Chicago House: The Birth of a Global Sound

The Warehouse: 1977-1983

Robert Williams opened The Warehouse nightclub at 206 South Jefferson Street in Chicago in 1977. The club operated as a members-only venue catering primarily to Black gay men, offering a space apart from mainstream nightlife.

Williams hired Frankie Knuckles as resident DJ. Knuckles, born Francis Warren Nicholls Jr. in the Bronx in 1955, had previously worked alongside Larry Levan at New York's Continental Baths and The Gallery. He brought the New York underground disco aesthetic to Chicago.

The Warehouse operated from approximately midnight to noon the following day, with Knuckles playing extended sets that stretched past 10 hours. Entry cost $4 for members and $5 for guests. The club held approximately 600 people at capacity.

From Disco to House: 1979-1983

The "Disco Demolition Night" at Chicago's Comiskey Park on July 12, 1979, marked disco's commercial decline. Radio stations dropped disco from their playlists, and record labels stopped signing disco acts. But at The Warehouse, dancing continued.

Without new disco records to play, Knuckles adapted. His innovations included:

Knuckles used reel-to-reel tape machines to create extended versions of tracks. He would duplicate and splice together instrumental breaks, creating versions that stretched songs from 4 minutes to 15 or 20 minutes. These edits were unique to The Warehouse—no other DJ had them.

Beginning around 1981, Knuckles layered Roland TR-909 drum machine patterns over existing records. This added punch and consistency to older disco tracks whose production sounded thin on large sound systems.

Using a mixer, Knuckles would isolate and loop specific sections of records, effectively creating live remixes on the dancefloor.

Patrons began calling this sound "Warehouse music"—shortened to "house."

The First House Records: 1984-1986

Jesse Saunders, a Chicago DJ and producer, recorded "On and On" in late 1983 and released it in January 1984 on his own Jes Say Records label. Production costs totaled approximately $700.

"On and On" contained elements that would define house:

• TR-808 drum machine providing the rhythm
• Synthesizer bass line (sampled from Player One's "Space Invaders")
• Simple, repetitive structure
• Tempo of approximately 120 BPM

The track sold thousands of copies locally and established that Chicago producers could make records, not just play them.

Marshall Jefferson, a mail carrier turned producer, released "Move Your Body" in 1986 on Trax Records. The track introduced the piano riff to house music—a gospel-influenced chord stab that became a genre signature. Jefferson described the piano sound as his attempt to bring the soul of Black church music into electronic dance music.

Larry Heard, performing as Mr. Fingers, released "Can You Feel It" in 1986 on Trax Records. The track established deep house as a subgenre, featuring:

• Slower tempo (approximately 115 BPM)
• Warm pad chords from a Roland Juno-106
• Minimal percussion
• Spoken word vocal about love and unity

Trax Records and DJ International

Two labels dominated early Chicago house:

Owner Larry Sherman operated Trax from the same building as his record pressing plant. The label's releases defined raw Chicago house:

• Phuture - "Acid Tracks" (1987)
• Marshall Jefferson - "Move Your Body" (1986)
• Adonis - "No Way Back" (1986)

Trax became notorious for its business practices. Artists frequently reported unpaid royalties and unauthorized releases of their music. Despite this, the label's catalog remains foundational to house music.

Rocky Jones started DJ International with better business practices and higher production values. The label achieved international distribution:

• Farley "Jackmaster" Funk - "Love Can't Turn Around" (1986) - UK #10
• Steve "Silk" Hurley - "Jack Your Body" (1987) - UK #1
• Fingers Inc. - "Distant Planet" (1988)

DJ International's success brought Chicago house to European audiences, particularly in the UK where the tracks received heavy radio play.

The Sound of Chicago House

Technical characteristics of early Chicago house:

Equipment commonly used by Chicago producers:

• Roland TR-808 and TR-909 drum machines
• Roland TB-303 Bass Line (after 1987)
• Roland Juno-106 synthesizer
• Sequential Circuits Pro-One
• E-mu SP-1200 sampler
• Tascam 4-track recorders

Acid House: 1987

In 1985, DJ Pierre, Spanky, and Herb J formed Phuture. They acquired a Roland TB-303 Bass Line synthesizer—a machine designed for guitarists to practice with, which had failed commercially.

The TB-303 produced monophonic bass lines with a distinctive filter that could be manipulated to create "squelching" sounds. DJ Pierre experimented with the machine's resonance and cutoff controls, discovering that extreme settings produced unusual, almost vocal tones.

Phuture recorded "Acid Tracks" in 1985 but couldn't release it until 1987 when Trax Records agreed to press it. Ron Hardy, DJ at the Music Box club, had been playing DJ Pierre's acetate for months, creating demand.

"Acid Tracks" established acid house:

• TB-303 as the primary melodic/bass element
• Squelching filter sweeps as the signature sound
• Hypnotic, repetitive structure

The track influenced producers worldwide, particularly in the UK where acid house sparked the late 1980s rave movement.

Spread to the UK and Europe: 1986-1988

Chicago house reached the UK through multiple channels:

UK DJs including Mike Pickering (Haçienda, Manchester), Graeme Park (Nottingham), and Colin Faver (London) imported Chicago 12" singles and played them in clubs.

London Records, FFRR, and other UK labels licensed Chicago house tracks for British release. This brought the music to mainstream distribution and radio.

British music press—particularly NME and Melody Maker—covered the Chicago scene extensively from 1986 onward.

By summer 1988, house music dominated British clubs. This coincided with the emergence of the rave scene and widespread MDMA use, creating what became known as the Second Summer of Love.

The Godfather's Legacy

Frankie Knuckles continued producing and DJing until his death on March 31, 2014. His achievements included:

• Grammy Award for Remixer of the Year (1997)
• Chicago honorary street name: "Frankie Knuckles Way" (2004)
• Inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame (2005)
• Posthumous Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (2022)

President Obama issued a statement following Knuckles' death, recognizing his role in shaping American music and culture.

The Chicago house scene that Knuckles helped create established principles that continue to define electronic dance music: community-focused dancefloors, DJ as curator and performer, and music production as accessible art form.