Chicago Blues: The City & The Music by Mike Rowe

Rowe, Mike. Chicago Blues: The City & the Music. New York, NY: Da Capo, 1981. Print. “Chicago has always had a reputation as a ”wide open town” with a high tolerance for gangsters, illegal liquor, and crooked politicians. It has also been the home for countless black musicians and the birthplace of a distinctly urban blues—more sophisticated, cynical, and street-smart than the anguished songs of the Mississippi delta—a music called the Chicago blues. This is the history of that music and the dozens of black artists who congregated on the South and Near West Sides. ”

Sounds of Reform: Progressivism and Music in Chicago by Derek Vaillant

Vaillant, Derek. Sounds of Reform: Progressivism and Music in Chicago, 1873-1935.Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina, 2003.Print.

” Sounds of Reform looks at the history of efforts to propagate this vision and the resulting encounters between activists and ethnic, immigrant, and working-class residents. Musical progressives sponsored free concerts and music lessons at neighborhood parks and settlement houses, organized music festivals and neighborhood dances, and used the radio waves as part of an unprecedented effort to advance civic engagement. For residents with ideas about music as a tool of self-determination, musical progressivism could be problematic as well as empowering. The resulting struggles and negotiations between reformers and residents transformed the public culture of Chicago.”

The Chicago Music Scene: 1960s and 1970s by Dean Milano

Milano, Dean. The Chicago Music Scene: 1960s and 1970s. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Pub., 2009. Print. “This is the story of two decades of the Chicago music scene-the 1960s and 1970s, an incredibly vibrant period in urban and suburban music scenes across the country and throughout the world. Chicago was a major player throughout those decades. It was a time when jazz, rock and roll, country and western, folk, blues, and R & B flowed through the streets of Chicagoland. Much has been written about the national and international talent of that time, but not enough has been written regarding local music scenes. This story focuses on the city of Chicago (along with its suburban club scene) and the homegrown performers who made the 1960s and 1970s one of the most electrifying and memorable periods in music history. .”

House Music…the Real Story by Jesse Saunders

Saunders, Jesse, and James Cummins. House Music– the Real Story. Baltimore: Publish America, 2007. Print. “Jesse Saunders’ story is one of the most important in the history of popular culture. From his hometown of Chicago, Jesse created the first original House music record and launched the House music movement across the land. Eventually, his style of music would come to sell millions of records and CDs, take over the popular consciousness of millions of kids across the earth and cement the electronic revolution in music. ”

Office Girl by Joe Meno

Meno, Joe, Cody Hudson, and Todd Baxter. Office Girl: A Novel. New York: Akashic, 2012. Print. “This novel is about young people doing interesting things in the final moments of the last century. Odile is a lovely twenty-three-year-old art-school dropout, a minor vandal, and a hopeless dreamer. Jack is a twenty-five-year-old shirker who’s most happy capturing the endless noises of the city on his out-of-date tape recorder. Together they decide to start their own art movement in defiance of a contemporary culture made dull by both the tedious and the obvious. Set in February 1999—just before the end of one world and the beginning of another—Office Girl is the story of two people caught between the uncertainty of their futures and the all-too-brief moments of modern life”   Other media:

Pump Up the Volume Documentary

From its roots in Chicago, where it rose from the ashes of Disco, House music became the soundtrack to every fashion show, after–show party, premiere, and club opening around the world. House has influenced more artists than any style since rock ‘n’ roll. Pump Up the Volume follows the story from Chicago and New York to Britain, interviewing key players on both sides of the Atlantic. It also considers the social impact of House—a sound that has transcended class, race, and cultural boundaries to become the soundtrack of modern popular culture.

Chicago Blues Documentary 

Documentary about Chicago Blues and the migrating black community that brought it there. Made in 1972 the political tensions of the late 60’s are still an all pervasive presence but it makes for an edgy and atmospheric portrayal of the era and the music.

The Field: Violence, Hip Hop & Hope For Chicago Documentary

A Profile Of The City’s Hottest Artists, The Violence That Surrounds Them And The Hope Music Brings To Their Lives

Noisey: CHIRAQ

Noisey presents an 8 part documentary on the music, culture, politics and young people behind Chicago’s current rap music scene.