A Brief History in the Beginning of House Music
“In the beginning, there was Jack”
Many still believe the anti-disco movement expressed racism and homophobia.
As a result, record sales fell, and the number of disco songs on the Billboard Top 10 went from six to zero in over eight weeks. Club culture that spawned from the disco era was thriving, and DJs were experimenting with new ways of mixing their sets to keep people dancing.
Being the direct descendant of disco music, house music is the oldest genre within electronic dance music and is still one of its main pillars today. Few cultural movements in music have a legacy as influential as house music. Its origins trace back to the underground clubs of Chicago and New York in the late 70s.
In New York City, clubs like Paradise Garage with Larry Levan led the way in creating massive party spaces that embraced all sex and gender identities, loud music, dancing, and fashion.
Paradise Garage
In Chicago, it was The Warehouse, this mythological place that was the genre’s birthplace under its first musical director, DJ Franklin Knuckles. He played a blend of disco, funk, and electronic music that he called “house music.” The name “house” referred to the Warehouse itself. By the time Frankie Knuckles left The Warehouse in 1982, house music was being played on Chicago radio stations.
The Warehouse
When The Warehouse was closed in 1983. In response to Knuckles' departure and opening a new club called “The Power Plant” later to be known as “Powerhouse”, the Warehouse's owner, Robert Williams, opened the Music Box, with DJ Ron Hardy as a resident.
Hardy established himself as the custodian of a piece of Chicago dance history. His combative, experimental style set him apart from contemporaries reaching for similar records and pioneers like Marshall Jefferson, Larry Heard, and DJ Pierre.
Hardy left an indelible mark on house music with his boundless energy and diverse techniques, ensuring the audience remained engaged throughout his sets.
Particularly noteworthy was the guaranteed high volume when Hardy performed at the Music Box. These elements, coupled with Hardy's emotional connection to the music, created an intense atmosphere on the dance floor.
Chicago stands as the birthplace of house music, and the Music Box holds a crucial position in its history. It's nearly inconceivable not to recognize it as the second wave that steered house music toward its new direction.
With the advancement of music technology, more Chicago DJs produced and released original compositions. The first considered house music track ever made is Jesse Saunder & Vince Lawrence’s “On & On”.
Jesse and Vince got their tune into the club and the radio, by the time they turned up at Importes, etc (The Chicago record store that popularized house music) On & On was a must-have record; and it was the spark that triggered the Chicago house boom.
Importes, etc
These revered DJs forever shaped the modern dance scene. Like disco, house music typically emphasizes each pulse of a four-beat measure played on the kick-drum, a characteristic referred to as “four-on-the-floor”.
House music producers often layer multiple rhythmic and melodic patterns over this four-beat measure to create a rich, danceable sound, pushing listeners to understand dance music, and Black music, in new ways. It’s also worth noting that house music producers typically rely on samples and sampled instruments rather than bringing other musicians into a recording studio.
In 1984, house music was being played regularly on Chicago radio stations. It expanded to cities like Detroit, New York, London, and eventually the rest of the world.
DJs like Farley “Jackmaster” Funk and Steve “Silk” Hurley were renowned DJs on the radio at the time. Playing records by Chicago house creators like Phuture, Marshall Jefferson, Chip E., DJ Pierre, Jesse Saunders, and Frankie Knuckles.
They gave a voice to the sound that was taking the city, giving them recognition and helping the movement to reach all over the country. Featured on-air guest appearances by many prominent Chicago DJs like Ron Hardy and Larry Heard, who propelled house music onto a global sound stage in the late 1980s and 1990s.
In the late 1980s, there was a moment when hip-hop and house music might merge entirely, with both New York and Chicago embracing the trend of hip-house. However, this anticipated fusion didn't come to fruition. Instead, the impact of hip-hop on New York City's house scene remained giving it an edge that carried through into the 1990s and still resonated within the scene.
The distance between Detroit, Chicago, and New York City, made it easy for young people to make weekend DJing, dancing, and record-collecting trips, returning home with new sounds and ideas.
By the mid-1990s the house music from Chicago and other American cities had morphed into electronic dance music styles like acid house, trance, and drum and bass. In Detroit, artists like Moodymann, Omar S, and Theo Parrish, have propelled house music into the 2000s with innovative sampling, instrument use, and musical themes.
In the latter part of the evolution of electronic music, the house genre has been responsible for creating many sub-genres that became the sound of eras like Deep-House, Chicago-House, Big Room House, Tribal House, Electro House, and Progressive House.
From the most raw, percussive acid and jack tracks, deep and dreamy drifters, gospel-inflected soul, and heavy Latin influence, multiple sub-genres were created. But through the late 80s, it was all house, and there was no question that Chicago was its capital.
Meanwhile in Detroit paralleled the development of techno music, with many musicians producing both house and techno…
To be continued.
The dichotomy of Ruido.
A moment in the present.
Indulge in the music of culture.
A moment in the present.
Indulge in the music of culture.