In the beginning, there was Jack, and Jack had a groove.
And from this groove came the groove of all grooves.
And while one day viciously throwing down on his box, Jack boldy declared,
"Let there be house!" and house music was born.
--Mr. Fingers, "Can You Feel It"
Gotta have house music all night long/With that house music you can't go wrong.
--Marshall Jefferson, "Move Your Body"
Confession: I'm a lifelong Chicagoan, but I only recently learned about the history of house music. In my defense, I was in grammar school and high school during the genre's formative years, and did not have access to it. After all, house was generally hard only in the clubs, and rarely on the radio. Thanks to YouTube and various blogs, I have since discovered the music's appeal, and how it eventually became bigger in Britain than in America.
On July 12, 1979, Chicago DJ Steve Dahl hosted an anti-disco rally at Comiskey Park entitled "Disco Demolition Night." Dahl encouraged White Sox fans to bring disco records to the Park, where they would be blown up during the intermission of that night's double-header baseball game. What began as a silly promotional stunt quickly turned into a riot, with fans rushing the field, lighting fires and destroying the batting cage.
Subsequently the second game was canceled, but the event became notorious worldwide. Disco Demolition transformed into a symbol of the growing backlash toward dance music, with many growing tired of its overcommercialization and oversaturation in the media. Seemingly overnight, discotheques were shuttered, radio stations ceased playing disco, and once-popular club DJs found themselves out of work.
While disco seemed to fade from the public's consciousness, it simply crawled back underground into the clubs. But a new generation of Chicago DJs, such as Frankie Knuckles and Ron Hardy, took obscure disco, italo or euro disco, and funk records and, using two turntables, drum machines, and other effects, gave the music a stronger beat. Knuckles and Hardy were heavily influenced by New York DJs such as David Mancuso and Larry Levan, whose respective clubs The Loft and Paradise Garage spearheaded the dance music phenomenon.
In Chicago, Knuckles's work at the Warehouse club received notice, with many club patrons wanting to buy the mixes and obscure disco tracks at such local stores as Importes Etc. Fans would ask for "House music," then referring to tracks played at the Warehouse. The term eventually defined the genre, although other theories exist as to the origins of the "house" name.
Article comments
1 - Glen Boyd
Well done Kit. An excellent overview of the genre for the novice, and a very thorough recap for the already acclimated.
-Glen
2 - Dyrkness
I disagree with the sentence "In England, the music branched into related forms such as techno, drum and bass, jungle, trip hop, and other endless subgenres." Techno began in Detroit and Jungle and D&B had it's roots in Reggae and Techno.
3 - Kit O'Toole
Thank you, Glen!
Dyrkness,yes, techno had roots in Detroit, mainly through Derrick May (most famously "Strings of Life," a great techno tune). And, yes, there are connections between D&B and reggae and dub. But England, more than anywhere else, seemed to transform house into several different forms--see the British documentary I mentioned in my column. Quite simply, I didn't have the room to include techno, D&B, etc. in this piece. Maybe I'll discuss them in a future column. Thanks for reading and for your comments!
4 - John D
hey I really enjoyed this article! I didn't know the background so really enjoyed learning about it.