{"id":545252,"date":"2026-06-20T13:33:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T13:33:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/545252\/"},"modified":"2026-06-20T13:33:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T13:33:13","slug":"chicago-and-earth-wind-and-fire-all-the-similarities-between-bands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/545252\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago and Earth, Wind and Fire: All the Similarities Between Bands"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tQuestlove\u2019s stellar new documentary Earth<\/a>, Wind & Fire (To Be Celestial vs That\u2019s the Weight of the World) shines a long overdue spotlight on one of the greatest R&B\/funk acts of all time, and the genius of bandleader Maurice White. It traces the story from their earliest days in 1960s Chicago<\/a> all the way to the present, utilizing stunning archival footage, and new interviews with the surviving band members.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tBut a nagging sense of d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu rang through my head as I watched it for the first time, as if I\u2019d somehow seen a version of this movie before. It wasn\u2019t until they reached the David Foster era of the 1980s that I realized I was thinking of an entirely other band: Chicago, who were the focus of their own documentary, 2016\u2019s Now More Than Ever: The History of Chicago.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAt first, comparing the careers of the two groups might seem absurd. They occupied very different corners of the 1970s musical universe, Chicago was a true collective of talent while EWF was built around the vision of a single person, and the critics adored one and largely had disdain for the other. But when you dig deeper, there are so many parallels between the bands that it\u2019s almost eerie. We can feel your skepticism, but stick with us while we break this out.<\/p>\n

\t\tStraight From the Windy City\t<\/p>\n

\n\tChicago and Earth, Wind, & Fire, both came from the Chicago music scene of the late Sixties, drawing deep inspiration from jazz. The original lineups were both very large (11 people in EWF, nine in Chicago), and both groups eschewed the trends of the day by incorporating a horn section. A key difference is that there\u2019s no singular Maurice White figure in Chicago. Guitarist Terry Kath, bassist\/vocalist Peter Cetera, and keyboardist\/singer Robert Lamm were the key creative forces in Chicago.<\/p>\n

\t\tThe Caribou Ranch Connection\t<\/p>\n

\n\tChicago manager\/producer James William Guercio built the remote recording studio Caribou Ranch near the Colorado ghost town of Caribou in 1972. Chicago went there to record in an environment free of distraction in 1973, and the serene surroundings helped them craft the hits \u201cFeelin\u2019 Stronger Every Day,\u201d \u201cJust You \u2018n\u2019 Me,\u201d and \u201c(I\u2019ve Been) Searchin\u2019 So Long.\u201d At nearly the same exact time, Earth, Wind, & Fire went to Caribou Ranch to record Open Our Eyes and That\u2019s the Way of the World. The city kids were struck by the brightness of the stars above the ranch. \u201cWe were up in the mountains, and the stars were so close, like you could reach up and just pull a star out of the sky,\u201d White says in the EWF doc via archival footage. \u201cThat stimulated an idea to write a song called \u2018Shining Star.’\u201d It was their first Number One hit. (In the Chicago documentary, Caribou Ranch is presented more like a giant playground where they could do massive amounts of cocaine in peace.)<\/p>\n

\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n

\t\tRuling the Mid-1970s\t<\/p>\n

\n\tBoth groups reached their commercial peak at the same moment in the mid-1970s, churning out hits like \u201cIf You Leave Me Now,\u201d \u201cSing a Song,\u201d \u201cBaby, What a Big Surprise,\u201d \u201cSeptember,\u201d and \u201cOld Days\u201d that were inescapable when Gerald Ford occupied the White House. These won\u2019t all be familiar titles to millennials, but if you have clear memories of the bicentennial, you likely know them by heart.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tA Reluctant Turn to Disco in 1979\t<\/p>\n

\n\tAt the peak of the movement in 1979, Chicago and Earth, Wind & Fire both felt they had no choice but to create a disco song in order to stay relevant. EWF teamed up with the Emotions and scored a massive smash with \u201cBoogie Wonderland. \u201cThat is our one and only offering to the disco scene,\u201d EWF percussionist Ralph Johnson told Questlove, practically as an apology. Chicago had very similar misgiving about their disco song\u00a0\u201cStreet Player,\u201d which stiffed as a single, but found a new life in the 1990s when it was sampled by the Bucketheads. With both groups, their entire disco era is centered around a single song in 1979 with a very long afterlife.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n

