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What Came After Disco?: House And what is House? House Music is the raw, stripped-down sound of dance music that developed in the underground clubs (the ones that didn't play what was on Top 40 radio) in mid-to-late 80's Chicago. Now-famous DJs like Frankie Knuckles took the most rhythmic elements of their favorite disco records (the great drum breaks in the middle) and looped them in the studio into full-length songs that were skeletal, yet intense dance tracks. Frankie's club was called the Warehouse, and soon clubbers began referring to the music they heard there as "House Music" (and the style of dancing as "jacking"). Vocals on these tracks were at a minimum at first, but as the sound developed, a handful of great House anthems rose from the scene to become massive pop hits in the UK and Europe. Songs like "Love Can't Turn Around" by Farley "Jackmaster Funk" presents Darryl Pandy, "You Used to Hold Me" by Ralphi Rosario featuring Xaviera Gold and "Move Your Body" by Marshall Jefferson had a huge impact on the European pop music scene and culture. Overseas producers whole-heartedly embraced the sound and then sold it back to Americans in polished commercial late-80s/early 90s hits by Black Box ("Everybody Everybody"), Samantha Fox ("I Wanna Have Some Fun"), the Pet Shop Boys ("Always On My Mind"), Stevie V ("Dirty Cash") Lisa Stansfield ("People Hold On"). Meanwhile, here in America, the sound remained underground, until House Music's biggest champion, Madonna, came along. It was she who, always with an ear to the underground clubs, took the sound together with her producer Shep Pettibone and brought it to mainstream dancefloors and Top 40 radio, most memorably with the song, "Vogue." Others like Natalie Cole ("Pink Cadillac"), Whitney Houston ("I'm Every Woman"), CeCe Peniston ("Finally") and Crystal Waters ("Gypsy Woman [She's Homeless]") followed. Those who think they don’t know what House Music is will surely recognize chart topping House Music-style dance remixes released by pop stars like Janet Jackson ("Together Again"), Mariah Carey ("Dreamlover"), and Everything But The Girl ("Missing"). It was the very same House Music pioneer, Frankie Knuckles, who, ten years after releasing his first House record, became the first producer to receive a Grammy Award for Remixer Of The Year, in 1997. Over the years, House Music's pumping four-on-the-floor beat has become the dominant sound on dancefloors the world over and in Europe it remains so, where it is also House, not hip hop, that continues to rule the airwaves. Chicago's Trax Records is the godfather of all House Music labels. (The label is based in a huge warehouse that is a beehive of label offices, studios and home to numerous House Music producers.) It was on Trax that the first House records were pressed and it was the influence of these very records that changed the course of dance music history, making House Music the next big dance sound of the 20th century. While Disco died over twenty years ago (due to major labels turning it into an overblown, oversold soulless fad), House Music is still going strong. In June 2004, Chicago's Trax Records will release Trax Records: The 20th Anniversary Collection. It is a three CD set mixed by 2003 Remixer of the Year Grammy Winner Maurice Joshua and renowned international DJ Paul Johnson. The set contains two mixed CDs, one unmixed CD (for DJs), liner notes by respected music journalist Brian Chin and lots of great photos of some of the key figures in House Music history. A companion set, Trax Records: The Next Generation, will be released simultaneously, and contains all new material from well known Trax producers as well as newcomers to the scene. TRAX RECORDS THE ORIGINAL HOME OF HOUSE MUSIC. Stands in a class by itself, as the major jewel in the crown of the revolutionary House Music movement. Its quintessential catalogue, defines its genre and the legendary label is often called the Motown of the House Music era. TRAX Records BURST ON THE SCENE in the early 80’s with a unique soulful sound that earned the brand name "House" because of its warehouse roots. A string of classic dance hits followed including "Move Your Body", "Baby Wants To Ride", "Real Thing", "Can U Feel It", "House Nation", "This Is Acid" and "U Used To Hold Me". These songs, and a host of oth-ers, became the soundtrack for the entire generation and put legendary artists like Frankie Knuckles, Marshall