Let There Be House: A Rallying Cry of Resistance
Sexuality Without Shame
Helping women and femmes explore, define, and celebrate their authentic sexuality - without shame.
The closest I’ve come to true ecstasy was on the dance floor. The lights in my eyes, the sweat running down my face and the pulsating beat in my heart. The freedom to move without care, lost in the sea of bodies surrounding me. I’ve come alive, all worries and stress from the day forgotten for a few precious hours. There is an indescribable joy in this communal experience, this here and now, where all that matters is that the music keeps playing. I’ve met some of my best friends on the dance floor, people who I shared one magical evening with and never saw again.?I went to my first rave when I was 15 years old, and the love of house music has been with me ever since. ?
Now yes, I am someone who generally researches and discusses sex and sexuality, so this topic may seem a bit out of left field. But turns out June is both Pride month and Black Music Appreciation month, so I thought why not dive deep into something near and dear to my heart? I think the best way to honor a community is to learn their history and pay homage to their roots and the pioneers who got us here.?
So, for the next few weeks I thought I’d combine my love of music, dancing, knowledge and research and bring you some histories that may have been lost to time. Let’s begin with the Black, queer history of house music, shall we??
What is house music??
I realized while researching this blog that I wasn’t actually sure how to describe house music in a specific way. When people ask me what kind of music I listen to, I usually default to “electronic music” or “EDM” rather than a specific genre. But the more specific answer would be house music. So, for anyone curious, here is a more official definition of what house music is “In its most typical form, the genre is characterized by repetitive?4/4?rhythms?including bass drums,?off-beat?hi-hats,?snare drums,?claps, and/or?snaps?at a tempo of between 120 and 130?beats per minute (bpm);?synthesizer?riffs; deep?basslines; and often, but not necessarily, sung, spoken or?sampled?vocals. House tracks typically involve an?intro, a?chorus, various?verse?sections, a midsection, and a brief?outro.” (1)?
But house music is so much more than that. If you ask me, it’s the heart of electronic music. It’s the soaring vocals, the pulsating beat, the hints of disco, the exuberant spirit. “At its core, house music is about rhythm, groove, and the unifying power of the dancefloor.” (2) It is also wholly a creation of Black gay culture in the 1980s. Imagine the time. The 1960s had ushered in the civil rights era, and in the 1970s Black culture was becoming more prominent. And?more importantly (and terrifyingly for white people) - Black culture was becoming cool. Desegregation efforts meant more Black people were attending colleges, getting prestigious jobs and clawing their way out from under the foot of white supremacy. By the end of the1970s white people were surely feeling the “pressure” of a changing culture and a slight shift in power dynamics.??
And while this was happening, in the dawn of the 1980s, men were dying. Mysteriously. And no one seemed to care. Why? Because the AIDS crisis was here, and why would anyone (especially the US government)?give a damn?about a disease “only” striking gay men? It is with this backdrop – the rise of Black culture and the devastation of the AIDS crisis, that house music was born. It became “a soundtrack for the disappearing of bodies on dance floors snatched up by the AIDS virus... DJs and house music producers, some queer and some straight, were calling on witnesses of the AIDS crisis to grieve and groove.” (3)?
While house music was born from the?80s and the proliferation of underground clubs and gathering spaces for the queer community, the sounds you hear are a direct descendent of disco. As the 70s were coming to an end, so was the rise of disco. In the mid-70s disco was THE sound, edging out rock music and taking over the radio. So, it should come as no surprise that by 1979, the white folks had had ENOUGH. Let’s take a little detour and revisit a night that lives in infamy – Disco Demolition Night.??
Disco Demolition Night??
Before we get into the events of that night, we need a little backstory. I am not going to get into the nitty gritty, but as hinted at above, things were a little complicated in America in the late 1960s and into the 1970s. Disco was starting to take hold, and it was no secret that disco’s roots were in Black gay culture which…. Led to some backlash. Radio stations were switching from rock to disco, and in 1978 a local New York radio station made the switch and soon became the most popular radio station in the country. So of course, many others followed suit, hoping they could get a little bit of that success. Across the country, rock radio DJs were being fired to make way for disco DJs. Suffice it to say, they did not take to this very kindly.??
