House - a
style of electronic music, originally a descendant of
disco.
In the mid-80s, disco had been around for nearly a decade and was suffering from massive commercial exploitation. In a classic example of the
over-exposure syndrome, the "Disco Sucks"-campaign made people burn their disco records in public display.
The leaders of the underground dance scene in the US, the
DJ:s and the producers, had stepped off the disco train since long, and was already developing a new, deeper, more dance-oriented sound: house. Already, the first singles specifically aimed at
DJ:s - the
12 inch singles - had emerged on the market, with longer intros and outros and long percussion breaks, to facilitate
mixing. Now, European electronic music and dub was thrown into the mix, and dance music entered a new era.
The name "house" comes from one of the pioneering clubs that started playing house music, the Warehouse in Chicago, with resident DJ
Frankie Knuckles. This club also gave name to a certain style of early house,
Chicago House. Another pioneer was
Larry Levan, who played the Paradise Garage - ironically, he was the Warehouse's first choice, but he didn't want to leave New York. The Paradise Garage also has a style of house named after it,
Garage House. Note that the
Garage House of today is a completely different thing from the original.
Often, one is asked to describe the difference between house and the predominant other electronic dance music genre,
techno. This is like trying to define the difference between
rock and
pop. Sometimes, people one refers to house as "
black music" and techno as "
white music" - which is a very sloppy and misleading definition, further illustrated by both genres being both pioneered and dominated by black men. However, the analogy does cohere with predominant social prejudice. As a general, house often features accentuations of the 2nd and 4th beat in the bar (with a hi-hat or snare drum, for example) and is often said to have more "soul" in the music, while
techno has a straight beat and a more pumping, electronic sound.