

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House & Disco

Stage Costume Jacket from Earth, Wind & Fire

This glamorous stage costume jacket was worn by a backing band member of Earth, Wind & Fire. One of the most iconic R&B and Disco artists, EWF came together in Chicago in 1969. Their music has evolved over the years as they continue to put on a show like no other.

Courtesy of the Collection of The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

House & Disco

All this noise made the genre an easy target for satire – none as remarkable as 1979’s Disco Demolition at Comiskey Park in Chicago. The promotion was sponsored by rock station WLUP-FM and hosted by popular on-air provocateurs Steve Dahl and Garry Meier. A small riot ensued and the second game of the White Sox doubleheader was canceled. The stunt attracted worldwide attention.

This was the day commercial disco died.

Frankie Knuckles (Godfather of House), Chicago, IL, (born in New York)

House & Disco

House music followed. Its beat was closer to the street and it defied any marketing. It was real. Frankie Knuckles (1955-2014) was the maestro of Chicago’s internationally known House Music scene. By the late 1970s, he saw that record companies had stopped signing Disco acts, so he created his own deal. House has a fast rhythm (up to 120 beats per minute) that is drenched in body movement.

House & Disco

Technics 1100A Turntable Used by Frankie Knuckles

Frankie Knuckles used this turntable in the Warehouse nightclub in Chicago during his career as a pioneer and innovator of House Music. Knuckles was considered a master at utilizing multiple turntables to create unique sound experiences.

Courtesy of the Estate of Frankie Knuckles & the Frankie Knuckles Foundation

Steve "Silk" Hurley, Chicago, IL

House & Disco

Its bass-heavy nature punctuated Knuckles’ early samples of Talking Heads, the Police, Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, and more. The art of mixing in House music employed more effects and created a more trippy vibe than Disco. House music has emerged as one of Chicago’s most important cultural exports along with the blues and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

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House & Disco

Steve “Silk” Hurley’s Yamaha TX 81Z Synth Module

Steve “Silk” Hurley became a sought-after remixer/producer for other artists. For a decade starting in 1988, this synth was his primary instrument to create new mixes for Michael Jackson, CeCe Peniston, Inner City, Ten City, Madonna, Jomanda, and others.

Courtesy of Steve “Silk” Hurley

Derrick Carter, Chicago, IL, (born in California)

House & Disco

Knuckles said, “House Music is Disco’s Revenge.” And without House, there’s no EDM (Electronic Dance Music), no Liz Torres (bi-lingual Latin House) no Derrick Carter (soul and jazz-influenced House), and a new generation of DJs and artists like Lady Gaga, who has employed deep House and electro House. Just like all powerful musical genres, House music continues to move forward with adventure and passion.

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House & Disco

Digital Turntable Owned by Derrick Carter

This CDJ-1000 digital turntable is owned by musician, producer, and DJ Derrick Carter. An international superstar and master of underground House keyboards, Carter grew up in the western suburbs of Chicago. Over the last thirty years, he has been a sought-after global remixer for top artists including Fine Young Cannibals.

Courtesy of Derrick Carter

Industrial & Metal

Ministry, Chicago, IL

Industrial & Metal

Spot welding the sounds of Industrial and Metal music personifies some of the grittiest parts of middle America. Industrial music broke out in the mid-1970s with sparks of punk smacking up against electronics and ambient Rock n’ Roll. Industrial was also one of the first popular music genres to explore technology as a medium to deliver its sound.

Mudvayne, Peoria, IL

Industrial & Metal

Metal has some of the most devoted concert and consumer brands in all of popular music. Often characterized by loud drums and distorted guitars, metal emerged in the late 1960s and early 1970s through the commercial successes of Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple. The working-class suburb of Aurora was forever immortalized as a metal nirvana in the 1992 hit comedy film “Wayne’s World.”

Steve Albini, Chicago, IL, (born in California)

Industrial & Metal

Musician-audio engineer Steve Albini is the architect of a Chicago industrial sound that contains artistic empathy. Albini was a player in early Chicago fanzines like Matter. While at Northwestern, in 1981, he formed the punk band Big Black. Albini has worked on several thousand albums as a musician, recording engineer, and producer; a term he eschews. He has collaborated with Cheap Trick, Nirvana & many more. Albini remains active with his noise band Shellac, a hard-charging trio he helped form in 1992.

Wax Trax! Records, Chicago, IL

Industrial & Metal

The legacy of Wax Trax! Records in Chicago, Ministry, and Disturbed have influenced a new generation of musicians. Wax Trax! opened in 1978 in Lincoln Park as a go-to store for punk and power pop vinyl. The store is long gone but in 2014 the label was reborn by Julia Nash, daughter of the late co-founder Jim Nash.