Jefferson, Mr. Fingers, Farley Jackmaster, Adonis, Screamin’Rachael and others on the map. The label has flourished over the years through the dedication of co-founders Larry Sherman, and Rachael Cain. Sherman honed his trademark production skills and golden ears, as a kid who hung around legends like Phil Spector, and Willy Dixon on Chicago’s famous Music Row. Rachael Cain a.k.a. recording artist Screamin’ Rachael, dubbed the "Queen of House" by Billboard Magazine. Cain introduced the sound to Sherman and the world with her friends Vince Lawrence, and Jesse Saunders, when she sang the first house record "Fantasy". Almost 20 years have passed since its inception and the legendary Trax Label has expanded its catalogue to over 2000 titles and continues to stay as fresh and vital as ever. Trax continues to release new dance titles each month with some of the most dynamic innovators in the dance genre today including 69DB, Observer, Matt Warren, Die Warzau, and Corey Stocker. Trax Records has also established a brand new division, Wicked Trax, one of the hottest underground urban/hip hop dance labels, working with such dynamic artists as Kool Moe Dee, Jazzy Jay, Grand Wizard Theodore, Huck, Nemesis, Doug E Fresh, Grandmaster Melle Mel, Oran "Juice" Jones and many others. To build on the label’s success, Trax Records recently entered into a joint venture with Casablanca Media Acquisitions Inc. to jointly acquire and develop new recording and publishing interests. Casablanca is a privately owned corporation led by Canadian music industry veteran Edmund Glinert. Through its subsidiary corporations, Casablanca operates a number of record labels and television production companies and is also Canada’s largest independent music publisher, repre-senting several of the largest independent music publishers in the United States and the U.K. Casablanca has also been appointed the worldwide administrator of the existing Trax recording and publishing catalogue. LEGENDS OF TRAX ADONIS Adonis made waves on the dancefloor when he recorded several of the best Chicago house singles of the 1980s, including "No Way Back," "Do It Properly" and "We're Rockin' Down the House." A friend introduced him to house music via Jesse Saunders' "On and On"; after feeling a drive to make better-produced music than what he had heard, Adonis began recording. He continued to produce and remix on an independent basis into the '90s. In 1993, he and two other house leg-ends (Farley Jackmaster Funk and Chip E) entered the studio and recorded their Godfathers of House series. In 1999, Adonis entered the dance charts again with a brand new remix of his own classic "We’re Rockin’ Down The House". FARLEY JACKMASTER FUNK When a new style of music first cracks the pop charts, the hit is usu-ally a deliberate crossover by an artist having little to do with the music's original pioneers. The first house single to reach the charts, however, was recorded by seminal Chicago DJ and producer, Farley Jackmaster Funk. His cover of Isaac Hayes' "Love Can't Turn Around" made the Top Ten in mid-1986 - ironically, not in his home country but in the U.K. -- at the same time that he was one of the biggest names in Chicago house. Known as Farley Keith or Farley Funkin' Keith up to that point, he began recording in 1984 with the single "Jack the Bass," which inaugurated the highly popular jacking craze in Chicago house. After two more singles ("Funkin' with Drums Again," "Give Yourself to Me") for Trax Records, he re-christened himself Farley Jackmaster Funk and released "Love Can't Turn Around," with vocals by Darryl Pandy (often mistaken for Farley on the accom-panying video). The single hit the number nine spot on the British pop charts and stunned hundreds of Chicagoans, who had no idea their records were becom-ing popular across the ocean. MR. FINGERS One of the top early producers of Chicago house was Larry Heard, also known as Mr. Fingers. He was the production genius behind the classic hits "Can You Feel It", "Washing Machine" and many others. The first outlet for Heard’s skills was Fingers Inc. The group was formed in 1985 by Heard with vocalists Robert Owens and Ron Wilson. He also led a new revolution in the house sound with his addition of spoken words by Harry Dennis on "Distant Planet" and "Gallimaufry Gallery". FRANKIE KNUCKLES Dubbed one of the godfathers of house, Frankie Knuckles began DJing in New York in the early 1970s while still a teenager, years before the disco boom which proved to be the