Popular dance music that spread from south Chicago, USA, in the early 1980s. Its instrumentation is often no more than a synthesizer and drum machine; the music is loud and repetitive, with a heavy beat and baseline, insistent riffs, and sampled extracts from more imaginative recordings. Perhaps the best known (and best selling) example is Pump Up The Jam from Technotronic (real name Jo Bogaert).
House music is a style of electronic dance music, the earliest forms of which originated in Chicago (United States) in the early- to mid-1980s.
Origins of the name
The name is said to derive from the Warehouse nightclub in Chicago, where the resident DJ, Frankie Knuckles, mixed classic disco and European synthpop recordings. Club regulars referred to his selection of music as house music.
However, since Frankie was not creating new music at that time, it has been argued that Chip E. in his early recording "It's House" defined this new form of electronic music and gave it its name. Music that DJ Knuckles played at the Warehouse was labelled "As Heard At The Warehouse", which was shortened to simply "The House", and the name became the vernacular.
Musical elements
The common element of house music is a prominent 4/4 beat (a prominent kick drum on every beat, also known as four-on-the-floor) generated by a drum machine or other electronic means (such as a sampler).
As well, house music uses a continuous, repeating (usually also electronically generated) bassline. As new recordings emerged, the house genre divided into a number of subcategories, some of which are described below.
Other meanings
House music also refers to the recorded music played while a theater audience takes their seats before a performance, or, in live music venues, the recorded music played before the live music begins. That name is given because the music is played in the front of house.
Well-known live performers can request their choice of house music, or specify that there be no house music.
History
Not everyone understands House music; a soul thing.--as sampled by Eddie Amador listen to 22 s sample (488Kb)
From disco to house: late 1960s to early 1980s
Main article: Electronic music history
House, techno, electro and hip-hop musicians owe their existence to the pioneers of analog synthesizers which enabled a wide range of new electronic sounds at the touch of a button or key.
Fully electronic music tracks predated house. Early American Sci-Fi films and the BBC Soundtrack to popular television series Doctor Who stirred a whole generation of techno music lovers like the space rock generation during the 1970s, influenced by the psychedelic rock sound of the late 1960s and bands such as Pink Floyd, Soft Machine, Amon Düül, Crazy World of Arthur Brown, and the so-called Krautrock early electronic scene (Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze).
Opened in 1977, the Warehouse on Jefferson street in Chicago, was a key venue in the development of house music.
In Sheffield, England the industrial band Cabaret Voltaire is often considered to have pioneered their own version of the "house sound" as early as 1981 with tracks like "automotivation".
Chicago years: early 1980s - late 1980s
In 1983 the Music Box club opened in Chicago.
Two tunes were arguably the first House music, each arriving in early 1983.
By 1985 house music dominated the clubs of Chicago, in part due to the radio play the music received on 102.7 FM WBMX, and their resident DJ team, the Hot Mix 5. Also, the music and movement was aided by the musical electronic revolution - the arrival of newer, cheaper and more compact music sequencers, drum machines (the Roland TR-909, TR-808 and TR-707, and Latin percussion machine the TR-727) and bass modules (such as the legendary Roland TB-303 in late 1985) gave House music creators even wider possibilities in creating their own sound, indeed the creation of acid house is directly related to the efforts of DJ Pierre, Larry Heard, and Marshall Jefferson on the new drum machines.
Two record labels dominated the house music scene in Chicago: DJ International Records, owned by Rocky Jones, and Trax Records, owned by Larry Sherman. Trax released Jack the Bass and Funkin with the Drums Again by Farley Jackmaster Funk in 1985, followed the next year by the house classic Move Your Body (The house Music Anthem) by Marshall Jefferson, and No Way Back by Adonis. In its favor, Trax was very fast to sign new artists and press their tracks, establishing a large catalog of house tunes, but the label used recycled vinyl to speed up the pressing process, which resulted in physically poor-quality records.
Trax became the dominant house label, releasing many classics including No Way Back by Adonis, Larry Heard's (as Fingers Inc.) Can You Feel It and the first so-called house anthem in 1986, "Move Your Body" by Marshall Jefferson. This latter tune gave a massive boost to house music, extending recognition of the genre out of Chicago. Steve 'Silk' Hurley became the first house artist to reach number one in the UK in 1987 with Jack Your Body. This and other tracks such as Music is the Key and Love Can't Turn Around helped moved house from its spiritual home to its commercial birthplace —the United Kingdom. Acid house and hip-house scene was dominated by international producers like Tyree Cooper, Mr Lee, Fast Eddie, Kool Rock Steady and Ralphi Rosario at the end of the 1980s.
