Chicago "Underground" Music that made it big!

Kanye West (complex.com)

Whether you like them or not, the lesser known bands of today will be your favorite bands ever in the next few years. You can hold on to your oldie but goodies (i.e. Journey, Oasis, Rod Stewart, P!nk) but you're going to have to open your ears, and possibly your heart. Let me show you why!

Think for a second about what you listened to about 5 years ago. Nothing you listen to today? That wouldn't be surprising. I've found music to be cyclical. For instance, 5 years ago I was a "scene" kid and would have paid up wards of $50 for a My Chemical Romance anything. Today, I'm more Bloc Party, We Are Scientists and toss in some Nickel Creek. See what I mean?

To go back to the topic at hand, there are many bands that stem from the great city of Chicago that you didn't even know a few years ago. I suppose I'm using the term "underground" to mean lesser known. Today, these bands' songs are stuck on infinite repeat on your iPod and you don't even mind.

Musicians like Plain White T's, Fall Out Boy, and Kanye West are household names today that practically no one knew a handful of years ago. Alas, those of us who are cool enough to know bands before they are cool have been listening to their musical stylings since before they made it big!

Let me get something off my chest real quick. The song "Hey there Delilah" came out more than a year before it got popular. This is also the same with the song "Paper Planes" by M.I.A. I am just baffled. I don't know why, but these occurrences make me crazy!

Again, back to the point. You love Kanye West. Everyone does. Just admit it. "Good Morning" is a great song. Before I had mono in high school I had no clue who Kanye was, but after 2 straight weeks of watching MTV (when they sometimes played music videos, shocking, I know) and seeing his video "Through the Wire" about a bazillion times, I couldn't get that song out of my head. Needless to say I was hooked for life. I might have been a tad peeved when he used Daft Punk's "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" for his song, aptly named "Stronger", but it was still good.

All the scene kids are in love with Fall Out Boy now. They know it deep down if they don't actively admit it. Who can't love a band who has a member who names their child Bronx Mowgli? Adorable? Sure... I even listened to a few of their songs all the way though a few times, but this was because I was watching the funny interpretations/ drawings online of emo songs. I can't find those anywhere today!

The point of this strand of random thoughts: Chicago is the power house of creating bands that you will love at some point in your life. If you try to disagree with this I will prove you wrong. Just try me.