first flow-ering of modern dance music. Knuckles moved to Chicago in 1977 and began DJing at the Warehouse, spinning Salsoul and Philadelphia Int'l records in front of a crowd unused to the New York DJing style, which included beat-mixing and the addition of percussion fills (from a separate turntable) to spruce up the sound of traditional soul. In 1983, Knuckles opened his own club, the Power Plant. While Ron Hardy was entrancing a largely gay, uptown crowd at the Music Box, Knuckles introduced the sound to many of the Southside producers who made waves during the 1980s: Marshall Jefferson, Larry Heard, Adonis, Steve "Silk" Hurley and at least half a dozen others. After more than 15 years spinning vinyl, Frankie Knuckles began recording as well, debuting with several singles released on the seminal Trax Records. Such efforts as "Your Love," "Baby Wants to Ride," "You Got the Love" and "Angel" (most credited to Knuckles though vocalist Jamie Principle undoubtedly exercised some influence) were among the best tracks released in the Chicago house explosion of the mid-'80s. Just as Chicago house began spreading worldwide during 1986-87 though, Knuckles returned to New York. He formed Def Mix Productions with David Morales (one of the other major names in house music) and began working on house treatments for the biggest pop stars of the 1980s and '90s, including Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, Chaka Khan, Inner City and En Vogue. MARSHALL JEFFERSON One of the original innovators in Chicago house, Marshall Jefferson had a hand in several of the music's most influential early tracks. During the two-year period from 1985 to 1986, Marshall Jefferson released half-a-dozen of the biggest club hits in Chicago. In 1985 he produced his friend Sleazy D's "I've Lost Control," and the track became a big club hit. "Move Your Body," was given a full release on Trax Records in 1986; the single immediately dropped a bomb on Chicago crowds, who soon began acknowl-edging the track as house music's defining moment. Less than one year after "Move Your Body" however, Chicago was forced to react to another important milestone, the onset of acid-house. The trio known as Phuture (DJ Pierre, Spanky and Herb J) had recently recorded some material and with Marshall Jefferson's help, they entered the studio to record a full version. Phuture emerged from the studio with "Acid Trax," one of the most influential songs in the history of house. Several months after its release, it had spawned literally hundreds of imitators and answer versions. Several Marshall Jefferson productions not recorded under his own name, such as Hercules' "Lost in the Groove," Jungle Wonz's "The Jungle" and Kevin Irving's "Ride the Rhythm" all became sizeable club hits. RALPHIE ROSARIO He became a famed main-stream/ house producer and remixer by the 1990s, but Ralphi Rosario will forever be known as the author of house's most infectious hit, "You Used to Hold Me," as well as his status as a member of the illustrious Hot Mix 5 radio team that consistently lit up Chicago's WBMX during the 1980s with the best house tracks of the day. The Hot Mix 5 also had a record label (as part of Trax Records), which released "You Used to Hold Me" as well as crucial Rosario follow-ups like "Pieces" and "I Want Your Love." SCREAMIN’ RACHAEL Screamin’ Rachael is known as the Queen of House Music to friends and fans everywhere. She was the first artist of this genre to sign a major label deal (Teldec), and also launched the Hip House sound when she recorded "Fun With Bad Boys" with her mentor and friend Afrika Bambaataa Rachael Cain aka Screamin’ Rachael began her show business career at the age of 4 when she made her first commercial and she’s been acting, dancing, and singing her way through life ever since. Rachael found her true calling when she turned from her punk roots to sing the first house record "Fantasy" in the early 80’s.Since that time Screamin’ Rachael’s collaborations with notable artists including Afrika Bambaataa, Marshall Jefferson, Colonel Abrams, Grandmaster Melle Mel and others has resulted in a string of hits including "Real Thing", "Rock Me", "Boop Bop", "One More Chance", and many more. Cain continues to record for Trax Records and releases a number of innovative dance singles each year. Rachael Cain has also written music expressly for television, including the Colored Museum, for award winning director George C. Wolf, and the popular children’s series Ghost Writer. |
