from the 12” single, Persona Records, 1986Previous to the release of this monster cut, the term “house music” was basically a catch-all phrase specifically referring to the records which were commonly played at Chicago nightclub, The Warehouse; due to the rabid fanbase of said club, the guys at Imports Records had to dedicate a section of the store to the hottest tracks spun by DJs there, and they shortened the name from ‘Warehouse’ to just ‘house’, but these were primarily disco-funk, garage, italo and Hi-NRG cuts, and by ’83 the Warehouse was winding down before what we know as “house music” (4/4 beat, synths, limited or no vocals, all instrumentation done by electronics) had fully appeared. Thus, the clubs which truly serve as the birthplace of modern house were the Music Box, which was opened by Robert Williams (the same cat who had owned the Warehouse), and the Powerplant, owned & operated by Frankie Knuckles (who had been the head DJ at the Warehouse). While Jesse Saunders is fairly credited as being the first artist to have a house track pressed on wax (1984’s “On And On”, which was a revamp of his “Fantasy” from earlier that year), it’s this deep cut from Jamie Principle that really set things off. Virtually all of house music’s originators (Marshall, Frankie, Silk, Farley, et al.) credit this song, which was in heavy rotation, via tape, at the clubs earlier than “On And On” but didn’t get pressed until ’86, as being the true catalyst which sent guys running home to their basements trying recreate what they were hearing in this track. Who could have possibly known that this simple repetitive loop of those 3 notes would wind up becoming the tap root for an everlasting international culture. Quite frankly, is there any style of modern music we don’t ultimately have black people to thank for either creating or inspiring??? Simply put: Nope.
