Lee Loughnane is ready to put bygones behind him when it comes to Chicago city officials.

The trumpeter, known as the frontman of the band Chicago, tells PEOPLE about the city’s previous legal proceedings against the band, formerly known as the Chicago Transit Authority, forcing them to shorten their name to their current, iconic moniker.

“There were a number of reasons” for the name change, Loughnane recalls. “That was one of the reasons … that the Chicago Transit Authority, and I think it came from the mayor … someone angered the mayor and told the Chicago Transit Authority to go after us.”

Loughnane jokes that officials at the time probably said, “Sue these guys, they’re hippies smoking weed in the alley on their break,” emphasizing that the government at the time “didn’t want to be associated with these young greenhorns.”

Because of the success Chicago (the band) has had in the decades since the dispute with Chicago (the city), Loughnane believes that “(the Chicago Transit Authority) would probably come to us and demand that we use their name now” – but that this co-signing would come at a high price.

“I thought 20, 30 million would be enough if they really wanted us back,” he says. “In fact, the people who initially didn’t want us to use that name and were afraid to even be near us are either no longer here or have died. So we’ve outlived them all.”

Loughnane also discusses other driving factors that led the band to shorten their name – legal issues aside.

“The other reasons were that people thought we were three different bands, Chicago CTA and Chicago Transit Authority,” he recalls of the initial reaction from fans. “To make it easier, that was another reason we changed the name to Chicago in the liner notes of the first album. If you open the album, you’ll see that we changed their name.”