House

A genre of electronic dance music that emerged in Chicago in the early 1980s and takes its name from the Warehouse, the club where DJ Frankie Knuckles mixed disco, soul and European synth music for a largely Black and gay crowd. House is built on a steady four-on-the-floor kick drum at around 115–130 BPM, with off-beat hi-hats, programmed drum machines (especially the Roland TR-808 and TR-909) and soulful or gospel-influenced vocals. Jesse Saunders’s “On and On” (1984) is often cited as the first house record, and labels such as Trax and DJ International spread the sound internationally. House reached the UK in the late 1980s, fuelling the rave boom. It is the parent of many subgenres, including acid, deep, garage, tech and progressive house, and remains the foundation of most club music today.