Chicago House Music

born in the late 1970s and early 1980s

Featured
1989, 1980s, bpm 125, bpm range 120-125, bpm range 125-130, bpm 45, F# Major, Camelot 2B, Chicago, Illinois, USA, Yamaha DX100
French Kiss
1989, 1980s, bpm 125, bpm range 120-125, bpm range 125-130, bpm 45, F# Major, Camelot 2B, Chicago, Illinois, USA, Yamaha DX100
1989, 1980s, bpm 125, bpm range 120-125, bpm range 125-130, bpm 45, F# Major, Camelot 2B, Chicago, Illinois, USA, Yamaha DX100
1986, 1980s, F# MINOR, bpm 119, bpm range 115-120, Camelot 2B, Juno-60, TR-909, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Can You feel it
1986, 1980s, F# MINOR, bpm 119, bpm range 115-120, Camelot 2B, Juno-60, TR-909, Chicago, Illinois, USA
1986, 1980s, F# MINOR, bpm 119, bpm range 115-120, Camelot 2B, Juno-60, TR-909, Chicago, Illinois, USA
1984, 1980s, G Major, bpm 114, bpm range 110-115, Camelot 9B, Linn Drum LM-1, Chicago, Illinois, USA, Jupiter-6, TR-909
Mystery of Love
1984, 1980s, G Major, bpm 114, bpm range 110-115, Camelot 9B, Linn Drum LM-1, Chicago, Illinois, USA, Jupiter-6, TR-909
1984, 1980s, G Major, bpm 114, bpm range 110-115, Camelot 9B, Linn Drum LM-1, Chicago, Illinois, USA, Jupiter-6, TR-909
1982, 1980s, A♭ Minor, Camelot 1A, The Bronx, New York, USA, Minimal, bpm 123, bpm range 120-125
Moody
1982, 1980s, A♭ Minor, Camelot 1A, The Bronx, New York, USA, Minimal, bpm 123, bpm range 120-125
1982, 1980s, A♭ Minor, Camelot 1A, The Bronx, New York, USA, Minimal, bpm 123, bpm range 120-125
1988, B Major, bpm 128, bpm range 125-130, Camelot 1B, 1980s, Chicago, Illinois
YoYo Get Funky
1988, B Major, bpm 128, bpm range 125-130, Camelot 1B, 1980s, Chicago, Illinois
1988, B Major, bpm 128, bpm range 125-130, Camelot 1B, 1980s, Chicago, Illinois
bpm 118, bpm range 115-120, E Minor, Camelot 9A, Chicago, Illinois, USA, 1980s, TR-909
Your Love
bpm 118, bpm range 115-120, E Minor, Camelot 9A, Chicago, Illinois, USA, 1980s, TR-909
bpm 118, bpm range 115-120, E Minor, Camelot 9A, Chicago, Illinois, USA, 1980s, TR-909
F# MINOR, Camelot 2B, bpm 120, bpm range 115-120, bpm range 120-125, Chicago, Illinois, USA, 1980s, 1987, TB-303, TR-707
Acid Tracks
F# MINOR, Camelot 2B, bpm 120, bpm range 115-120, bpm range 120-125, Chicago, Illinois, USA, 1980s, 1987, TB-303, TR-707
F# MINOR, Camelot 2B, bpm 120, bpm range 115-120, bpm range 120-125, Chicago, Illinois, USA, 1980s, 1987, TB-303, TR-707
A♭ Major, bpm 128, Camelot 4B, bpm range 125-130, 1980s, Manchester, England, TR-808, TB-303, 1989
Pacific State
A♭ Major, bpm 128, Camelot 4B, bpm range 125-130, 1980s, Manchester, England, TR-808, TB-303, 1989
A♭ Major, bpm 128, Camelot 4B, bpm range 125-130, 1980s, Manchester, England, TR-808, TB-303, 1989
B Minor, bpm 118, bpm range 115-120, Camelot 10A, Yamaha CS-15, Oberheim DMX, New York, USA, Garage House, 1983, 1980s
The Music Got Me
B Minor, bpm 118, bpm range 115-120, Camelot 10A, Yamaha CS-15, Oberheim DMX, New York, USA, Garage House, 1983, 1980s
B Minor, bpm 118, bpm range 115-120, Camelot 10A, Yamaha CS-15, Oberheim DMX, New York, USA, Garage House, 1983, 1980s
bpm 122, bpm range 120-125, E Minor, Camelot 9A, Chicago, USA, Illinois, 1980s, Yamaha 284, Garage House, 1986
Move Your Body
bpm 122, bpm range 120-125, E Minor, Camelot 9A, Chicago, USA, Illinois, 1980s, Yamaha 284, Garage House, 1986
bpm 122, bpm range 120-125, E Minor, Camelot 9A, Chicago, USA, Illinois, 1980s, Yamaha 284, Garage House, 1986

