The Stone of Sisyphus

The following is a term paper on Stone of Sisyphus written by ChiKid80@aol.com. It is posted here by permission.

In the music industry most bands do not survive for more than seven to eight years. The band comes up with a few top-ten hits - maybe even an number one song - but soon fades back into the scene and eventually goes through a silent breakup.

It is even more rare for a band to pass the twenty year mark. Unlike those bands, Chicago is on their 33rd year of music making magic which all began in 1967.

Although they only have four of the original seven members left, Chicago is still touring their summers away.

It has been eight years since their last studio album and, even though they still have a large fan base, they aren't nearly as popular as they were in the late Ô70s and the early Ô80s.

During those years, they produced four number ones: "Look Away", "Just You N' Me", "If You Leave Me Now", and "Hard To Say I'm Sorry" - all of which were ballads.

One might say that their decreasing popularity is because of a lack of original compositions on studio albums in recent years.

Their past four albums (Twenty-1, Night & Day, Heart Of Chicago Volume 1, and Heart Of Chicago Volume 2) have flopped in record sales.

Others say it is because they are getting older and there is less of a music category to place them in.

In theory, this problem of a shrinking fan base could easily have been solved in 1993 with the release of the album entitled Stone Of Sisyphus.

This album was supposed to be the next great musical work in American history. It was produced by Peter Wolf who worked as a keyboard player for Frank Zappa.

Zappa was another known artist credited for expanding the realm in which music thrives. Wolf let the band members have the freedom to do what they wanted to do musically in the studio.

Jimmy Pankow, trombone player and writer for the group stated that, "Peter Wolf...inspired us." Walt Parazaider, sax player and original member for Chicago recalls, "Peter wolf said to me, ÔI want you to bring over your bass clarinet, your clarinet, all your saxes, all your flutes, everything. We're going to use everything the way you used to use it in the old days' and that was a very exciting thing for us."

The product of this freedom and creativity was a twelve track album. This album redefined how music was to be made and how it was going to sound.

Parazaider noted that the album "...was a record that had to be made. Especially after all the proddings by Warner Bros., with the success of all the ballads that we had, this band had to go back into doing a band approach, band concept album, where the band lives with the music from the get-go, we're all involved in it, from the writing to throwing in our suggestions to rehearsing the stuff or whatever..."

The problem was, the record companies couldn't understand it and labeled it too risky. Warner Brothers refused to release the album and dropped the band from their label because they didn't produce the ballad type material that sold big in the late 80's.

Pankow says that Warner Bros.couldn't deal with the album. He says, "Warner Bros. heard the thing and said, ÔWe don't get it. What is this?' They simply didn't understand because it wasn't what they expected it to be."

"Warner Bros. didn't get the record," Parazaider says, "in fact, they disliked it so much, they figured maybe we should part ways, which we did."

The reason the record company didn't get the album was because it wasn't the pop ballads that Chicago was known for turning out in the past few years. This album consisted of a whole myriad of styles from funk to heavy metal and from straight ahead rock to rap. In reality, if this album was released, it would have put Chicago back on top of the charts, kept them with a big name label, kept the band from firing another guitarist, put them in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and made them legends for doing such a unique album.

In 1993 the music world was looking for direction. Rap had finally gotten some radio attention, the glam rock of the mid to late Ô80s was slowly fading, and everything that was known to be rock or pop was now either changing to the alternative scene or the dance/r&b side of the music spectrum. At this point in time, the creativity of Stone Of Sisyphus (also commonly called SOS) would have been welcomed with open arms into the music world. Pankow notes, "We took a lot of risks on this record." This album was filled with "ballsy" rock, rap, heavy metal, r&b, and ballads.

The band was clearly making a statement that they could play any style of music and were very capable of leading rock and roll into the millennium.

Unfortunately the album was shelved (a music industry term for put on hold) and the grunge scene lead by Kurt Cobain and Nirvana took control of the music world's ears.

One might ask why this great album wasn't released. Why was it hidden from the music world? Bill Champlin, singer and writer for the band noted simply that, "... there aren't enough thin pop songs on it (Champlin)."

Dawayne Bailey, the former guitarist for the band agreed with Champlin, saying that there were, "not enough ballads and not enough traditional Chicago-type happy tunes" on the album.

It's simple - the record producers couldn't understand it. They had no idea what to make of the creation. It was too different, too risky, and too modern for what they thought would sell.

Pankow notes, "It's just, this record is so great.I mean, it's gotta be great if those suits [executives] are so puzzled, that I know we did the right thing (Comments)." Not only did the record producers from Warner turn the album down, they also told the band that they didn't think Chicago could produce any more hits for the label and weren't going to risk another album like the one the band just gave the company.

