Chicago House
Born on Chicago's South and West Side dancefloors in the early 1980s, house music grew out of the disco that DJs like Frankie Knuckles at The Warehouse and Ron Hardy at the Music Box reworked into a relentless, electronic four-on-the-floor pulse. When Jesse Saunders pressed "On and On" in 1984 and Larry Sherman's Trax Records began stamping out cheap 12-inch singles, a club sound became a recording movement built by Black and gay producers using drum machines and Roland synthesizers. Phuture's squelching "Acid Tracks" spun the TB-303 into the acid house subgenre, and tracks like "Jack Your Body" carried the sound across the Atlantic to ignite Britain's late-1980s rave explosion.
The record
People & groups12
- Frankie Knuckles2 sources
1955 · Chicago
Born Francis Nicholls in the Bronx in 1955, Frankie Knuckles moved to Chicago in 1977 to spin at The Warehouse, where his patient reworkings of disco and soul records gave the emerging sound its name.
- Ron Hardy1 source
1958 · Chicago
Ron Hardy was the Chicago DJ and producer whose raw, high-energy sets at the Music Box pushed early house to its most ecstatic extreme.
- Marshall Jefferson2 sources
1959 · Chicago
Marshall Jefferson, born in Chicago in 1959, brought a gospel-house grandeur to the genre and is nicknamed a father of house music.
- Larry Heard (Mr. Fingers)2 sources
1960 · Chicago
Larry Heard, born in Chicago in 1960 and recording as Mr.
- Jamie Principle2 sources
1960 · Chicago
Jamie Principle is the Chicago house musician whose songwriting gave the scene some of its most enduring vocal melodies.
- Jesse Saunders2 sources
1962 · Chicago
Jesse Saunders is the Chicago DJ and producer widely credited with pressing one of the first original house records rather than simply reworking disco.
- Steve "Silk" Hurley2 sources
1962 · Chicago
Steve "Silk" Hurley is the Chicago house DJ and producer who scored one of the genre's first major crossovers into the British mainstream.
- Lil' Louis1 source
1962 · Chicago
Lil' Louis, born Marvin Louis Burns in Chicago in 1962, was a DJ and producer who carried the city's house sound toward a sleeker, more sensual late-1980s register.
- Adonis1 source
1963 · Chicago
Adonis is the Chicago acid house producer, born in 1963, who built some of the era's heaviest, bass-driven tracks.
- DJ Pierre1 source
1965 · Chicago
DJ Pierre, born Nathaniel Pierre Jones in Harvey, Illinois, in 1965, was a founding member of Phuture and a key author of the acid house sound.
- Chip E.1 source
1966 · Chicago
Chip E.
- Phuture1 source
1985 · Chicago
Phuture was the Chicago acid house group formed around 1985 whose members included DJ Pierre and Spanky.
Works & releases9
- "Your Love"1 source
1984 · Chicago
"Your Love" is a Chicago house composition associated with Jamie Principle and Frankie Knuckles, whose tender vocal melody and hypnotic synth line made it one of the scene's most cherished songs.
- "On and On" (Jesse Saunders)1 source
1984-01 · Chicago
Released in January 1984, Jesse Saunders' "On and On" is one of the earliest original house records committed to vinyl in Chicago.
1986 · Chicago
Marshall Jefferson's "Move Your Body," released in 1986, is often called the house music anthem for bringing a soaring piano riff into the machine-driven form.
1986 · Chicago
Steve "Silk" Hurley's "Jack Your Body," a Chicago house single first released in 1986, was the breakthrough that carried the genre toward a wider audience.
- "No Way Back" (Adonis)1 source
1986 · Chicago
Adonis' "No Way Back," released in 1986, is a hard, bass-heavy cornerstone of the acid-leaning Chicago sound.
- "Time to Jack" (Chip E.)1 source
1986 · Chicago
Chip E.'s "Time to Jack," released in 1986, helped fix the spare, chant-driven blueprint of early Chicago house.
1987 · Chicago
This 1987 Frankie Knuckles single paired two Jamie Principle compositions, putting onto a single commercial release the kind of material that had long lived on tape in Chicago club booths.
- "Acid Tracks" (Phuture)2 sources
1987 · Chicago
Phuture's "Acid Tracks," issued on Trax Records in 1987, is the recording that gave acid house its name and template.
- "French Kiss" (Lil' Louis)1 source
1989 · Chicago
Lil' Louis' "French Kiss," released in 1989, became one of Chicago house's biggest international crossovers as the genre matured.
Events5
- Founding of Trax Records2 sources
1984 · Chicago
Trax Records, established in Chicago by Larry Sherman in the mid-1980s, was the label that turned the city's club sound into a mass-pressed catalog.
- Pressing of "On and On"2 sources
1984-01 · Chicago
In January 1984 Jesse Saunders pressed "On and On," a moment often cited as house music crossing from DJ practice into recorded form.
1985 · Chicago
Before its 1987 release, Phuture's "Acid Tracks" was road-tested as an acetate on Ron Hardy's Music Box dancefloor, where the crowd's reaction reportedly helped name the new sound.
1987-01 · London
In early 1987 Steve "Silk" Hurley's "Jack Your Body" became Chicago house's breakthrough hit in Britain, the moment the sound crossed from niche club import into the national mainstream.
- Acid house ignites UK rave culture2 sources
1988 · London
By 1988 the acid house pioneered in Chicago had crossed to Britain, where it fused with warehouse parties to spark a sweeping youth movement.
Venues2
- The Warehouse2 sources
1977 · Chicago
The Warehouse was the Chicago club where Frankie Knuckles held residency from the late 1970s, blending disco, soul and reworked edits into long, sustained sets.
- The Music Box1 source
1983 · Chicago
The Music Box was the Chicago club that became Ron Hardy's home base, where his ferocious, re-edited sets pushed house to a wilder extreme than the smoother Warehouse style.
Cross-movement connections
Connections · 2
- Frankie Knucklesinfluences →Juan Atkins
- Phutureinfluences →WestBam