The Detroit connection: early 1980s - late 1980s
A form of music was forming at the same time in Detroit, what became known as Detroit techno. Music heavily influenced by European Electronica (Kraftwerk, Art of Noise), early b-boy Hip-Hop (Man Parrish, Soul Sonic Force) and Italo Disco (Doctor's Cat, Ris, Klein M.B.O.) this music was pioneered by Juan Atkins, Derrick May, and Kevin Saunderson.
The first group of songs to be rotated heavy in Chicago house-music circles were the 1985 releases of NO UFOs by Juan Atkins's group Model 500 on Metroplex Records, Let's Go by Trans X-Ray (Derrick "MAYDAY" May) and "Groovin' without a Doubt" by Inner City (Kevin Saunderson) on KMS Records.
KMS Followed with releases in 1986 of Blake Baxter's "When we Used to Play / Work your Body", 1987's "Bounce Your Body to the Box" and "Force Field", 1988's "Wiggin" by MAYDAY, "The Sound / How to Play our Music" and “the Groove that Won't Stop” and a remix of "Grooving Without a Doubt". In 1988 as House music began to go more commercial, Kevin Saunderson’s group with Paris Gray released the 1988 hits "Big Fun" and Good Life which eventually were picked up by Virgin Records. In 1989 KMS had another hit release of "Rock to the Beat" which was a hit overseas and in Chicago
Derrick "Mayday" May had a style that was similar to Chicago native Larry Heard (Mr. Fingers), but soon became distinct and unique and was received well in Chicago, with releases on his Transmat Label, between 1986-1989 Transmat released hits like "Nude Photo", "It is What it is" and "Beyond the Dance" by Rythim is Rythim, "The Groove" by Suburban Knights, and "Illusion" by R-Tyme. The biggest hit and most influential in the House Music scene was Rythim is Rythim's "Strings of Life" which became a cult classic in dance music clubs internationally.
Though Detroit Techno is a music form in its own right and part of the "Techno" worldwide music, its pioneers were also instrumental in the forwarding of House Music internationally and especially in the UK and Europe.
The British connection: late 1980s - early 1990s
In Britain the growth of house can be divided around the "Summer of Love" in 1988. House had a presence in Britain almost as early as it appeared in Chicago; however there was a strong divide between the House music as part of the gay scene and "straight" music. House grew in northern England, the Midlands and the South East. Founded in 1982 by Factory Records the Hacienda in Manchester became an extension of the "Northern Soul" genre and was one of the early, key English dance music clubs. the crowds only started to grow when the resident DJs (Pickering, Park and Da Silva) started to play house music. House was boosted in the UK by the tour in the same year of Knuckles, Jefferson, Fingers Inc. The first English House tune came out in 1986 - "Carino" by T-Coy. Europeans embraced house music, and began booking legendary American House DJs to play at the big clubs, such as Ministry of Sound, whose resident, DJ Harvey brought in Larry Levan.
The underground house scene in cities such as Birmingham, Manchester and London were also provided with many underground Pirate Radio stations and DJs alike which helped bolster an already contagious, but otherwise ignored by the mainstream, music genre.
One of the earliest and most influential UK house and techno record labels was Network Records (otherwise known as Kool Kat records) who helped introduce Italian and US dance music to Britain as well as promoting select UK dance music acts.
But house was also developing on Ibiza. By the mid-1980s a distinct Balearic mix of house was discernible. Several clubs like Amnesia with DJ Alfredo were playing a mix of rock, pop, disco and house.
In America the music was being developed to create a more sophisticated sound, moving beyond just drum loops and short samples. New York saw this maturity evidenced in the slick production of disco house crossover tracks from artists such as Mateo & In Chicago, Marshall Jefferson had formed the house 'super group' Ten City (from intensity), demonstrating the developments in "That's the Way Love Is". It was a darker, more intellectual strain of house that followed its own trajectory.
The records were completely independent of the major record labels and the parties at which the tracks were played avoided commercial music.The combination of house and techno came to Britain and gave House a phenomenal boost. A few clubs began to feature specialist House nights - the Hacienda had "Hot" on Wednesday from July 1988, 2,500 people could enjoy the British take on the Ibiza scene, the classic "Voodoo Ray" by A Guy Called Gerald (Gerald Simpson) was designed for the Hacienda and Madchester.
Factory boss Tony Wilson also promoted acid house culture on his weekly TV show. The Midlands also embraced the late 80s House scene with many underground venues such as multi storey car parks and more legal dance stations such as the Digbeth Institute (now the 'Sanctuary' and home to Sundissential).
US developments - late 1980s to early 1990s
Back in America the scene had still not progressed beyond a small number of clubs in Chicago, Detroit and New York. Paradise Garage in New York City was still the top club, although they now had Todd Terry, his cover of Class Action's Larry Levan mixed "Weekend" demonstrated the continuum from the underground disco to a new House sound with hip-hop influences evident in the quicker sampling and the more rugged bass-line.