or listen to our proto-house playlist while you immerse yourself in the history of Chicago House Music…then scope out the current selection of House Music shirts.

5 minutes on the history of house music

Do you want to know more about Chicago house music and what started this cultural movement?

Then read on, my friend.

The history of Chicago house music is a long one. Some scenes and events contributed to this global phenomenon's movement. Here is a comprehensive summary of everything you need to know to equip you with all the necessary knowledge about this music genre.

In general, the first-ever produced House music by Chicago-based DJs and artists in the mid to late 80s are called Chicago House. It is such a core element of today's club music that it's hard to conceive what a night out at dance parties would sound like if house music did not exist in the 80s.

Before House Music: Disco Edits

In the seventies, before the creation of Chicago house music, disco ruled the dance clubs. The disco movement became a worldwide craze in the late 1970s, in part, due to hit movies like 1977's "Saturday Night Fever." Major record labels flooded the market with songs to capitalize on the rise of the new music trend. The album's hits dominated popular radio stations and topped the charts. However, the genre's popularity provoked a critical reaction from those who disliked it, and the "Disco Sucks" movement emerged. Who knows how much anti-gay attitudes fueled this movement.

After the disco demolition night in 1979, there was a massive decrease in disco music's mainstream popularity. Following the decline in popularity, many disco artists switched to other genres, and as a result of this, few disco songs were released in the early 80s.

However, Disco records remained the songs of some nightclubs in Chicago and the Chicago WBMX-FM radio station. In this time, nightclub DJs -Frankie Knuckles and Ron Hardy- and The Hot Mix 5 Chicago radio jocks played different types of dance music, such as the new Italo disco songs, EBM tracks, old disco records, electro, and B-boy hip hop music by John Robie, Jellybean Benitez, Man Parrish, and Arthur Baker as well as electronic pop records by Yellow Magic Orchestra, Kraftwerk, and Telex.

Few of these DJs also played their remakes and edited versions of their favorite songs on a reel to reel tape, focusing on the songs' danceable sections. To make the songs more enjoyable, they added and explored various effects, drum machines, synths, and different rhythmic electronic instruments to create new sounds. Exploring creative ways to edit, mix, and remix records, these DJs also experimented with other techniques to overcome their limited DJ equipment at the time. Most of them did not have the necessary equipment, such as a DJ mixer or turntables with variable speeds (when life gives you lemons, make lemonade).

During that time, DJs fused the roles of DJ, producer, songwriter, and remixer. For instance, Frankie Knuckles, known as the "Godfather of House," would remix songs using a reel tape machine, drum machines, rearrange sections, change the tempo, and expand the loudest parts songs. He edited classics from disco, funk, soul, electro-pop, and other genres to create mixes designed to make people dance. These remixes and edits were only enjoyed in the underground dance club and were hardly ever released.

When did the Chicago House Music Emerge

Like most music genres and popular cultural movements, it's hard to determine the particular moment house music emerged. However, this global phenomenon was birthed from exploring and mixing different dance music styles (especially disco) by Chicago based producers in the 80s. House music was pioneered by music Producers and DJs mainly from Chicago, such as the legendary Frankie Knuckles (The Godfather of House Music), Lil Louis (rave pioneer) Jesse Saunders (Often referred to be "the originator of House Music"), Ron Hardy, Larry Heard, Farley "Jackmaster" Funk, Phuture and Marshall Jefferson among others.

