Bands and Artists Made Chicago

Chicago has taken its place in music history as a vibrant city that has been responsible for influencing of many music genres as well as the evolution of others. The Chicago music scene has forever been associated with blues music and the windy city is widely known as the birthplace of house music.

Pioneers of Chicago blues were artists like Howlin’ Wolf, Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters and Bo Diddley. In its earliest years blues was created by black musicians who made their music and turned it into something with a richer and better sounding sound every time they picked up an instrument. It was in Chicago where musicians began fiddling with other instruments and adding them to their songs, which ultimately led to rock and roll as a music genre.

As the second major music genre of Chicago jazz was heard in every club of the time and many musicians, most of who were originally from New Orleans, performed alongside blues musicians. Miles Davis played in Chicago in this time, as well as other great musicians like Herbie Hancock, Benny Goodman or Ramsey Lewis.

When electronic music began as a new genre, artists like Robet Owens, Ron Hardy, Farley Jackmaster Funk and Adonis were there and made an impression on others that would follow in their path.

After setting the beginnings of rock and roll, the Chicago pop and rock scene began to produce bands and artists like Styx, Jim Peterick and Cheap Trick. Punk rock and pop punk evolved from rock origins and Chicago was the home or stage for many artists, including Epicycle, Naked Raygun, The Effigies, Alkaline Trion or Flatfoot 56.

Chicago alternative rock made popular names like The Smashing Pumpkins, Eddie Vedder, Kill Hannah and the Plain White T’s. The indie music scene has a few local names basically unheard of, but who still show great talent and promise: Steepwater or Asteria.

Folk and country music have produced a few names, while R&B and hip hop artists like R. Kelly, Rhymefest, Twista, Lupe Fiasco and Kanye West became known mostly in the late 90s and early 2000s.