Chicago House

This is the archetype of all house music. It was named after legendary Club »Warehouse« in Chicago where in the late 1970s/early 1980s resident dj Frankie Knuckles began mixing 1970s disco, (Philly-)soul and funk – respectively the rhythmic instrumental parts of 12“ vinyl club mixes of these genres – with electronic beats by German band Kraftwerk and EBM (electronic body music) bands from Europe. Thus, Knuckles is often called »The Godfather of House Music«.

When Knuckles left the club to start his own »Power Plant, the »Warehouse« re- opened as »Music Box«featuring new resident dj Ron Hardy. Other than Knuckles’ smooth style, Hardy’s sets were characterized by endless energy and power, loudness and extreme pitching of records.

Probably the first really successful house DJ was Jesse Saunders. After having opened his own club »Playground« in 1982, he soon started producing his own music and released the first record featuring a house DJ as the artist in 1984, »On & On«, which can be seen as the first official house music record. Later that year he released »Funk-U-Up«, the first house track that entered the Billboard charts. Another important role played record-producer-turned-DJ Marshall Jefferson and his 1986 track »Move Your Body «: with its Roland TR-707 percussion sounds and especially those driving piano chords this loop-based composition had all the features which should become characteristic of house music for the next decade.