ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Chicago Rock VS Detroit Rock

Updated on April 13, 2011

Detroit Rocks or Chicago Rocks

Proof Chicago Still Rocks
Proof Chicago Still Rocks
Detroit and Mitch Ryder are Synonymous
Detroit and Mitch Ryder are Synonymous

Legendary Chicago

Legendary Chicago Leads the WAy
Legendary Chicago Leads the WAy

Detroit or Chicago Rock Groups - Who Is Better?

I've been exposed to a lot of different styles of music and one thing I realized is that location or region often spawns a certain 'sound'. Take the 'San Francisco Sound' or 'Philly Sound' for example.

When you say San Francisco I think of the hippies and yippies and drug-oriented music. I think of the Byrds and Jefferson Airplane, although I am uncertain they came from there. The Philly sound reminds me of Darryl Hall and the mellow sounds that came from there in the 60's.

When I think of the Detroit sound, I imagine fast, hard and gritty rock. Sometimes over the edge and uncontrolled. When I think of Chicago rock I think of great pop songs, horns, and well played instrumentals.

A large chunk of my personal record collection is the Chicago-Detroit sound. Well, Chicago has its own blues-jazz-soul collection going way back and Detroit has its own blues and folk. But, let's compare apples with apples. Rock is a broad sweeping category and so we'll cover rock in both cities.

Who Is Better?

Before I start naming names I want to put a restriction on this competition. Groups that hail from Chicago or Detroit only include those whose majority of members came from there or within the metropolitan areas (suburbs). Flint Michigan is not Detroit and so Grand Funk is disqualified and Michael Jackson is from Gary, Indiana and Gary is not Chicago so he is disqualified.

So from the top of my head I will list some great Detroit bands (or those considered great by others).

  1. Bob Seger
  2. Suzi Quatro
  3. Ted Nugent
  4. Amboy Dukes
  5. Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels
  6. The Rockets
  7. The Romantics
  8. The Dictators
  9. MC 5
  10. ? and the Mysterians
  11. Frijid Pink
  12. Iggy Pop and the Stooges
  13. Rare Earth

And here are some Chicago bands:

  1. Chicago (duh)
  2. Ides of March
  3. Survivor
  4. Styx
  5. American Breed
  6. Shadows of Knight
  7. Cryan Shames
  8. The Buckinghams
  9. The Mauds
  10. New Colony Six
  11. Dennis Deyoung
  12. Puzzle
  13. Chase

Wow, how do you decide?

Well on one hand I would have to say that Detroit has better guitarists than the Chicago Bands overall. Yet it seems Chicago has the better, more versatile singers.Weel, what about excitement? We can pin Mitch Ryder's "Sock It To Me Baby" against Ides of March "Vehicle".

Well, pretty even here. Those 2 songs are great to get up in the morning with. Overall, though, I would say Detroit rocks a smidge more than Chicago and for this round the winner is Detroit.

It was close and if anyone knows any band or rock performer who could tip the scales in the event let me know. I know I must have forgotten somebody.

POSTSCRIPT SEPTEMBER 3, 2009

I'm looking back and obviously Detroit has the edge in excitement, in yesteryears. For me, except for perhaps Mitch Ryder and Jim McCarty (and whatever band he is currently in), what's left of Detroit sounds old and tired. Now Grand Funk (and Mark Farner) sound pretty good after all these years but they are NOT Detroit. They are Flint Michigan and I consider them farmboys. Suzi Quatro wavers between exciting and "I'm gettin' old mama". Yet, I shouldn't even count her as Detroit as she has been a British pop sensation and she lives in England.

On the flip side of the coin you have Chicago, the city and the band. They've gotten tired at times but these guys continue to rejuvenate. They are like a wine that improves with age. Bill Champlin, whom I believe has voice problems when he sings for Chicago has gotten better and even outshines Rod Stewart. Bill has since left the band. Robert Lamm has the voice to die for. As smooth as Steve Lawrence, he continues to develop a vocal that is in the Sinatra/Martin/Davis Jr. class. Chicago was a band who stunk live back in the 70's. Today they are the best sounding live performer around.

In that category, with even more excitement is the Ides of March, the 'poor man's' Chicago. Behind the tutelage of ex-Survivor grammy award winning songwriter Jim Peterik this band will pump you up. When you see them live it's like geting a double dose of vitamin B.

Did I forget to mention Styx? Even without Dennis Deyoung (who is doing great as a solo artist), Styx is even more exciting and unpredictable than ever before. Tommy Shaw has taken the band to new levels.

So what's the verdict you ask? Chicago vs Detroit? Right now it's Chicago.

Rock Poll

Who Rocks More?

See results
working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)