THE BACKSTORY

To stay connected with its clientele, Audi published a glossy magazine each quarter covering a range of topics including art, fashion and culture. For the “electric” issue, I did a brief write-up on the evolution of electronic music, or house.

The Rhythm of Rebellion: A Brief History of Electronic Dance Music

Chicago. July 12, 1979. Chicago rock DJ and anti-disco poster boy Steve Dahl hosted “Disco Demolition Night” at Comiskey Park. The kitschy promotion was designed to capitalize on intense disco backlash from hardcore rock fans — and that it did. The night climaxed with a crate of disco records blown up in the middle of the ballpark, and thousands of angry rock fans storming the field before being dispersed by riot police.

The infamous event multiplied disco animus nationally, and soon, the genre had all but disappeared from American pop culture. But by the early 1980s, a new kind of electronic dance music was emerging in its place. Cultivated in Black, Latin and LGBT spaces in Chicago — the same city that killed disco — house music was disco’s revenge.

“The vibration of the music, the tempo, the repetitive 4:4 pulse of the beat — it’s all very easy to get sucked into,” Sean Alvarez, a Chicago native and DJ who spins house — explains. “I was 12 or 13 the first time I heard house at a friend’s birthday party. Back then, we referred to that sound as ‘mixes’. WBMX, one of our local radio stations, would play these loops of songs blending together — one into the other. It was soulful. It resonated with my spirit.”

“Spiritual” is an apt way to describe the vibe at The Warehouse. One of Chicago’s most legendary nightspots, it was there that DJ Frankie Knuckles laid the foundation for what would later be known as ‘house’ — short for music played at The Warehouse. Knuckles would overlay disco classics with sporadic drum machine pulses, and that marriage defined early house. Soon, local producers like Jesse Saunders were mimicking Knuckles’ sound, and in 1984, Saunders released the very first official house music record with Vince Lawrence, “On & On.”

But house music’s slow burn in Chicago was about to get exported to the UK — and explode into a full-on blaze. In 1987, Chicago house stalwarts DJ Frankie Knuckles, Marshall Jefferson, Fingers, Inc. and Adonis toured England for the DJ International label, and helped to introduce Europe to the deep basslines and electronic squelching of acid house. By 1989, acid house raves were popping up across the UK, and a flummoxed Margaret Thatcher was desperate for ways to stunt what she purported to be a dangerous, drug-fueled youth counterculture. In reality, her true gripe with raves was the noise they produced. And others have speculated that the oneness of acid house parties — which united young people across gender, racial and sexual orientation lines under the same electronic groove — was the thing that really spooked the UK’s ruling class.

Back in America, house wasn’t exactly ruling the charts in the 90s, but elements of it began creeping into the work of major pop artists. Madonna launched the decade with “Vogue,” and introduced the masses to the complex poses and gestures that made up the iconic dance style of the same name. Janet Jackson delivered a rave-ready rendition of her song, “Throb” on SNL in 1994, pulling back the curtains on house culture even more.

But it wasn’t until fairly recently that electronic music became a steady, mainstream fixture. Rebranded EDM, the music’s new moniker is an attempt by the industry to distance itself from the music’s rave-y connotations. And now, everyone’s at the party. Top acts like Rihanna, Justin Timberlake, Usher and Britney Spears have all dipped their toes in the EDM waters — and have hooked huge hits in the process. And while there is a disconnect between the originators of electronic music and its current purveyors, Kanye West remembers its roots, as he reached back to 1985 to sample the house classic “Mystery of Love,” by Chicago legend Larry Heard for his 2016 single, “Fade.”

“As far as people thinking that house and electronic music were born in Europe, people look at what’s taking place now in the culture,” Alvarez says. It’s who’s writing the story now, and who’s reading the story now. That’s what people look at. That’s what matters today in terms of the perception of things.”