Other influences from New York came from the hip-hop, reggae, and Latin community, and many of the New York City super producers/DJs began surfacing for the first time (Erick Morillo, Roger Sanchez, Junior Vasquez, Danny Tenaglia, Jonathan Peters) with unique sounds that would evolve into other genres (tribal house, progressive house, funky house). Producers such as Masters At Work and Kerri Chandler also started pioneering a richer Garage sound that was picked up on by 'outsiders' from the worlds of jazz, hip-hop and downbeat as much as it was by House aficionados.
Cajmere is held by many to be one of the revitalising forces in Chicago Houses's rebirth of the early 1990s.
Detroit was mostly known for techno but there is a very fine line between Techno and House, often impossible to find with labels such as 430 West, KMS and Serious Grooves with producers such as Kevin Saunderson, Marc Kinchen, Octave One (as well as fellow travellers from Chicago such as Chez Damier &
Also at this time stirrings of a chilled dance scene relatively unconnected to the Chicago, Detroit, and New York scenes was springing up in the Los Angeles area with parties organised by Hardkiss and UK expats like DIY and Charles Webster. House music eventually came to clubs in cities like Boston, Massachusetts, Providence, Rhode Island, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington D.C..
After the "Summer of Love": early 1990s to mid 1990s
In Britain, further experiments in the genre boosted its appeal (and gave the opportunity for new names to be made up).
House and rave clubs like Lakota, Miss Moneypenny's and the original C.R.E.A.M. began to emerge across Britain, hosting regular events for people who would otherwise have had no place to enjoy the mutating house and dance scene.
The idea of 'chilling out' was born in Britain with ambient house albums like The KLF's Chill Out. However, this album is not house strictly speaking, because its prominent lack of percussion on most tracks.
At the same time, a new indie dance scene full of variety was being forged by bands like the Happy Mondays, The Shamen, New Order, Meat Beat Manifesto, Renegade Soundwave, EMF, The Grid and The Beloved. In New York, bands such as Deee-Lite furthered house music's international and multi-era cultural influence.
The Criminal Justice Bill of 1994 was a government attempt to ban large events featuring music with "repetitive beats". The music continued to grow and change, as typified by the emergence of acts like Leftfield with "Release the Pressure", which introduced dub and reggae into the house sound.
The music was being moulded, not just by drugs, but also the mixed cultural and racial groups involved in the house music scene. Showing an increased tempo around 160 bpm, tunes like "Terminator" from Goldie marked a distinct change from house with heavier, faster and more complex bass-lines: drum and bass (dnb).
UK Garage developed later, growing in the underground club scene from drum and bass ideas. This style is also not strictly "house", but as with all electronic music genres, there is overlap. From Brooklyn his "Energy Flash" had proved rather too much for American House enthusiasts and he needed a move to find success. Some argued that many of the formulaic remixes of Madonna, Kylie Minogue, U2, Britney Spears, the Spice Girls, Spiller, Mariah Carey, Puff Daddy, Elvis Presley, Vengaboys and other bands and pop divas did not deserve to be considered house records.
During this time many individuals and particularly corporations realized that house music could be extremely lucrative and much of the 1990s saw the rise of sponsorship deals and other industry practices common in other genres.
To develop successful hit singles, some argued that the record industry developed "handbag house": throwaway pop songs with a retro disco beat. Underground house DJs were reluctant to play this style, so a new generation of DJs were created from record company staff, and new clubs like Miss Moneypenny's, Liverpool's Cream (as opposed to the original underground night, C.R.E.A.M.) and the Ministry of Sound were opened to provide a venue for more commercial sounds.
Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, CA, Chicago and the West Coast were coming together to form a new sub-genre, Chicago Hard House. DJs such as Bad Boy Bill, DJ Lynnwood, DJ Irene, Richard "Humpty" Vission and DJ Enrie were comingling sounds, developing a new style of house music that took the nation by storm. These DJs, still active today, crossed house music over at Los Angeles radio and in the clubs, making it a staple for clubbers and ravers alike.
House in the new millennium
Dance music arguably hit its peak at the turn of the millennium, especially in the UK. Many younger people viewed Dance music as becoming increasingly outmoded with the same set of DJs playing in Clubs and on the Radio year after year. This led to the term "Dad House" being applied. The democratization and mainstreaming of electronic music composing through ever-cheaper computer software made electronic music as a whole less novel and more commonplace.
House music today
As of 2003, a new generation of DJs and promoters, including James Zabiela and Mylo, were emerging, determined to kickstart a more underground scene and there were signs of a renaissance in Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit and other racially-mixed cities, as well as in Canada, Scandinavia, Scotland and Germany. For example, in 2004 the Montreal club Stereo, co-owned by House music legend David Morales and party aficionado Scott Lancaster, celebrated its sixth year in operation and in 2005 The Guvernment in Toronto with Mark Oliver is celebrating its 10th anniversary.
