Garage House

Contrary to funk-influenced Chicago house, garage house is a clearly influenced by disco, r&b and Philly soul, having a tempo around 120 bpm, often featuring soulful vocals and gospel piano riffs.

Nevertheless, there are parallels to Chicago house. Likewise developed during the early-to-mid 1980s, garage house also derived its name from a night club: the »Paradise Garage« with its influential resident dj Larry Levan, a teenage friend of »Godfather of House« Frankie Knuckles.

Levan, known for his musically versatile and experimental dj sets incorporating drum computers and synthesizers, produced one of the quintessential genre tracks, 1982's »Don't Make Me Wait« by the Peech Boys (whom he was part of). Another influential track was 1983s »The Music Got Me« by Boyd Jarvis (and co-written by Jason Smith), released under the alias Visual.

Garage house not only had a huge influence on commercial pop and dance music until today. End of the 1990s, the mix of garage house with UK's breakbeat and drum'n'bass formed UK garage, including speed garage and 2-step.