House music and the local scene

[starchild-]

I was wondering what you guys think of the legacy of house music in this city. Everyone points to the 'Chicago House' of the mid to late-80s, as some of the beginnings of it all. Chicago House is good, but it never really blew my mind, and I think its sort of strange what it has evolved into.

1. Deep House and an unconditional respect for local house music, no matter how good or bad it is.

2. This odd Bad Boy Bill-type local DJ following. Psychobitch and others like Naw-T-Boy follow this mold, which always came off to me as a cracked out version of early 90s rave. Recently people have been calling it hard house, but I don't buy that label, since it isn't consistently fast or full of hoovers...

To me, that's the majority of the local scene, and some of it seems out of touch with the rest of the world. I see no presence of progressive, breaks, trance, tech-house, or anything groundbreaking here. Maybe I’m missing something...

Don't flame me, I don't want to cause any drama. I just want to understand the scene in perspective of the rest of the world....

Tell me, what do you think? How did this happen? Where is it going? b2b, and anyone else who's knowledgeable, I’m curious...

[This message has been edited by starchild- (edited 05-01-2001).]

[back2basics-]

Well as we all know Chicago is credited with the beginnings of House music. There was a huge backlash against disco in Chicago (have you seen the burning of the disco records in soldier field?).

So there was a back lash and Chicago's now legendary rock scene blossomed. But in the WareHOUSE Frankie Knuckles and Sunderson were cutting up disco cut's in to a 4/4 sound. 'And then there was house', anyway Frankie still come back here and the normal people on the scene don't seem to care about it's routs anymore.

Personally the reason I am in Chicago is because of it's roots the who soulful, deep, disco based house. But that even seems to be dieing. If it's true bout the mad bar it's a shame, they ran nights by Guidance an AMAZING label. Guidance, haven't been doing all that well either I here.

Last year it was made more difficult to open a club (that doesn't serve food) but a council bill. And the scene seems to be thinning out a little more.

As for the music, I wouldn't call Psycho Bitch Hard house either it's normal house on the harder side but not the UK style of hard house and it's not the Chicago style of hard house either (which I would call Happy Hardcore).

The big European DJ's still come over, and i think more importantly the Chicago scene nurtures it's own tallent. And unlike NY it's not mainly about the gay scene, i love the gay scene as much as the next person, but in NY Saturdays are pretty gay and the whole scsne revolves arround it. So there is much more of an eclectic mix of music on Saturdays.

But there are GOOD things about the scene here. I was going to post (and will) why Chicago as a city is fantastic. One of the reasons is there isn't so much of a drug influence here as in, lets say, New York. Ok the crobar and Raves have a fair amount of drugs going on but not that much. This means people are going out for the love of music and dancing. IMO this means that there is still a great appreciation for music in a City that has so much musical history.

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I want to go out blazing..not fade away.

Trust in the currency of relationships, it's hard to earn but easy to loose - back2basics

[scratchapella]

Wait, what happened to MadBar?

It's true about the local scene being a bit thin on "progressive, breakbeat, techno, trance, etc" but I think every city's got its favorites or history of music that influence a predominance of one kind or music or other. That's why I'd love to try and live in Detroit for a while (though I'm hella excited bout DEMF in a few weeks!).

Now no one start getting upset, but I always had the thought in the back of my mind that disco died and then was reincarnated through house/electronic dance music. I'm not just talking about samples, etc. Is that how Frankie/the Warehouse started? Disco tracks to a drum machine? Okay, nevermind.

[back2basics-]

Originally posted by scratchapella:

Wait, what happened to MadBar?

It's true about the local scene being a bit thin on "progressive, breakbeat, techno, trance, etc" but I think every city's got its favorites or history of music that influence a predominance of one kind or music or other. That's why I'd love to try and live in Detroit for a while (though I'm hella excited bout DEMF in a few weeks!).

Now no one start getting upset, but I always had the thought in the back of my mind that disco died and then was reincarnated through house/electronic dance music. I'm not just talking about samples, etc. Is that how Frankie/the Warehouse started? Disco tracks to a drum machine? Okay, nevermind.

Yeh that's where it came from, infact the Disco scene is VERY similar to our own. People putting there hands in the air, wooping, very open minded etc and some people think it's exclusivity... it's coolness would kill it at one stage.

Back 5 years ago in the UK, it was HARD to get in the top clubs. And that's what pissed people off about places like Studio 54 back in the disco days. Luckily it didn't go the same way.