Stereo, opened in 1998, was modeled after the seminal New York City club Paradise Garage, focusing the experience on the quality of sound and lighting. The key to house music was re-invention. One need only to examine how house music has evolved over time to evaluate the effect computers and the Internet have had on house music and music in general.
In 2005 house music finds itself at a crossroads. Audiences all over the world are fragmenting into different camps based around the old-guard house sound and a darker, more synth-driven sound influenced by 1980s retro sentiment. Some consider it directionalism, and others see it as an entirely new genre of music, having more to do with techno, electronica and EBM music than house. Daley, Mayor of Chicago proclaimed August 10, 2005 to be House Unity Day in Chicago last July 27, 2005 in celebration of House Music's 21st anniversary.
Saturday Night Live had a recurring sketch called Deep House Dish featuring Kenan Thompson and Rachel Dratch as reviewers of house music.
House music's influences
Donna Summer - "I Feel Love" (1977) Written by Giorgio Moroder, featuring both the machine rhythms and erotic vocal sound bites in which one recognises a germination of house music - the union of disco and electronic. Kraftwerk - "Trans-Europe Express" (1977) Played in New York discos in the late 70s, inspiring house, electro and techno DJs alike in the 80s, this track has made way for future house music and its techno off-spring. New Order - "Blue Monday" (1983) Frequently considered the missing link between disco of the 1970s and house of the 1980s. Importantly, it bridges the gap between electronic dance music and UK indie music fans in the post-punk 1980s. It's impossible to nail down a moment in time when Lime started sounding like a kissing cousin of House Mix. Most would agree that by the time 1984's "Angel Eyes" single had hit the clubs, they had one foot in the house. Lime would always have too many ornate and symphonic electronic elements to be considered House, but their influence on the genre cannot be overstated. Jesse Saunders - "On and On" (1984/1985) Considered the first house record pressed and sold to the public. With original, mantra-like stripped-down synths (including a 303 and minimal vocal), this record was early house music revealing itself as more than the sum of its parts. On and On showed the more trance-like shamanistic side that would develop into acid house. Heard's landmark work would set the trend for the Deep house genre that continued early house's atmospherics and (compared with later music) slow beat, 110-125 bpm. - "It's House" (1985) Written by Chip E. and featuring keyboard work by Joe Smooth, this release is often considered as the definition of Chicago House Music. The first self-referential "house music" record. The simplistic referential lyrics go "It's House, It's House" in varying pitch, to a driving bassline and percussion. Marshall Jefferson - "Move Your Body (House Music Anthem)" (1987) The second self referential "house music" record. The referential portion of the lyrics goes: "Gotta have House Music all night long... With that House Music you can't go wrong..." Phuture - "Acid Trax" (1986) The first acid house song ever made. Made almost accidentally during 303 experimentation by DJ Pierre, Spanky J and Herbert in Chicago and gave birth to the whole acid house movement. Steve 'Silk' Hurley - "Jack Your Body" (1987) The first real House track to reach No.1 in the UK Top 40 pop chart in January 1987 - and was also the first to register more than half its sales on the 12" vinyl format. S'Express - "Theme from S'Express" (1988) An acid house classic. Technotronic - "Pump up the Jam" (1990) Probably the first house record to break the top 10 on the US pop charts. Madonna - "Vogue" (1990) Close behind "Pump up the Jam" and produced by perennial New York DJ Shep Pettibone, this record marked the absolute commercial breakout of House in the United States. Leftfield - "Release the Pressure" (1995) The first group to truly mix house music with external influences such as dub and reggae. Also credited with the creation of progressive house music.Musicology
House music is uptempo music for dancing and has a comparatively narrow tempo range, generally falling between 118 beats per minute (bpm) and 135 bpm, with 127 bpm being about average since 1996.
Far and away the most important element of the house drumbeat is the (usually very strong, synthesized, and heavily equalized) kick drum pounding on every quarter note of the 4/4 bar, often having a "dropping" effect on the dancefloor. Add to this basic kick pattern hihats on the eighth-note offbeats (though any number of sixteenth-note patterns are also very common) and a snare drum and/or clap on beats 2 and 4 of every bar, and you have the basic framework of the house drumbeat. Due to the way house music was developed by DJs mixing records together, producers commonly layer sampled drum sounds to achieve a larger-than-life sound, filling out the audio spectrum and tailoring the mix for large club sound systems.
Techno and trance, the two primary dance music genres that developed alongside house music in the mid 1980s and early 1990s respectively, can share this basic beat infrastructure, but usually eschew house's live-music-influenced feel and black or Latin music influences in favor of more synthetic sound sources and approach.
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