Chess Records & Opinions on Dark Night of the Soul

Jim and Greg explore the history and influence of Chess Records. During its 25 year run, the Chicago label put out music by Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters—forever changing the sound of rock and roll.

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American Idol is currently on summer vacation, but they've still been making quite a bit of news. The pop music contest and music industry juggernaut has decided to take its business to Universal Music and away from Sony. In years past, the show's winners and runners-up released albums on Sony under the direction of powerhouse Clive Davis. Now it appears that Interscope executive Jimmy Iovine will become the new mentor. In addition, both Simon Cowell and Ellen DeGeneres are out as hosts. Kara DioGuardi may also be leaving. In their place? Possibly Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler. And, since it's been years since Idol produced a Carrie Underwood or Kelly Clarkson, hopefully these changes will mean more exciting winners as well.

It doesn't look like we can count on an "Iranian Idol" anytime soon. Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, made a strong statement against music this week, proclaiming that it is "not compatible" with the values of the Islamic republic. Many are seeing this as leading to an outright ban of music in Iran and an expression of Khamenei's long-held mistrust of Western cultural influence. As rock evangelists, this attitude toward music is, of course, disheartening to Jim and Greg. For more on rebel culture in Iran check out Marjane Satrapi graphic novel and film Persepolis and the Cannes winner No One Knows About Persian Cats.

Chess Records

A couple of months ago Jim, Greg and some WBEZ listeners visited 2120 S. Michigan: the home of Chicago's famed Chess Records. Unfortunately, this was a rare treat. Despite two recent movies, both the museum and the label often don't get their due. Jim and Greg wanted to take an episode to talk about the history and legacy of Chess. During its brief 25-year run, it produced records by heavyweights like Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy and Chuck Berry. That music went on to influence British rockers like Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimi Hendrix. In fact, the Rolling Stones even made a pilgrimage to the studios to record with Waters. Here are the artists Jim and Greg highlight:

Chess Records artists

  • Muddy Waters
  • Willie Dixon
  • Chuck Berry
  • Howlin’ Wolf
  • Little Walter
  • Sonny Boy Williamson
  • Bobby Charles
  • Buddy Guy

Dark Night of the Soul Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse

Dark Night of the Soul

A year after it was supposed to be released, Dark Night of the Soul is finally here. The record is a collaboration between producer  Danger Mouse, singer/songwriter  Mark Linkous, aka Sparklehorse, and director  David Lynch. Sadly, Linkous committed suicide last year, as did one of the album's contributors Vic Chestnutt. The finished product is disjointed, according to Greg. There are a couple of standout tracks (no thanks to Lynch), but he can only give it a Burn It rating. Jim agrees, noting that it's sad that Linkous himself wasn't able to sing more of the material. He also gives Dark Night of the Soul a Burn It.

Dear Listeners,

For more than 15 years, Sound Opinions was a production of WBEZ, Chicago's public radio station. Now that the show is independent, we're inviting you to join the band and lend a hand! We need your support more than ever because now we have to do all the behind-the-scenes work that WBEZ handled before (like buying insurance and paying for podcast hosting, ugh). Plus, we have some exciting ideas we'd like to try now that there's no one to tell us no!