But back in the warehouse days they didn't use drum machine but the Disco went a little more camp and repetative. People like Sundrson were making some very edgy, basic disco which were the first house records.

But i think most things can be found in Chicago. I found a bar last night called mango right across the street from me that played some nice chilled house and trip hop.

And we have loads to be thankfull about, Frankie Knuckles gig at the House of blues was one of the best nights of my life.. it was a who's who of the house scene.. David Morales etc it was Jocelyn Browns birthday and she sand 5 songs and we sang Happy Birthday back.. a VERY special moment.

Richie plays here allot as well We just need to make sure they don't shut down places like the crobar so we have that nice mix. When my green card comes through, i will be running some boat parties, with a UK house flavour.

Dj Pierr and Acid Tracks is widley reconised as kicking off Acid House in the UK again a Chicago DJ. Derrick Carter and Derrick May both play here regularly... this is all quality music. As you say DEFM is just up the road.. it's all good. No Twilo or Viynl (with Danny Tenaglia) but hey we still got it good.

A good breaks night would be good.

Good source of info for Chicago house. http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/5215/

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I want to go out blazing..not fade away.

Trust in the currency of relationships, it's hard to earn but easy to loose - back2basics

[scratchapella]

LOL. You really amaze me B2B, with all your eclectic knowledge, etc. I suppose you bought Kraftwerk albums at the age of 10 too?kekeke. I'm really looking forward to be able to talk to the Man in person at the next meetup. You can tell us all how these boat parties would work in Chicago.

BTW, no one ever clarified what happened to MadBar. I really wanted to hear Derrick Carter on the Monday after I get home. Hmmph.

[der]

I don't know what happen to madbar. Sorry.

Starchild, I'm beginning to think that there's a very small portion of the clubbing community here in Chicago that are regulars AND appreciate the music as it progresses here. The majority (like the tourists and stereotypical suburbanites) is what earns the clubs money and I don't think they're all that ready for progression.

There is a big trance following in Chicago thanks to the PURE promotions. Other clubs are having trance nights too so I see it getting more popular. In addition, there are people that say progressive trance and progressive house are synonymous. Personally, I still haven't got an opinion on that. I avoid arguing labels. There's also a following for the "true" techno (Detroit style) but it's not as big.

I think people here are getting into that "euro" flavor to the music and getting away from the urban pop, soul, r&b sound that's saturated the national music scene. That may be a part of the reason you're not hearing more of the "house" that you're looking for. As far as I can tell on the rave scene, it's big on D&B and when those kids start clubbing, there's no telling how that's gonna change Chicago music. They may still be the minority to the tourists but I'm hoping that they will bring more of an appreciation for breaks and tribal. I just had my first taste of tribal recently but maybe with that ethnic feel to it, maybe it will bring a chance for dance music here to come back around to that sound you're looking for and at most, do something groundbreaking.

btw, what's a "hoover?"

B-2-B: I'm waiting for PURE to bring a breaks night. Angelist in Crobar Mez fits about 1/3rd of her sets with breaks on Sat's. Pretty good selections too, no lyrics or "ol skool" vocals. She still has a ways to go when it comes to DJ'ing them in with her trance selections but she's my friend so I'm pushin her.

[godsound]

Check out www.housemusic.com the site provides a detailed history of House Music from it's origins in Chicago and New York to all the twists and turns.....

Regards & Respect,

GODSOUND

[back2basics-]

Der,

I think what is happeneing is that the quality US house that i was brought up on Fire Island, MAW, etc is only really cared for in the UK and Europe. Over here they are brining in the big names from Europe and as you say it's more of the Tranec flavour. So the people who nurtured the scene have had back turned on them.

PURE seem to really care, i have allot of respoect for them. But it needs somebodt to stir things up. These boat parties should be good and i have found away round some of the licencing issues.

Oh progressive house and Trance IMO are not sysnominous, there are many differences. Infact i don't like the direction Prog. Hous was going. It's GREAT music, but is it DANCE music?

It will come back arround, i am sure of that. Remember these musical tastes over the last 10 years have echoed the scene in the UK.. in the same order. I see people over here getting a little sick of Trance, now in the UK because the older people were hangining up there dancing shoes and the new generation comming through wanted it harder, UK hard house was big for a time.

That may not happen here, and that's why i think Progresive worked so well here and not in the UK.. wrong time.

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I want to go out blazing..not fade away.

Trust in the currency of relationships, it's hard to earn but easy to loose - back2basics

[der]

B2B: Check yur PMbox.

