The Smiley Smile Message Board

For those unaware, the band Chicago (whom have had close ties to the Beach Boys) are finally getting into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  I am quite pleased that this band is finally getting a little respect.  For years critics derided them despite the group having a diehard fan base.  Sure, their music went wimpy in the 80's, but their early stuff alone is worth the induction.

In a recent interview Lamm suggested Brian Wilson as a possible candidate to induct them at the ceremony.  There is talk of the band reuniting hopefully with some of the original members such as drummer Danny Seraphine and the elusive Peter Cetera.  Looking forward to this!

Chicago is very deserving.  As is Deep Purple, Cheap Trick, and Steve Miller.

Right now, it doesn't sound good for Peter Cetera playing with Chicago though. 

Interesting to see that's it's only the original band who are receiving the honour, despite Scheff, Imboden, Howland etc having been in the band for longer than Cetera or Seraphine - and having contributed to a number of the latterday AOR 'hits'. Personally, I mostly gave up after 12/Hot Streets, and was never a fan of the Bill Champlin era, but some of the later albums were still worthy of a mention or two, so it's an interesting call to only honour the originals, especially after bands such as The Eagles had all members, including TBS, inducted...

The RNRHOF is incredibly inconsistent when it comes to which band members get inducted. 

When Black Sabbath were inducted, they only included the original lineup of Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Bill Ward, and Geezer Butler.  Despite the fact that he fronted two great and very influential Sabbath albums (three total, but the first two had the biggest impact), Ronnie James Dio was not included.

Deep Purple is being inducted this year with the MK II lineup of Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Jon Lord, and Ian Paice.  Rod Evans from the MK I lineup and David Coverdale & Glenn Hughes from the MK III lineup are also being inducted.  For some reason, Nick Simper from MK I was left out.  Not to mention current guitarist Steve Morse, who has been in the band for over 20 years now. 

Chicago's deserving but the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is a complete Joke.  Getting inducted doesn't mean anything in my opinion... I hope though that the guys in the band feel it means something and I hope they get some satisfaction out of it.  I'll definiately be watching.

The fact that Brian Eno hasn't been inducted yet is a joke.

I think it's appropriate that only the original lineup gets inducted.  I don't think there's much interesting material past album 17.  Looking at the band's setlists, rarely do they play any songs from past that era.  Even though he's said he won't be playing with them, I hope Peter Cetera changes his mind and sings at least one song with them.  If he did "Feelin' Stronger Every Day", that would be incredible.

What the hell is Peter Cetera's problem with playing with them?  He hasn't appeared anywhere since like 85 with Chicago, he's not even going to show up for the hall of fame and he sang half their hits?  He owes it to the fans. 

I think this just shows that some artists think the RNRHOF is a joke too.

When Van Halen were inducted, David Lee Roth and the Van Halen brothers didn't show.

When Guns N Roses were inducted, Axl didn't show. 

When Deep Purple go in, I'd be surprised if Ritchie Blackmore is in the building. 

There's always someone who doesn't show up. I mean, it's a drag when Mr. Roth doesn't show up for the honor, or Peter Cetera can't share a microphone with Robert Lamm again. I'd like to challenge Deep Purple or Gun N Roses to get up and jam with the Beach Boys. We'd sing Sweet Child O' Mine and they could sing Little Deuce Couple. Axl Rose has always been chicken$#it to sing with the Beach Boys.

Supposedly there's no bad blood between Cetera and the members of Chicago (Danny Seraphine on the other hand might be a different story).  I think it's very likely he'll be at the ceremony to accept his induction, he just won't be up there playing with them (but again, it might be a fake-out).  I think it would be weird though to be honoring the original lineup and then see Jason Scheff up there singing Cetera's parts when Cetera is still absolutely capable.  Though I suppose they could just do the three big Robert Lamm songs.  "Saturday In the Park", "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is", and "Beginnings".  Then having Cetera on stage wouldn't even really be necessary.

I watched a few youtube videos, he's kind of lost a step (he's really old) but how could they not have him do "25 or 6 to 4"... fuzz bass and all!  They should just make it a 15 minute long jam or something.

If there's no bad blood, maybe he's just holding out for a big reunion paycheck or something.  Watching his youtube videos to be honest I don't really like his style, overly dramatic .. it's like he takes the beautiful parts of his songs (I like his voice) and makes them so shmaltzy it loses the song for me...  He sounds good on the rockers, though...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfkvFIM-yZA


Pretty damn good in my opinion...

Peter's due to make an 'official announcement' on his website in the next few day concerning the HOF, and we hold our breath I anticipation... tho I'm more concerned as to when he's gonna announce his proposed UK show...

12/31/2015 --
http://youtu.be/kRKkWSc6Qcs

I never hear anything about the guy these days, didn't even know he was still gigging. Time to put aside the BS and get back, get back to where he once belonged.

I agree about the HoF, however I still feel this is a "win" for the band.  For decades the group never got a lot of respect; in the beginning they were looked at as a pretentious progressive band and their later "course correction" into a wimpy soft rock band didn't help.  So to see the band getting some recognition in the past few years (their debut album getting into the Grammy HoF last year was nice) is welcome and long deserved.

Cetera is quite the diva.  Who knows if he'll break bread with his former band mates but it would be in his best interest to do so.  Yes he still does a number of shows a year and despite lowering the key to most of his songs, still has a pretty good voice.  Lately he has surprisingly dusted off old Chicago numbers I never thought he'd sing again like "I'm A Man" and even "Dialogue".  If he and Seraphine reunited in a similar fashion the way the Beach Boys did, it would be a welcome coda for the group. 