Therefore, they were set free from their contract with the company. After being turned down from numerous other companies such as Giant and Reprise, the band decided to scrap the album.

If this album would have been released, and it wouldn't have flopped, Chicago would still be with a big name label and would have been able to continue making the music they wanted to make rather than what other record companies expect them to make.

Most bands carry a certain reputation. Some are considered bad boys, and some are considered touring animals. Chicago's reputation however is one that is quite different. They have a reputation of being rough on guitarists and typically firing them after a few years of service. Dawayne Bailey is one such example. Dawayne is the guitarist that did a great job filling in the void after the original guitarist, Terry Kath, died in 1978.

Dawayne could sing and play the guitar where as others that had the position usually just played and didn't sing very well. Dawayne could also write incredible music that was complex and showcased the Chicago horns to the maximum.

His masterful talents were shown on parts of SOS. He is credited with writing two of the twelve tracks and he played on three of them. He was used constantly however for his vocal skills.

Had the album been successful, Chicago would have kept their contract with him and he would have gotten much more recognition. Instead, after the band decided not to continue the fight to release the album, Dawayne was fired. Dawayne says one of the reasons was because he did not conform to the band.

He noted that "I had been with them for almost a decade and I didn't conform to dressing or acting like them."

This does not mean that he didn't play their style. He is speaking of physical appearance. Dawayne has long hair which was almost always put in a bandanna. He wore a different style of clothes and also had different religious tastes. Also, his stage antics tended to be extreme. He would break guitars and play the guitars with his mouth or tongue.

The other huge deciding factor in Dawayne being fired was that he didn't want to move on to the next project that the band had in mind. Chicago wanted to move on to the album Night & Day where they planned on playing swing tunes from the early 1900's and put them to a more modern beat. Dawayne wasn't set on the idea for the next album and said that, "the Big Band stuff made me feel like I was playing on a cruise ship."

Bailey protested the direction of the project and was ultimately terminated from the group. Had SOS been released, Dawayne would have been with the band much longer if not for the rest of their careers. He was a huge part of that album.

There is an uproar within the ranks of the Chicago fans. They are upset with the fact that the band has yet to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It's very strange that a band who has sold 120 million albums over 33 years, had 35 top 40 hits on Billboard's Hot 100, and has 19 full length albums either gold or platinum hasn't been inducted into the hall. If SOS would have been released, Chicago would already be in the hall. The album would rank them with groups like the Beatles, Led Zepplin, and The Who.

If nothing more than just for bragging rights,this album would have changed the way music would be made and would have influenced all the music to follow. It would have been the next great album.

Having heard the album (yes, I have a bootleg copy of it that was given to me by a fellow Chicago fanatic), I rank the music along-side albums such as Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys and Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band by the Beatles. William Ruhlman from the All-Music Guide was quoted as saying that the album "may be one of the better lost albums in rock history"

It is different from anything that was being made at the time. It is an innovative album and would have greatly improved the style and quality of the music heard on the radio.

To say that this album is needed in the industry is a severe understatement. This album could easily save the rock and roll that has been dying slowly. The grunge that appeared in the early 90's wrecked the rock scene. Instead of being about the music, these groups were about fame and money. This album wasn't made to be famous or to be profitable. This album was made to stretch the musical boundaries as we know them. It was also created to be different. Chicago was stretching away from the normal music spectrum.

They were also stretching away from their expected music spectrum of power rock ballads. Instead of playing the ballads that everyone was accustomed to in the 80's they were experimenting successfully with styles like funk, pop, hard rock, rhythm and blues, and rap. Jimmy Pankow proudly mentioned at the completion of the album in 1994, "We have our lives back. I haven't been this proud of a f----- album since I can remember."

This album was proof that after thirty some years, the band has not let the creative juices run dry. They pushed the limits of many styles of music and created an album that was so powerful the record executives couldn't understand it and wouldn't take a chance that the listening public might not understand it as well. As of now, the band still has not released the album in it's entirety. Bits and pieces of the album have showed up on greatest hits packages here and there, but the full album has yet to show up on the store shelf. This is because it's still way too advanced to be understood.

The Beatles had their Magic Mystery Tour, Led Zepplin had IV, and Aerosmith has Toys In The Attic. From my personal listening to the album and reading the reviews about it, there is no doubt that this album would out rank all of those other records. The band has sold over 120 million albums and this album is proof of the success, talent and musicianship that the band contains. This album truly needs to be made available to the public - if not for them to revive their careers, to help bring rock and roll back to where it belongs and to push rock and roll into the 21st century.

Back to the SOS page.