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House Music

House music is a style of electronic dance music, the earliest forms of which originated in the United States in the early- to mid-1980s. 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. However, Chip E himself claims the name came from methods of labelling records at the Importes Etc record store he worked at in the early eighties. People would come in looking for music Knuckles played at the Warehouse, so eventually a sign was put up that said "As Heard At The Warehouse". Eventually it was shortened to simply "The House", and the name became the vernacular.

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), together with a continuous, repeating (usually also electronically generated) bassline. Typically added to this foundation are electronically generated sounds and samples of music such as jazz, blues and synth pop, as well as additional percussion. As new recordings adhering to this general style emerged, the house genre divided into a number of subcategories, some of which are described below.

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. Well-known live acts can demand their choice of house music, or that there be none at all. Such demands are made in the technical rider to their contract (the same document that specifies what items must be present in the dressing room)

Notable Acts and Music Releases influencing the development of House Music

* 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. Its bassline has been sampled on numerous electronic dance records.

* 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 has been sampled, remixed and covered by electronic dance producers all over the world.

* Lime - "Lime 3" (1984)

Continuous-mix album by Lime (Denis and Denyse LePage) - no less important than the work of New Order. Lime's HiNRG music was a gradual evolution that took the sounds of Giorgio Moroder and Kraftwerk and moulded them into epic club records with catchy beatbox programming and numererous "breakdown sections" that were often reprised throughout the mix. 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. "Angel Eyes" contains a programmed drum fill that is very similar to that used in "Blue Monday" by New Order, though not on the kick, as New Order's had been. 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. A major presage of later electronic dance music. 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.

* Mr Fingers - "Can You Feel It?"/"Washing Machine"/"Mystery of Love" (1985)

In late 1984, Jazz-influenced Larry Heard developed three lush, 'over-engineered' sounding tracks in one sitting, eeked out of equipment such as a Roland TR-707 and Juno 6. 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.

* Chip E. - "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. Obviously disco-influenced, combined with funky acid 303 baseline. Samples Rose Royce's classic "Is it Love You're After". Reached Number one on the UK charts.

* 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. Went to number one on charts worldwide. Became the highest selling single on WEA up to that time, beating Chic's 1978 hit "Le Freak".

* 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. Commonly this is augmented by various kick fills and extended dropouts (aka breakdowns). 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.

This pattern is derived from so-called "four-on-the-floor" dance drumbeats of the 1960s and especially the 1970's disco drummers. 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.

From Wikipedia.com