This brings us to Christmas Eve 1978, the day a young man named Steve Dahl was fired from a Chicago radio station when it decided to make the switch from rock to disco. And then he threw one hell of a hissy fit.???
Not long after being fired, Steve was then hired by another radio station. Here he and his broadcast partner Garry Meier would organize their listeners around the all-important mission of ridding the world of disco. The two began holding events, rallies, and sit-ins, and even went so far as to record their own song “Do Ya Think I’m Disco.” Unsurprisingly the song disparaged discotheques as effeminate, and was narrated by a man who just couldn’t get a woman because... of the music he listened to? I don’t know, it was the 70s and the guys were rock radio DJs, I am sure we can all imagine the lyrics.? Also – the song was a parody of Rod Stewart’s “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy” if you really want to get an idea of how the song went. And to be fair, I should note, these two were not the only ones organizing rallies. They were happening across the country, it’s just that these two would take things to... epic proportions.?(4)?
On July 12,1979, the MLB held a promotion at Comiskey Park in Chicago for a double-header of the Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers. Attendees were granted 98 cent admission if they brought a disco record, and then as entertainment between games the records were going to be blown up on the field. It was normal for promotions to be held to entice people to come to games, so it wasn’t all that odd for the White Sox to hold the event. And by partnering with two radio DJs named Steve Dahl and Garry Meier, the word about Disco Demolition Night was sure to get out. Also, the stadium had held a Disco Night back in 1977, so this was just equality??(4)?
Even with the radio partnership, hopes were not high for the event. The White Sox were not playing well that season and the previous nights game only had about 15,000 attendees, in a stadium that could hold 44,500 people. But wouldn’t you know, the double header sold out, and there were even crowds outside the stadium trying to get in. When all was said and done, official numbers would say there was about 47,800 people in attendance that night, in a stadium whose capacity was 44,500. Given the accounts of people sneaking in, most assume that the official number should be much higher.?(4)?
Once inside the stadium, attendees were supposed to drop their records into a large box, which would then be taken to the middle of the field and blown up. But the box was much too small and soon began to overflow, so attendees just carried their records to their seats (starting to see where I’m going with this?)??
Due to the issues with overflow and the crowds outside the gates, most of the security guards were sent to man the gates, leaving all those attendees in their seats with their handy dandy projectile objects – the disco records. Soon those records would find themselves flying through the wind and onto the field. I can’t even summarize the next part, so I am just going to copy from Wikipedia:??
“Tigers?designated hitter?Rusty Staub?remembered that the records would slice through the air, and land sticking out of the ground. He urged teammates to wear batting helmets when playing their positions, "It wasn't just one, it was many. Oh, God almighty, I've never seen anything so dangerous in my life." Attendees also threw firecrackers, empty liquor bottles, and lighters onto the field. The game was stopped several times because of the rain of foreign objects”??
I am sorry, I know I shouldn’t be laughing, but I am. I can already see the crowd, on a hot July evening in muggy Chicago (I lived there for awhile, that humidity is no joke), beer flowing, excitedly chucking their records into the air. And the big event hadn’t even officially started! Somehow the first game finished, and Steve Dahl came onto the field in army fatigues and a helmet (my lord the dramatics) and rallied the crowds with shouts of “disco sucks!”??
Ok – now also according to Wikipedia (look I am not a journalist, so we’re just going with Wikipedia on this one) someone had the bright idea to PADLOCK all the gates except one, to keep all those crowds outside from coming in. So, anyone who was feeling like maybe they wanted to get out before things got out of hand, found themselves essentially locked inside the stadium with the rowdy crowds.? And with those security guards STILL manning the gates rather than the crowds inside, Dahl set off the explosions and destroyed the records and then it was off to the races. Crowds began to flood the field, destroying the batting cage, setting their own records on fire, and apparently STEALING THE BASES – all this while a bonfire of records was going off in the middle of the field. It was mayhem.??
And finally, after over an hour of bedlam, the police showed up in riot gear and arrested 39 people for disorderly conduct. The second game in the double header was never played as the field had suffered too much damage. However, if you asked Dahl, as someone did the next day, he would say “I think for the most part everything was wonderful.”??