BTW, on the subject of Chicago, has anyone listened to Danny Seraphine's band, C.T.A.?  Their two albums are well worth a listen.  Some very lively covers of old Chicago songs as well as some pretty good original material as well.

Posted this morning on Peter's website:

January 6, 2016

Hello Everyone! I’ve just sent this mail to everyone involved. Hopefully it will answer all the questions concerning my participation in the Hall of Fame induction..Thanks

Hello Robert, Danny, Lee, Walter, and James. I’m sending this to you and Danny since yours are the only email addresses I have. Please forward this to everyone.

First off, congratulations all around on this long overdue honor. While our fans believe we should have been inducted years ago, they find it harder to believe that we haven’t even been nominated in all that time. Oh well, we are now!
All the credit goes to those who voted for us in overwhelming numbers during the recent poll. They alone deserve our thanks for finally making this happen.
I know we all look forward to speaking that evening and I’m sure we all wish that Terry was there to join us. That can’t happen unfortunately, but I have one thing that can.
As a finale, we can walk onstage together one last time as a group, I’ll strap on the bass, and we can do 25or6to4 in the key of E. I believe it would make for one fantastic Hall of Fame moment and satisfy those who have always wanted some sort of reunion.
Along with your current members, I would also like us to invite past members Laudir de Oliveira, Donnie Dacus, Kenny Cetera, Chris Pinnick, and Bill Champlin to join us up there as well on the song. They’ve all contributed to the legacy of the group and I think this would be a fitting way to honor them.
In the end, this should go a long way towards healing old wounds and showing solidarity on that night. At least I hope so!

I bet the other guys aren't happy he's taking all the media spotlight on himself, and we await their response with baited breath !!!
Dacus ? OK...
Champlin ?? Fair enough...
But Kenny Cetera ??!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Methinks not... and what about Dawayne Bailey then ?

Sounds fair to me.  I don't know about the members or the history, but he's basically saying I'll be willing to perform if you give an open invitation to the other guys too. 

What key was 25 or 6 to 4 in originally? 

Sounds like a fair deal to me. Although I would hope that the "core" surviving members would do at least one song before inviting everybody else on stage for an "all star" type jam.

Amazingly enough, while I haven't listened (proactively) to any Beatles in my 40 years on this earth (see my Beatles playlist thread), I am quite versed on Chicago.  Exciting news about the Hall of Fame.  While I it would be a cool historic milestone if Peter C played with them, what I'd really like to see is Peter *record* with them.  Tours and live performances are so secondary to studio recordings for me.  I'd love to see Brian record with Chicago, or the Boys, or Cetera with the Boys-- whatever.  I really dig the mix of those two bands. 

I'll be honest, I find Chicago's latest album downright listenable.  That said, they've still got it.  Their voices sound great.  I prefer Cetera but still love Scheff.

Of course if Cetera does sing with the band that night, the next step will be the fans asking them to consider a tour together...and an album....and another tour....a live album...and when it ends, the fans will be all pissed off again at one side or the other or both, instead of just being thankful we got ANYTHING.

Nope, looks like it's definitely a no-go zone now...

http://petercetera.com/  February 8, 2016
I just sent this to the RnR hall of fame people. This is the the short high road nice version of what I really wanted to say. I’ll post that response at the appropriate time. Ciao,

Hello Alex and Joel!
Unfortunately, this scenario doesn’t work for me. I know we all did our best to make it happen, but I guess it’s just not meant to be.
Personally, I’m frustrated and tired of dealing with this and it’s time to move on. I have a life with two beautiful daughters and a solo career and its time to get back and give them all the full attention they deserve.
Thanks for all your help and consideration! Have a great show and please send any individual award I receive to the contact you have for me.
All the best, Peter Cetera

Wasn't Cetera the one responsible for their decent into adult contemporary/MOR/easy listening pap in the first place?

  I don't think it's fair to lay all the blame at Cetera's feet. Bill Champlin was on board by then, and when Cetera left, Champlin became the AC voice of the band. I always wondered what the horn section was doing on songs like "Look Away" - I don't hear any horns there, did they just stick those guys behind a bank of keyboards and tell them "look like you're playing"?

If you wanted to blame just one person, it would be David Foster.

Agreed.

I just read that Robert Lamm said Cetera wanted his own band there to perform too. And 25or6to4 wasn't in E and they weren't gonna play it that way. Goodness!

Edit: forgot to say the song, written by Lamm, is in A minor.

I don't see a big deal in changing the key if Cetera can't sing higher than that.

I'm going to be at the Hall of Fame show and I hope the band can sort out their differences before then.  Otherwise, they're missing a huge opportunity for their fans.

Other than a pretty bland 'official' statement from the band I haven't seen any direct comments from Robert over Peter's demands. Can I ask where you saw this remark ?

http://www.classichitsandoldies.com/v2/70004/

And, in more detail:

http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/rock/6867425/peter-cetera-chicago-rock-roll-hall-fame-induction

I picked up my bass and played it in E, really doesn't sound right to my ears.

Well.. Brian Wilson said he wouldn't reunite with his band. Look what happened...
So things could change.

Hope so!

Sad to hear this, was hoping they could do it. 

If I were Cetera and I had to sing 3 (THREE?) keys low to hit the notes, I'd just play the bass on stage and let somebody else sing it.  Or do a different song.  Or just play it with no vocals in the original key, it's kind of a big jam song anyways. 



What it comes down to though is we have no clue what the hell is going on between the band, Peter, and the Hall of Fame so who knows.