New Chicago Tourism Song, with Umphrey's, Buddy Guy, Widely Criticized

The city of Chicago has released a new song to promote tourism, featuring Buddy Guy, Umphrey’s McGee, and the band Chicago. Those hoping to hear a re-imagining of one of the long-popular staple anthems of the city such as “Sweet Home Chicago” or Frank Sinatra’s “Chicago” will be disappointed. Choose Chicago, the official city tourism agency, opted to go with an original song.

Update: Despite being widely publicized as featuring Chicago Blues staple Buddy Guy, it appears the blues legend was smart enough to minimize his involvement with this project.

Judge the track for yourself. Leave a comment below with your thoughts!

So far, the track has been widely criticized and despised nationwide in radio, print, comments on the official YouTube video, and across the internet — certainly not the kind of exposure Chicago was hoping to accomplish. Viewers and listeners bashed the song, saying it sounded like the soundtrack to a late 80s sitcom, nothing like any of the musician’s catalogs, and loudly criticizing Chicago’s tourism office for glossing over songs such as “Bright Lights, Big City”, “Chicago (That Toddlin’ Town)” and many others in favor of a musical style that many felt least represented Chicago’s musical legacy.

“This song was created in an amazingly intelligent, covert attempt to make the entire world think that all Chicago-area people are complete idiots with mashed potatoes for brains,” said one listener. “‘Where the champions aren’t yours because they’re mine’?? This song has layers. Awful, awful layers…” said another.