Don Moye of the Art Ensemble once told the Tribune he thought the band was more "feared than revered" in its hometown because of its ahead-of-its-time music, which explained how rarely it performed in Chicago even at the supposed height of its fame. The AACM's early days in the '60s were practically a blueprint for the city's nascent punk and experimental rock scenes two decades later: few places to play for little money in front of small audiences. The commitment to the music was unwavering, however, and the AACM groups became broadly influential — if not commercially successful — in the '70s and '80s. In a sense, these sonic adventurers also helped create a culture in Chicago that was open to new sounds and genre-blending experiments.