Trivia / Chicago (Band)

• Channel Hop: Started at Columbia Records before signing with Full Moon/Warner Bros. Records (though their last two albums under their contract were released through Warner's Reprise label instead), then did a one-album deal with Giant Records before going indie. They later signed with Rhino (who had acquired the band's Columbia albums when the rights to the masters reverted to the band in 1995) for two albums before going indie again.
• Saved from Development Hell: Stone of Sisyphus was originally Chicago XXII in 1994. It was eventually released in 2008 as Chicago XXXII, after a label change (the original label was one of the main reasons why it wasn't released in '94) and with one track missing.
• Screwed by the Network: Chicago XIV was hit with this badly, as Columbia wasn't sure about the band's appeal after Hot Streets and Chicago 13 failed to impress. They gave the album no advertising to speak of, refused to fund a concert tour, and declined to release any singles for it. Bear in mind, Columbia had re-upped the band to a million-dollar-per-album contract, so they lost a lot more money on XIV than normal. Columbia ultimately bought the band out of their contract, and the legally-owed Greatest Hits: Volume II was dumped right up against Queen's own Greatest Hits compilation.
• Throw It In!: On a lot of the early albums. Many fans got upset when the false start for "Happy Man" got removed from the Rhino remaster of Chicago VII. Also, listen near the end of "Aire" for a more... humorous example.
• What Could Have Been: They had initially been signed to play at Woodstock, but they had a contract with concert promoter Bill Graham which allowed him to move their concerts at the Fillmore West. He rescheduled some of their dates to August 17, thus forcing them to back out of the concert. Graham did so to ensure that Santana would take their slot at the festival, as he managed them as well.

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