And there you have it, Disco Demolition Night and the story of how this no-name rock radio DJ threw a hissy fit in a way that only a white man can - by creating a city-wide movement in protest of disco. A hissy fit so epic that it ended with him blowing up disco records with dynamite. It became a literal riot over… disco music. But if you ask me, given the cultural context of the time, it was about so much more, and I can smell the racism and homophobia from miles away.??
It is with this anger and vitriol in mind that we can discuss the emergence of house music from the ashes of disco.??
The Creation of House??
While it is difficult to pinpoint an exact moment when a musical genre emerges, most historians are in agreement. House music is a Black, gay, Chicagoan innovation. It was created in the underground clubs, the brainchild of the Godfather of House, Frankie Knuckles.??
Frankie Knuckles was an out, gay DJ from the Bronx, who cut his teeth at clubs in New York before being offered a spot as the house DJ at a place in Chicago called the Warehouse. This being the late 70s and early 80s, most of the musical equipment we are familiar with today didn’t exist. Frankie would create house music by splicing together different records, using a physical reel-to-reel tape machine to edit and create new songs. Frankie’s specialty was a blend of disco, funk, and sound effects. He would eventually add drum machines after he opened his own club, The Power Plant in 1982, creating the sounds that are now recognized as house today.??
Common lore traces the origins of the term “house music” back to Frankie Knuckles and the Warehouse, which at the time was often just called “The House.” Some say the 1985 song “It’s House” by Chip E. helped cement the name, however Chip E. himself has said the inspiration for the song name came from Frankie Knuckles.? Chip E. worked at a record store in Chicago that had bins containing the music Frankie played at the Warehouse, and the bins were labeled “As Heard at the Warehouse” which was shortened to “House.” (1) Others claim that the term came from DJs creating the new sounds in their houses or at clubs as the “house” DJ, however I would say this definition exists as yet another way to erase the Black gay roots of the genre.?
Because we cannot forget that house music emerged as a way to create community during a time when it was dangerous to be gay. The Warehouse served mainly Black gay men, as most existing gay clubs would not allow minorities. The sounds of house emerged out of necessity, survival, joy and community. It is meant to be experienced on the dance floor, a chaotic mix of beats and vocals and bodies and sweat. The lyrics are often a rallying cry of joy and resistance: “Everybody’s freeeeeeee to feel good.” Frankie Knuckles is sometimes quoted as saying that the Warehouse in Chicago was like "church for people who have fallen from grace".?
The Rise of House Music??
While Frankie Knuckles is seen as the Godfather of House, producer Vince Lawrence and singer Jesse Saunders are considered to have created the first house album, On and On in1984. The album was promoted and played on the radio by DJ Farley “Jackmaster” Funk who would also go on to make a name for himself in the world of house.???
In some of my research it has been argued that Jesse Saunders should be credited as the true innovator of house music, as his was the first house music album on the Billboard charts and he was the first artist to be signed to a major label. I think there is room to honor both. Frankie the Godfather, and Jesse the Father. Two Black gay men who pioneered the sounds now so often heard by white DJs like Calvin Harris and David Guetta.??
The early 80s brought new technology, which started house music going mainstream. DJs could now use synthesizers, samplers, and sequencers to put albums together, and a whole new batch of producers was born. Eventually “Love Can’t Turn Around” by Darryl Pandy, produced by Farley “Jackmaster” Funk, made it to the top 10 in the UK charts and house music went international. By the late 1980s the UK was seeing house and electronic become cultural phenomenon, and soon a whole new crop of UK DJs emerged. And the rest, as they say, is history.??
Obviously, there is about 40 years between today and 1984 when On and On first made its way onto the charts. Alas I am not a music historian; I am just a sexual empowerment coach with a penchant for research. I am not here to chart the takeover of white DJs who are now so closely associated with the sounds of house. I am here to honor and remind us of the debt we owe to these Black, gay innovators. I am here to honor the lives of those who were pushed into the darkness of sweaty basements not because they chose to, but because they had to. It is because of them that I now find myself in expensive clubs, listening to DJs who are known worldwide. This entire blog is a reminder to myself that the music I love so much was born from purpose and survival. ??
Sources: ?
(3) Harpers Bazaar, https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/art-books-music/a40473664/house-music-is-back-lets-remember-its-roots/?