\t\tDavid Foster Creates Hits, Discord\t<\/p>\n

\n\tThe parallels get downright bizarre when songwriter-producer David Foster enters the story of both groups at roughly the same time.\u00a0And in both documentaries, he\u2019s presented as a Faustian figure who offers them tremendous chart success at the cost of group solidarity and their musical identity. When Foster comes into the EWF story for the 1979 LP I Am, he works exclusively with Maurice White. \u201cWe played lesser and lesser roles,\u201d says EWF singer Philip Bailey. \u201cWe were definitely like a session musician. You just come in and do your part, sing on this, sing on that\u2026I felt unappreciated and betrayed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tFoster himself speaks in both films, and offers no apologies for his methods. \u201cIn the studio, with the guys in the band, I was a control freak,\u201d he told Questlove. \u201cI never hesitated to tell anybody to play something different or to play this or you\u2019re playing the wrong chord. The fan thing went out the window the moment the red light went on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFoster signed up with Chicago for 1982\u2019s Chicago IV. And once again, he worked almost exclusively with the face of the group, Peter Cetera. \u201cWe just clicked and it became fortunate and unfortunate all at the same time,\u201d Foster says in Now More Than Ever: The History of Chicago. \u201cWe became a power couple within the group.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tThat power couple created the comeback hits \u201cHard to Say I\u2019m Sorry\u201d and \u201cYou\u2019re the Inspiration,\u201d but this severely alienated the others, especially the horn players, and turned Cetera into such a big star that he left the band. \u201cPeter started to feel invincible,\u201d trumpet player Lee Loughnane says in the doc. \u201cHe started to feel empowerment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tThe Face of the Band Leaves\t<\/p>\n

\n\tIn 1985, strung out from the road and eager to focus on his solo career, Cetera quit Chicago. Ten years later, White left the EWF touring lineup after being diagnosed with Parkinson\u2019s disease. These were both devastating blows since the public saw them each as the face and voice of the groups, even though there were other very talented singes and songwriters in the bands. EWF filled the void by moving Philip Bailey to the forefront, where he\u2019s effortlessly handled White\u2019s vocal parts alongside his own for the past 30 years. Chicago, meanwhile, just brought in Rudy Cardenas as their fifth faux-Cetera.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n

\t\tA Core Unit of OGs Steer the Ship\t<\/p>\n

\n\tThroughout all the years of turmoil and change, bassist Verdine White, singer Philip Bailey, and drummer Ralph Johnson have been at the center of Earth, Wind, & Fire. When fans buy a ticket, they know these three will be flying the flag. And Bailey\u2019s voice has been a key part of the EWF sound since 1972. Chicago, meanwhile, had singer-keyboardist Robert Lamm, and the three-man horn section of Lee Loughnane, James Pankow, and Walter Parazaider from the founding in 1967 until 2018. Lamm was essentially the Bailey in this scenario since he sang many of the classics, and his presence gave the group a real sense of legitimacy. But over the past six years, Parazaider, Pankow, and Lamm left the group for health reasons \u2014 Parazaider died<\/a> this month at 81 \u2014 leaving Loughnane as the last legit member<\/a>. That means they are now one trumpet player short of being their own tribute band.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tHitting the Road, Often Together\t<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the 1990s, both EWF and Chicago found it impossible to land new songs on the radio or fill large venues on their own. They relied heavily on the summer amphitheater circuit to sell tickets, and usually shared the bill with another act. In 2004, they finally toured together. It was such a huge success they went back out in 2005, 2009, 2015, 2016, and 2024. For their fans, it\u2019s an irresistible double bill packed with horns, vintage R&B jams, Number One hits cooked up at Caribou Ranch, David Foster ballads, even more horns, and priceless memories from the Seventies. And they often came together for a super jam extended encore where they toggled between hits like \u201c25 or 6 to 4\u201d and \u201cShining Star\u201d as if they were always one big group. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Questlove\u2019s stellar new documentary Earth, Wind & Fire (To Be Celestial vs That\u2019s the Weight of the World)…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":545253,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[264],"tags":[10167,6599,18,117,19,17,337,37152],"class_list":["post-545252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-chicago","tag-earth","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-music","tag-wind-fire"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116782694874526648","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=545252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545252\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/545253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}