Chicago’s Final No. 1 Single Almost Went to Another 80s Band Instead

In 1988, Chicago released “Look Away”. The song comes an impressive 18 years after “Make Me Smile” became their first big hit in 1970. It is also Chicago’s last No. 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, although they did have a few more chart-topping singles on the Adult Contemporary chart. Still, it’s “Look Away” that became Chicago’s third and final single to reach No. 1 on the important Hot 100 chart, staying at the top for two weeks.

Written by Diane Warren, “Look Away” is on their Chicago 19 record. The heartbreaking song says, “If we meet on the streets someday / And I don’t know what to say / Look away, baby, look away / Don’t look at me / I don’t want you to see me this way.”

Although “Look Away” seems perfect for Chicago, the song almost went to another 1980s band: Cheap Trick. Cheap Trick was given the choice of either “Look Away” or another song, “The Flame”. Of course, Cheap Trick went with “The Flame.

“The vice president at Epic told us he had these two songs and they’re both gonna be No. 1,” Cheap Trick’s drummer Bun E Carlos remembers. “He goes, ‘We got one for you and one for the group Chicago, but you can have first choice… I think the one ‘The Flame’ would be good for you guys.’ The other one was ‘Look Away,’ and it sounded like some girl singing on the demo. We really didn’t like that song anyway, so, ‘Sure, we’ll do ‘The Flame’. We’re game.’”

It was a wise choice for both parties. “The Flame” remains Cheap Trick’s biggest hit, and their only No. 1 single.

The Story Behind “Look Away” by Chicago

Warren reportedly was inspired to write “Look Away” by a couple she knew who divorced, but decided to still be friends. Not surprisingly, her former husband was later heartbroken when his ex-wife moved on to someone else, while he still had feelings for her.

Chicago had a lot of success with “Look Away”, although not all of the band members were big fans of this song. To Bill Champlin, who sings lead on “Look Away”, the song was barely memorable.

“Everybody said, ‘I hear your song every day,” he later says. “I go, ‘What song?’ I was kind of oblivious to the whole thing, busy working on new stuff. That’s what happens. As everybody else gets aware of what you’re doing, you’re usually about five or six tunes past it.”

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