It all started in the year of 1977, at the Warehouse nightclub in Chicago. Frankie Knuckles, the Godfather of House music, was a resident DJ playing 8 to 10 hour sets at the revolutionary nightclub downtown The Windy City. People left the club exhausted from dirty dancing to the constant 4/4 beats all night, courtesy of the experimental mixing proficiency of Knuckles. He would mix the popular disco songs of the 70’s with his own sound; the rhythmic beats from his 909 drum machines, to create music that no one had ever heard before. Although gay black men mostly visited The Warehouse, the music became so popular that a whiter and straighter crowd came more frequently. But the Warehouse was strictly about the music, and from 1977 to Knuckles last year of residency in 1982, it was ONLY about the music. In a time when everyone believed that the whites, blacks, Latino’s and gays had to be segregated at different nightclubs, Knuckles was adamant that the music could unite us all, and boy was he right.
It was ONLY about the music
After a night out at the “House”, everyone would be going to record stores asking for “house” music. In 1982, Knuckles made his own nightclub: The Power Plant; and after years of this genre refining movement, it was the latest rage with the younger population. In an era of hair metal, high pitch singing (Jackson) and pot-smoking head bangers, house had put its foot in the door. Knuckles knew that house was here to stay, and although he has left us, his style and dream of house music still thrives. It may have not quite reached the pinnacle that he had hoped for, but it is well on its way. Over the coming years, you will all see a drastic change to electronic dance music. Artists such as Tchami and Oliver Heldens may just take the world by storm, with their bouncy, deep house vibes.