What is House Music, and what does it Sound like

House music is a genre of electronic dance music typified by its tempo of 120 to 130 BPM (Beats per minute) and a repeated four-on-the-floor beat. The early tracks of house music released in Chicago featured crashing drums from rhythm composers like the Roland TR-909 and TR-808 drum machine and the Roland's hard-hitting, robotic sounds TB-303 bassline synthesizer, gospel vocals, powerful soul, and big lead synth hooks.

The house music in a more detailed and distinctive form is represented with a steady Four on the floor rhythm, including snare drums, off-beat hi-hats, bass drums, snaps, and claps with a tempo of 120 to 130 bpm, deep basslines, synthesizer riffs. The bass drum is sounded on beat one and beat three, and claps, snare drum, and other higher-pitched percussion are sounded on beat two and beat four.

Why is it called House?

The House music genre got its name from 'The Warehouse,' a nightclub in Chicago established in 1977 and stayed open till 1983. The warehouse is also considered to be the birthplace of the Chicago House Music.

It was a club popular with the black community, and they came to dance to music played by the club's resident Disc Jockey Frankie Knuckles, often cited as the "godfather of House. When Frankie saw that the records were not long enough to satisfy the crowd, he devised a method and started splicing different records together. These mixing techniques breathed new life into dance music when disco music declined, and thus came the term "house music" coined in Chicago. In 1983 the warehouse closed its doors, and the audience moved to Frankie Knuckles' new club, The Power Plant. (Talk about devoted followership, he was the King of the Hill)

House Music from Chicago to the World

House music and club culture progressed during the 1980s and 1990s. It quickly spread to Detroit and New York, where new scenes and styles of music emerged. Record labels in these cities also began to focus more on electronic music to make people dance. Even the country's most successful radio stations like Chicago's "The Hot Mix 5" played Chicago house music.

Despite the limited availability (it was relatively non-commercial) of Chicago house music, this genre's records sold tens of thousands. Chicago record labels DJ International Records and Trax Records had a significant influence on house music. They helped spread this movement to other cities (New York, Detroit), and some of their tracks entered the British pop charts. The underground sounds of the Chicago nightclubs, which mainly catered to Latino and black patrons, soon gained popularity in Europe and spread to other parts of the world.

In 1986, Farley "Jackmaster" Funk and Jesse Saunders' song "Love Can't Turn Around," which featured the vocalist Darryl Pandy, became the first Chicago house music to be a massive hit overseas and peaked at number 10 on the UK Singles Chart. A Few other house records became a No. 1 hit on the UK Singles Chart, starting with the 1987 "Jack Your Body" record by Chicago club DJ, producer, and songwriter Steve "Silk" Hurley.

Soon different trends of what will become the subgenres of Chicago house music start to emerge, such as the hypnotic and trance-like acid House, the slower tempo deep house, the lush and the stark.

The origins of the Deep house style come from Larry Heard, a Chicago DJ, record producer, and musician. His records "Can You Feel It?" and "Mystery of Love," released under the pseudonym Mr. Fingers, was said to have changed the direction of house music from its post-human trend back to the lush, soulful sound of the first disco records. On the other hand, the Acid house style emerged from Chicago artists' experiments with the Chirping and squelching sound from Roland TB-303 bassline synthesizer. One of the earliest released records of Acid house music on vinyl is "Acid Tracks" by Phuture. Although a fantastic album produced using a TB-303 by Charanjit Singh called “Synthesizing - Ten Ragas To A Disco Beat” came out of India in 1982 is often considered another proto-acid classic.

The House Music Dance Steps

There are at least three dancing moves and styles influenced by House music, such as Lofting, Footwork, and Jacking. All notably made its mark on various House record titles such as "Jack Your Body" by Steve "Silk" Hurley, "Time to Jack" by Chip E, and "Jack'n the House" by Farley' Jackmaster" Funk.

These styles include different sub-styles and techniques, like shuffle steps (Melbourne Shuffle), Vosho, stomping, skating, and Pouting Cat.

The House music also includes other dance steps like moves from different dance styles, such as jazz, Brazilian (Capoeira), voguing, Lindy Hop, African, Latin, tap dance, waacking, and even modern dance. The dance moves are, however, not limited to these styles. It's all about letting oneself free and moving to the rhythm of the song without any barriers.