Der

[birdj]

I was born in Chicago and on HOUSE. I will never stop listening to it no matter what new shit come here. The same old athems r remixed and remixed 4 ever n ever. Then there is the new influences that come here and show us a little diffrent type of House or another level of the stuff chicago really doesn't know like really good techno, or prog trance. When I started going to parties in 95, the only thing that was spun good, was HOUSE and Jungle. Paul Johnson, Terry Mullan, Danny da WildChild, Justin Long, Bristol, and countless others that rock. Sometimes the parties would get Euro DJs in there, and they would kill it. I was blown away from some of the Trance/Techno DJs I saw back in the day.

Yes I wish there was more of a prog, breaks scene here, but REDNo has the answer. You can get all he flavors you want in ths city, you just have to take them when they are here. I see a new light growing in Chicago and it looks good. For those of you who do not like house, please tell me why? There is a wide range of it and how it is played and that steams from how long it has been spun for here in Chicago.

You can't stop the house, c'mon and rock my house.... You have to love the vibe for a good house tune.

House music will never die.

If you don't know Jack you don't know house.

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[This message has been edited by birdj (edited 05-04-2001).]

[djamnfx]

As far as a lot of things are considered, Chicago has its roots in the old school flavors of house that started itself way back from the moment Steve Dahl burned a pile of KC and the Sunshine Band records in the middle of Comiskey Park in 1979.

Frankie Knuckles called house "disco's revenge". In my honest opinion, early 1980s house was pretty much disco except for the fact that it was not made in big studios by musicians. It was made in bedrooms by DJs. It was named house simply because of the Wharehouse, but I also would like to think that it was because of the fact that the term "disco" was now a hated term going into the 1980s.

Now here we are, 21 years after the fact. In the 1990s, I've wathched so many new styles and genres of dance music open up, but all of them atribute themselves to house music. Why? House was not just about DJs, dancing, and clubs, it was like punk rock. It was all "do-it-yourself". DJs and enthusiasts got their hands on drum machines and 303s, popped some buttons, and poof! House music. The same happened for most of what you hear in dance music. I won't believe that musically-trained composers made jungle, trance, or hard house for that matter. It was all someone saying "let's add this, or try that" and that person made a new track. Suddenly, when a couple of hundred producers made tracks in that particular style, you had a new genre like jungle or deep house.

In the case of Hard house, that is another genre evolved from the original idea. It does carry a lot of sound from the early 1990s rave scene, but that was a scene that came from the desires of a lot of the teens that wanted something to bounce too, as opposed to listening to something deep and meaningful. Hard house is easy to mix, it has a lot of energy, and teens especially like it. The downside to hard house is that it did not leave a lot of room open for creativity. I remember in the late 1990s when all I heard was the same beat with some looped sample of an old school record. While I did not get deeply into hard house, it is still a scene that some people like.

In terms of the respect of deep house to the old school, that is a case of the present scene trying to hold a tradition started back in the 1980s. A lot of the deep house I hear at places like the former Mad bar and at PURE events follows the same ideals and stylings that was done in the early 1980s off the Trax label, Salsoul, and that early WBMX/Ron Hardy flavor.

So, to hopefully make Starchild see clearer on this, the one thing you should remember is that all in all, dance music is about WHAT YOU LIKE. If the newer sounds of breaks and jungle turn you on over garage house, then so be it. There is no etheral law being broken here is someone chooses other dance music styles instead of house to get into. Heck...WBMX, the Warehouse, Ron Hardy, Medusa's, McGreevy's, the Riv, Music Box, Powerplant, etc. all of that is the HISTORY, but it is not the ONLY part of house music. Some of us like to remember it and cherish it, but there are many others that were in diapers or growing in their Mother's womb when it all happened, so no one is expected to know it all.

The best way to understand house music and all it did is to remember the "do-it-yourself" mentality. All those producers, all the way back from Larry Levan up to John Digweed in the present, they all made this magic by toying, playing, and trying sounds. The true nature of house is not about big money studios, labels, and "experienced" artists cranking out records, it's about local enthusiasts making music, and getting local DJs to play it.

Despite what a lot of people want to think, PLUR will always be synonomous with house. It taught people to love one another. It taught people to repect one another, and it unified all these small bedroom artists with their bedroom DJ counterparts. While many want it to be the rallying cry to roll, it will always be the credo of house, techno, and most dance music that we hear. It is a scene that accepts all ideas, all races, creeds, colors, fat, thin, pretty, ugly, male, female, gay, straight, bi, EVERYONE.

That's what the house music scene is. Hope this answered your question Starchild.

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