Is REO Speedwagon Illinois' greatest band? Voters say yes.
I can't fight the feeling that something is amiss here.
Sure, I'm a fan of REO Speedwagon. Just the other day on my morning walk, I played 1977's Platinum-selling "You Get What You Play For" live album. It was released during my high school years, a time when the music you listen to becomes part of your DNA.
But then the Top 10 list came out. Can REO Speedwagon really be the best music act to come out of Illinois?
So say the good folks at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, which administered a contest for Illinois200, the state's bicentennial celebration effort.
What about Cheap Trick, whose "Cheap Trick at Budokan" album ranked among Rolling Stone magazine's 500 best albums?
Those guys were just inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Cheap Trick did make the Top 10, however, ranking fourth on the list of Illinois bands.
And for Pete's sake, what about "Chicago"? They were inducted in 2014.
That Chicago didn't make the list of 21 nominees from which voters could choose seems to me a magnificent oversight.
Voters were given 21 musical acts to vote for, and here are the Top 10:
1. REO Speedwagon
2. Alison Krauss
3. Nat King Cole
4. Cheap Trick
5. Miles Davis
6. Benny Goodman
7. Buddy Guy
8. Earth Wind & Fire
9. Muddy Waters
10. Sam Cooke
Alison Krauss has a lovely voice, but when one of her songs comes on the radio, are you likely to crank up the volume like you would with "25 or 6 To 4?" There is no arguing that Nat King Cole broke new ground, but do you pull out his records anytime other than Christmas?
Buddy Guy and Muddy Waters are the gold standard in blues, and Sam Cooke's music still soothes the soul.
I have few qualms with the Top 10, and I concede my musical tastes may not align perfectly with those of the rest of the world. That explains why Todd Rundgren is not the top-selling artist of this century or any other.
But this dis of Chicago is stuck in my craw.
Chris Wills, the communication director for the museum, said solicitations were made on social media for nominees. His group made sure to include acts from various parts of the state and from various genres.
He said REO represented Champaign and Cheap Trick was included for Rockford.
"Chicago was not nominated," he said. As far as '70s rock goes, "We thought that would be kind of repetitive."
Among the also-rans in the list of 21 nominees were Gene Krupa, Willie Dixon, Georg Solti, Rachel Barton Pine, Smashing Pumpkins, Kanye West, Chance the Rapper, Mahalia Jackson, Thomas Dorsey, the Staple Singers and John Prine.
Part of my kinship with the band Chicago stems from having met trombonist Jimmy Pankow in the neighborhood when he lived near a friend of mine in Arlington Heights.
Trumpet player Lee Loughnane attended my wife's elementary school in Elmwood Park.
I consulted Daily Herald music columnist Brian Shamie for his thoughts on some other acts with suburban connections who he thought might qualify, and he offered up The Buckinghams, Plain White Ts, Fall Out Boy, Rise Against, Liz Phair, Richard Marx, Eddie Vedder, and Fremd and St. Viator High School's most outspoken son - Ted Nugent.