Seattle had its time. Detroit had its time. And it seems like it’s always New York’s time. But a hurricane could be brewing in Chicago that the casual observer might easily shrug off as nothing more than a passing breeze.
Thursday, Jan. 22 saw five of Chicago’s brightest and most brazen descend upon the Double Door for the Maybe Chicago? compilation record release party. Maybe Chicago? (Criminal IQ), titled in reference to 1978’s Brian Eno-produced No New York compilation, could become into the world’s welcome mat to the underground that has dominated clubs like Beat Kitchen, the Mutiny and Lyons Den. Chicago’s unique breed of guitar-heavy, non-bass-driven rock ‘n’ roll has been ripening for decades, and it might finally be time for the masses to take their first bite.
The Baseball Furies, the Functional Blackouts, VeeDee, the Manhandlers and Miss Alex White were on full display Thursday in an orgiastic spectacle of decadence and adrenaline-brewing crooning. These groups, along with the other seven bands featured on Maybe Chicago?, have defined what could be the near future of Chicago music.
Propped up only tangentially by the local press and shows sponsored by area porn/rock zine Horizontal Action, the release of Maybe Chicago? could be the moment that this sector of Chicago music breaks out of its inherently localized fanbase.
Perhaps the most surprising aspect of Maybe Chicago?, however, is just how commercially viable most of the music is. Unlike other Chicago musical entities that reject any and all forms of popular appeal (just glance at the Skingraft Records catalogue), a majority of the 12 bands on Maybe Chicago? are influenced by popular music that has been released within the past 30 years.
This is why Maybe Chicago? has the potential to break these bands through to the mainstream. The compilation is more than just another album meant to satisfy record collectors, to inflate these bands’ discographies, or to serve as a fallback crutch for “adventurous” college radio DJs.
The music on the compilation recalls great American and British bands like Jefferson Airplane and the MC5, The Buzzcocks and the Beatles, The White Stripes and the Misfits, The Stooges and Bob Seger.
That said, it isn’t easy to categorize this music. Although it can be bizarre at times, more often than not it sounds eerily familiar. Maybe Chicago? shows that the Windy City hasn’t been idle while the nation’s musical camera has been focused elsewhere.
After all, Chicago was listening when people turned to San Francisco and Detroit in the 1960s and New York in more recent times. Maybe Chicago? simultaneously looks back to the past and forward toward the future. It is a tour de force that has been several years in the making and is finally ready for the world to see.
You’ll still likely find these bands playing basement parties in Logan Square in the near future, but it wouldn’t be surprising if Maybe Chicago? was the impetus they needed to reach that next level.
Medill junior Seth Porges is a writer for PLAY. He can be reached at [email protected].
