Worst Chicago song

Yeah, thank goodness we had Jason Scheff - who blew his load with one song. Bill Champlin, for as good as he was as a player and singer, didn't even seem to have that in him. He had one single release that peaked at #75. How does a two-time Grammy-winning songwriter not go further than that?

Ed

 

I actually love Chicago X and Chicago XI and in my opinion a return to form for the original lineup of Chicago after a slight dip with Chicago VIII.

 

You are giving Jason credit for writing one more good song than I am willing to.

 

You're right. That credit belongs almost completely to Bobby Caldwell. Those chord changes and melodies in "What Kind of Man Would I Be" are all Bobby. Not sure what Jason contributed, honestly. Certainly none of the other pablum he contributed during that period hit.

Ed

 

I know this isn't a popular opinion, but I have a hard time understanding why anybody would like "Questions 67 & 68", let alone management think it was the best foot forward as their debut single. I think the horn parts are stodgy, the lyrics are totally clunky, and the tempo drags compared to every other groove they put out there in that time period.

What, did Questions 1 -66 suck so bad that anything after those had to be an improvement?

 

When all the laughter dies from III = nails on a blackboard !
Do I threadcrap when I say I like the 25 or 6 to 4 remake ?

 

First album, first track -> Last album, last track

 

Great song, but agreed it wasn't single material

 

"I've Been Searching So Long"

 

I love Chicago but do not enjoy any of the songs done by Cetera's replacements.

 

Wow, to me it's the exact opposite...Show Me The Way is the only song I skip on that album. Well, not skip as it is the last song on the record, but you get my drift.

NJB

 

Show Me The Way has a different, interesting ending.
I don't mind that song.
It's certainly not a candidate for one of the group's worst. Other songs on that LP take that honor.

 

Hey Little Tomboy. Oh wait, wrong band.

 

Anything with mushy peter cetera

 

Foster didn't replace Guercio. 5 years separated them.

Guercio --> Ramone --> Dowd --> Foster

 

Didn't they have a song where they were in the studio and it was a time on the clock like 3:45 so they decided to make a song called 3 forty five? Whatever that was surely the worst.

 

I've always felt slightly nauseated by Cetera's ode to statutory rape, "Little Miss Lovin'" from Hot Streets. I wonder how much cocaine it took to get The Bee Gees to participate...

 

Coming from a Beatle fanatic like me.....

CHICAGO's WORST ALBUM TRACKS

1969-1977 (the Original CHICAGO)
None - I consider this original lineup of CHICAGO as one of pop/rock's greatest bands of all time. My second favorite band after The Beatles.


Kath-less and Guercio-less Chicago**

from the album Hot Streets (1978)
Little Miss Lovin'
Take A Chance
Ain't It Time


from Chicago 13 (1979)
All except "Street Player"


from Chicago XIV (1980)
Where Did The Lovin' Go
Birthday Boy
Hold On
The American Dream


From Chicago 16 (1982)
What You're Missing
Waiting For You To Decide
Chains
Rescue You
Love Me Tomorrow


from Chicago 17 (1984)
Remember The Feeling
Along Comes A Woman
You're The Inspiration
Please Hold On
Prima Donna

Karaoke Chicago (Chicago Pretenders)**** - I abhor this band

1986 - Present
All album tracks except "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" from The Christmas Album

NOTES:
**Underrated monster guitarist and one of the three lead vocalists Terry Kath died in January 1978.
Producer James William Guercio parted ways with Chicago as record producer, manager and mentor (late 1977).

****Bass player and one of the three lead vocalists Peter Cetera left the band in 1985.
Original drummer Danny Seraphine was dismissed from the band in 1990.

 

IMHO I think the Diane Warren songs like "Look Away" are decent songs by themselves but it made Chicago sound like a vanilla top 40 band instead of the band they were in their prime...Peter Cetera and David Foster furthered the band into "anonymous" territory...I agree with most that they were AWESOME up until Terry's unfortunate accident...with very few "unlistenable" tunes up until then...

 

This

 

Dittos.

 

That isn't a bad song in any way. Amy Grant was one of the top artists of the CCM genre.
However, the song didn't seem right for Cetera & certainly not the kind of song Chicago should record.

 

Even after Peter Cetera left the band in 1985, the remaining four original band members furthered the band into "anonymous and generic" territory even more. Instead of resetting the band's tarnished image while there's still a chance to do so, they kept on releasing songs that are even worse than anything that they have recorded before like those cringe-inducing and generic-sounding Diane Warren songs.
What is sickening is the fact that the four original band members are guilty of blame shifting by singling out Peter Cetera as the reason why they became a ballad band. No wonder Peter Cetera hate them so much.

 

I wonder why Lamm was AWOL in terms of writing.
He just give up? Or only sporadically contribute songs?

I know he had personal issues, but thought he conquered those (rehab).

The former heart of the group (in terms of songwriting) seemed to just "coast."

Odd because without Lamm, CHI wouldn't likely have soared to the heights they soared to without the masterpieces he wrote for the first 3-4 LPs.

 

The most obvious answer to your question is keyboardist and one of the three lead vocalists Robert Lamm just rested on his laurels as the major songwriter of the very successful original lineup (1969-1977) and just stopped trying to become prolific again as a songwriter for the group after Kath died in 1978.

Robert Lamm's most prolific years as the major songwriter for the original CHICAGO was the time period 1969 to 1972. So I have to include their fist number one album "Chicago V" (1972) where he wrote 8 of the ten album tracks. He wrote masterpieces for the first 5 albums and his songwriting contribution became fewer and fewer for the succeeding albums (1973-1978). I believe his last great songs was "Hot Streets" from the 1978 album of the same name.