Ministry, Chicago, IL

Industrial & Metal

By 1981 it established a small Wax Trax! label and its release of Ministry’s “Cold Life” created the industrial imprint that remains today.

Industrial & Metal

Ministry Stage “Prop” Microphone Stand

Industrial music giants, Ministry, have created scenic centerpiece microphone stands for frontman Al Jourgensen since 1992. This stand was designed and built by Largent Studios in 2012 for the Defibrila Tour and graces the cover of the Last Tangle in Paris live record.

Courtesy of the private collection of Al Jourgensen

My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult, Chicago, IL

Industrial & Metal

In the neon-lit spring haze of '87, Frankie Nardiello and Marston Daley met while touring with Ministry. They thought up the idea of a new art film they would call My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult. While never completed, the music was released by Wax Trax! Records, and the new Thrill Kill Kult, along with Ministry and other Wax Trax! musicians, industrial music was born.

Disturbed, Chicago, IL

Industrial & Metal

The Chicago metal band Disturbed has sold more than 17 million records worldwide, making them one of the most popular bands of the genre. Lead guitarist-keyboardist Dan Donegan started Disturbed in 1994. A native of suburban Oak Lawn, Donegan is a self-taught guitarist, having fused fusing rock with dense metal.

Disturbed, Chicago, IL

Industrial & Metal

In 2000 Disturbed released “The Sickness,” its debut studio album. It has since been certified five times platinum for shipments of over five million copies in the U.S. And Disturbed is still going strong. Deploying a heavier sound that harkened back to its roots, the band’s December 2022 release “Divisive” debuted at number 3 on the Billboard magazine Rock Album Chart and number one on the Alternative Albums Chart. There’s no argument that Industrial and Metal have put some of the most passionate noise in Illinois.

Alternative & Punk

Tom Morello, Libertyville, IL, (born in New York)

Alternative & Punk

No Rock n' Roll Sound Combines Attitude with Music as much as Punk

Panache and often politics were on the gritty ground floor of the Punk movement. Loud guitars and scorching vocals only amplified the attitude. Songs were short and layered with a blitzkrieg of sound and emotion. Every moment counted. Punk’s aggression of the late 1970s was sharply contrasted by the commercial success of Disco.

Liz Phair, Chicago, IL, (born in Connecticut)

Alternative & Punk

Punk was as dramatic as a high-speed swerve on Du Sable Lake Shore Drive.

In Chicago, circa 1977, punks and gays were dancing into the early morning at the underground Le Mere Vipere, while several blocks south an elite crowd was getting their Disco on at Faces on Rush Street. Life was moving to different beats. Something had to snap.

Naked Raygun, Chicago, IL

Alternative & Punk

The best thing about Chicago punk is how it flew under the radar of scenes in Los Angeles and New York. Chicago punk musicians had more room to experiment. The first punk wave included Tu Tu and the Pirates, Naked Raygun, and the Effigies.

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Alternative & Punk

Naked Raygun vocalist, Jeff Pezzati's Guitar

Naked Raygun is a pioneering and influential band from Chicago’s punk scene. The band started in 1980 on the city’s south side Beverly neighborhood. Vocalist Jeff Pezzati used this Telecaster-styled guitar, made in Evanston, Illinois, by Flynn Guitars, in the early part of his career with the band.

Courtesy of Jeff Pezzati - Musician and Songwriter

Smashing Pumpkins, Chicago, IL

Alternative & Punk

When Chicago punk was “discovered” by record labels and Billboard magazine in the mid-1980s, it morphed into Alternative Rock. This evolution embraced the same DIY attitude as Punk, opening up a landscape for Urge Overkill, Smashing Pumpkins, and Wilmette’s Fall Out Boy.

Far away from the city, the punk movement was becoming equally fertile. Late 1980s Peoria punkers Despondent Youth and Bloody Mess & the Skabs (punk and thrash) were noticed by national publications like Maximum Rock n’ Roll. Bloody Mess even found his way onto the Phil Donahue television show. Bands like the MC5, Black Sabbath, and the Who made sure to include Peoria on their itinerary.

Alternative & Punk

The Smashing Pumpkins Billboard #1 Award

The Smashing Pumpkins’ landmark album, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness further solidified their careers as global superstars. This Billboard Magazine Award presented to drummer Jimmy Chamberlin marks the period when the record was #1 on Billboard’s Top 200 Albums chart.

