It's Curious City, where we take your questions about Chicago and the region, and investigate, report, explore, from WBEZ.

Hey, I'm reporter Monica Eng, and the last time on Curious City, I dove into a question by classical guitar teacher Jose Lomeli.

He wanted to know why kids don't learn more about the city's rich musical history in Chicago public schools.

Because when he finally learned about some of that history as an adult, he found it inspiring.

It was a way for me to connect with the city.

And we learned that about a decade ago, CPS had a similar notion.

So they made this arts guide

to help teach about the history of Chicago jazz, gospel, folk, and Latin music. And so last time,

we created an audio tutorial on what lessons in those genres might sound like. But Chicago's got a lot

of musical styles that weren't included in the guide, like house, rock, soul, hip-hop, and polka.

So we thought we'd tackle a few of those by asking experts right here at WBZ, what students should know about them and why?

And heads up, with all the amazing Chicago music out there, we couldn't get to all of it.

We started with rock by calling up WBEC Sound Opinions co-host and veteran Chicago Tribune music critic Greg Kot.

Yep, we're still here.

He notes that Chicago's rock sound has changed a lot over the years.

But early on, it featured the horn-heavy sounds of bands like the Chicago Transit Authority,

who later changed their name into Chicago,

and had an early hit with a song 25 or 6 to 4.

25 or 6 to 4 epitomized that sound.

Horn, sort of a jazz, rock sensibility creeping into the mainstream.

Waiting for the break of day. sort of a jazz rock sensibility creeping into the mainstream. I think you have to go to the late 70s to find something happening in Chicago that was really unique and different.

And that was when Wax Tracks Records arrived on Lincoln Avenue. Two guys

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