Courtesy of the Estate of Jimmy Chamberlin

Rise Against, Chicago, IL

Alternative & Punk

The punk band Rise Against emerged when Chicago’s hardcore music scene was rocking in 1999. They have released nine albums, some of which achieved mainstream success and charted worldwide. The band is known for its melodic and aggressive music, as well as its social and political activism.

Alternative & Punk

Rise Against’s Guitar

During Rise Against’s early tours and recording sessions, lead singer-lyricist-rhythm guitarist Tim McIllrath favored a white Gibson Les Paul. The words “Out of Step” printed in bold black letters on the back of the guitar is an homage and reference to a song and album by Washington, D.C., DIY Punk Pioneers.

Rap & Hip Hop

Lil Durk, Englewood, Chicago, IL

Rap & Hip Hop

The Beat in a City of Big Shoulders

Cities have always provided a fertile ground for new music, from up on the roof to under the boardwalk. But life in contemporary America has set the tone for the most intense urban marriage of Hip-Hop and Rap. This is poetry with a scorching beat. This is street dance. This is basketball. Hip-Hop and Rap have grown beyond their early inner-city origins into the suburbs and rural communities across Illinois.

Ludacris, Champaign, IL

Rap & Hip Hop

Hip-Hop is shaped by a quadrant of deliverance: deejaying, split-speed MCing, stunning graffiti, and dance. Rap has a more linear edge defined by strong beats and freestyling rhymes.

Queen Key, Chicago, IL

Rap & Hip Hop

The debate continues between the idea that Rap is a type of music, whereas Hip-Hop is a way of life. Rappers are like modern-day calypsonians, rapping and rhyming about social issues. Often, Hip-Hop’s more expansive grooves create space to look towards tomorrow.

Common, South Side, Chicago, IL

Rap & Hip Hop

Chicago’s Common (Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr.) used a neo-Soul groove to cross over into Hollywood, where he won a 2015 Academy Award for Best Original Song for “Glory” from the 2014 film “Selma,” in which he also appeared.

Chance the Rapper, Chicago, IL

Rap & Hip Hop

Chance the Rapper (Chancelor Jonathan Bennett) was born and raised in Chicago where he began distributing his music on mixtapes. His third mixtape was “Coloring Book,” released in 2018. That won three Grammy Awards. Chance has parlayed music into a business empire that includes fashion, politics, and media. He was also a member of the Hip-Hop collective Savemoney which was founded by Chicagoan Vic Mensa (formerly of Chicago’s Kids These Days.)

Lupe Fiasco, Chicago, IL

Rap & Hip Hop

Chicagoan Lupe Fiasco used poetry as the foundation for his early hip-hop rhymes that contained the distant rhythms from his father, who was an African drummer. The young Lupe was also a fan of Chicago jazz clarinet player Benny Goodman.

Da Brat, Chicago, IL

Rap & Hip Hop

Da Brat (Shawntae Harris-Dupart) is a West Side of Chicago native who paved the way for other female artists when her 1994 debut “Funkdafied” became the first female solo rap act to go platinum (1 million albums sold.)

Chief Keef, Chicago, IL

Rap & Hip Hop

Such sparks of Hip Hop and Rap are filled with beats of adventure and passion. When the mind meets the matter, everyone can rhyme and move under a collective groove.

Gear

Hamer Guitars, Arlington Heights, IL

Gear

Musician's Hardware Hits a Note in the Heartland

Illinois is a hub for many robust industries, including music manufacturers and engineering companies. The backbeat of rock n’ roll was forged in these factory floors.

And if the walls could talk……

Ludwig Drum Company, Chicago, IL

Gear

Ludwig Drum Company

Drum makers Ludwig and Slingerland created signature sets for Ringo Starr, Buddy Rich, and Cheap Trick’s Bun E. Carlos.

Sears, Roebuck and Company, Chicago, IL

Gear

Sears, Roebuck and Company

The Sears-Roebuck catalogs were the source of affordable music gear that inspired generations of blues artists. The Staple Singers patriarch Pops Staples was named Roebuck. His older brother was named Sears. Their names were a tribute to the Chicago mail order business that brought instruments to Black families in Mississippi.

Shure Incorporated, Niles, IL

Gear

Shure Incorporated

The Shure Company has been making industry-standard microphones for recording and live performing since 1931. And many of the models first introduced are still made today. In the 1970s Guitar makers like Hamer and Dean used Illinois grit to challenge the big players like Gibson and Fender. Southern Illinois engineer and former theater organ player Bob Heil masterfully refined and marketed the “talk box” guitar effects pedal popularized by Peter Frampton and Joe Walsh.

The Victoria Amplifier Company, Naperville, IL

Gear

The Victoria Amplifier Company

More recently, Victoria Amplifiers in Naperville has been making top-end guitar amplifiers for musicians like Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, and Keith Richards. Singer-songwriter John Mayer even took the time to visit the Victoria plant. Illinois is indeed a gearhead wonderland for a world of musicians.

Radio

Radio

Illinois Radio is Part of America's Musical Fabric

Due to its location in the center of America, the sound of Pop, Rock n’ Roll, Blues, Jazz, and Country music on Illinois radio resonated across the nation. You cannot tell the story of the sound of Illinois without honoring the loyal connection between music and radio.

National Barn Dance, 1940

Radio

A clear channel frequency blasts out 50,000 watts and on a clear night, Chicago radio can be heard in nearly 40 states and southern Canada. WLS-AM’s clear channel power is best known for its Rock years. But the Chicago station was founded in 1924 by Sears, Roebuck, and Company with the abbreviation of “World’s Largest Store.” WLS-AM was the home of the “National Barn Dance” between 1924 and 1959. Over the years, the barn dance featured live performances by Gene Autry, Red Foley, and singing cowgirl Patsy Montana.

WLS disc jockey Dick Biondi

Radio

The stationed lassoed the moon in May 1960 when it adopted a full-time Rock format and WLS-AM disc jockeys became Midwest celebrities. They included Dick Biondi, Clark Weber, Larry Lujack, John “Records” Landecker, Art Roberts, Bob Sirott, and Yvonne Daniels. WLS-AM continued to play music until 1989 when it moved to the all-talk format it remains today.

Pervis "The Blues Man" Spann

Radio

No Chicago radio station had more of a socio-personal connection with listeners than WVON-AM. WVON was born in 1963 with the call letters “Voice of the Negro” now “Voice of the Nation”). Chess Records owners Leonard and Phil Chess acquired the station as a way to promote their Black talent. WVON was the only AM station in Chicago where you could regularly hear artists like Muddy Waters. One of the most popular WVON personalities was Pervis “The Blues Man” Spann (1932-2022). His daughter Melody Spann is now CEO of Midway Broadcasting Corporation, which owns WVON.

WXRT host Terri Hemmert

Radio

Radio Hall of Famer and beloved WXRT star Terri Hemmert got her start at Oak Park’s WGLD in 1970 after graduating from nearby Elmhurst College. Her name was etched in radio history when she became the first woman to host a rush-hour rock program in Chicago. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, WSDM-FM played smooth jazz and was known as “The Station With the Girls” because of its all-female on-air talent that included Yvonne Daniels and future television newsperson Linda Ellerbee.

The Loop's Steve Dahl and Garry Meier

Radio

In 1977, WDSM became WLUP. “The Loop” ushered in a new, raucous personality-driven style of Rock radio. The station’s first stars were Steve Dahl and Garry Meier, Sky Daniels (also music director), and Mitch Michaels. Dahl and Meier achieved national attention for their 1979 “Disco Demolition” shenanigans. “The Loop” continued a forty-year run with talents like Jonathan Brandmeier, Mancow Muller, and Bob Stroud. “The Loop” closed down in March 2018 by playing AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell” before it transitioned into a Christian station.

The Midnight Special program

Radio

“The Midnight Special” is Chicago’s longest-running Folk music program. The weekly show on Classical music/fine arts WFMT-FM was created in 1953 by comedian Mike Nichols when he invited Blues singer Big Bill Broonzy and banjo player Fleming Brown to perform in a small studio in the Guyon Hotel on the far West Side of Chicago. The radio of the region was as diverse as the state itself.

Credits

Credits

State of Sound: A World of Music from Illinois

A featured exhibit created by ALPLM in 2021 that ran through the summer of 2023.

Exhibit Project Team:

Writer: Dave Hoekstra
Curator/Producer: Lance Tawzer
Design, Fabrication & Installation: Mike Casey, Tom Conway, Amanda Flatt, Ed Green, Dan Casson, Jojo Patarozzi
Tech / Production Team: Jeff Nevins, Kurt Williams, Garrett West, Kevin Cline, Wesley Abbott, Reggie Guyton, Ed MacMurdo, Samantha James, Nick Williams
Loans, Artifact Prep, & Photography: Lisa Horsley, Carla Smith, Bonnie Parr, Ginny Lee, Deena Vecchiollo
Editing: Christian McWhirter, PhD, Jacob Friefeld, PhD
Administration and Support: Melissa Coultas, Toby Trimmer, Dave Kelm, Hannah Ross, Brett Cox, Eric Bolinger, Darian Fernandes, Heather Nice, Patty Knepler, Joe Crain, Chris Wills, Jeremy Carrell