Nu-disco is a 21st-century dance music genre associated with a renewed interest in the late 1970s disco , synthesizer-heavy 1980s European dance music styles, and early 1990s electronic dance music . The genre was popular in the early 2000s, and experienced a mild resurgence in the 2010s.
103-533: There are several scenes associated with the nu-disco term. The original scene is characterized as house music fused with disco elements (sometimes incorrectly referred to as disco house ), and disco-influenced balearic music, also known as balearic beat revival or balearica . Nu-disco is often confused with the other disco-influenced house music genres, such as French house or disco house . French house usually features various special effects, such as phasers and has heavily sample-based production, compared to
206-503: A Real Hip House compilation on his label, House Records, in 1990. The early 1990s saw new Chicago house artists emerge, such as Armando Gallop , who had released seminal acid house records since 1987, but became even more influential by co-founding the new Warehouse nightclub in Chicago (on 738 W. Randolph Street ) in which he also was resident DJ from 1992 until 1994, and founding Warehouse Records in 1988. Another important figure during
309-399: A Roland TR-808 , TR-909 , or a TR-707 . Claps, shakers, snare drum, or hi-hat sounds are used to add syncopation . One of the signature rhythm riffs, especially in early Chicago house, is built on the clave pattern. Congas and bongos may be added for an African sound, or metallic percussion for a Latin feel. Sometimes, the drum sounds are "saturated" by boosting the gain to create
412-639: A trance -like effect on dancers. Frankie Knuckles once said that the Warehouse club in Chicago was like "church for people who have fallen from grace". House record producer Marshall Jefferson compared it to "old-time religion in the way that people just get happy and screamin ' ". The role of a house DJ has been compared to a "secular type of priest". Some house lyrics contained messages calling for equality, unity, and freedom of expression beyond racial or sexual differences (e.g. " Can You Feel It " by Fingers Inc. , 1987, or "Follow Me" by Aly-Us , 1992). Later on in
515-659: A 1970s style. One source stated that the pop charts had more dance songs than at any other point since the late 1970s. The biggest nu-disco hit of the year was " Get Lucky " by Daft Punk , featuring Chic 's Nile Rodgers on guitar. The song was initially thought likely to be a leading candidate to become the summer's biggest hit that year; however, the song ended up peaking at number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for five weeks behind another major disco-styled song, Robin Thicke 's " Blurred Lines ", which spent twelve weeks at number 1 on
618-506: A drum machine and a reel-to-reel tape player so he could create new tracks, often with a boosted deep register and faster tempos. Knuckles said: " Kraftwerk were main components in the creation of house music in Chicago. Back in the early 80s, I mixed our 80s Philly sound with the electro beats of Kraftwerk and the Electronic body music bands of Europe." Ron Hardy produced unconventional DIY mixtapes which he later played straight-on in
721-511: A group produced by Kevin Saunderson, in 1988. Another major and even earlier influence on the Detroit artists was electronic music in the tradition of Germany's Kraftwerk. Atkins had released electro music in that style with his group Cybotron as early as 1981. Cybotron's best known songs are "Cosmic Cars" (1982) and "Clear" (1983); a 1984 release was titled "Techno City". In 1988, Atkins produced
824-521: A heavily synthesized sound while still retaining old-school influences in tracks such as "Back to Life", and Poolside uses atmospheric synths to complement their drum, bass, and guitar sounds in "Do You Believe". Unlike its disco precursors, nu-disco and disco house are not beholden to song forms that are essential to the modern pop idiom. Rather than following the traditional verse-chorus model, nu-disco tends to take after its electronic cousins, with more drawn-out, repetitive sections that slowly ramp up to
927-630: A house music style. Key labels in the rise of house music in the UK included: In March 1987, the UK tour of influential US DJs such as Knuckles, Jefferson, Fingers Inc. (Heard), and Adonis on the DJ International Tour boosted house's popularity in the UK. Following the success of MARRS ' " Pump Up The Volume " in October, from 1987 to 1989, UK acts such as The Beatmasters , Krush , Coldcut , Yazz , Bomb The Bass , S-Express , and Italy's Black Box opened
1030-428: A house track to be played in clubs may make a "seven or eight-minute 12-inch mix "; if the track is intended to be played on the radio, a "three-and-a-half-minute" radio edit is used. House tracks build up slowly, by adding layers of sound and texture, and by increasing the volume. House tracks may have vocals like a pop song, but some are "completely minimal instrumental music ". If a house track does have vocals,
1133-434: A member of cult band Chicken Lips , said in 2012: "30 percent of music in the charts have the feeling of this left-field disco production style in it. The producers give it that kind of shine that makes it more for radio than your DJ box. You can hear the electronic Chicken Lips stuff that was prevalent in 2003 in some of Lady Gaga 's music". In 2013, several disco- and funk-influenced songs charted as top hits, this time in
SECTION 10
#17328584158371236-399: A midsection, and a brief outro . Some tracks do not have a verse, taking a vocal part from the chorus and repeating the same cycle. House music tracks are often based on eight-bar sections which are repeated. They are often built around bass-heavy loops or basslines produced by a synthesizer and/or around samples of disco , soul , jazz-funk , or funk songs. DJs and producers creating
1339-422: A mix. In the post-disco club culture during the early 1980s, DJs from the gay scene made their tracks "less pop-oriented", with a more mechanical, repetitive beat and deeper basslines, and many tracks were made without vocals, or with wordless melodies. Disco became so popular by the late 1970s that record companies pushed even non-disco artists (R&B and soft rock acts, for example) to record disco songs. When
1442-628: A more aggressive edge. One classic subgenre, acid house , is defined through the squelchy sounds created by the Roland TB-303 bass synthesizer. House music could be produced on "cheap and consumer-friendly electronic equipment" and used sound gear, which made it easier for independent labels and DJs to create tracks. The electronic drum machines and other gear used by house DJs and producers were formerly considered "too cheap-sounding" by "proper" musicians. House music producers typically use sampled instruments, rather than bringing session musicians into
1545-419: A nu-disco pioneer and stalwart, released her fifteenth studio album Disco , with Culture Fix describing the lead single Say Something as an "elegant nu-disco anthem". In May 2020, Studio 54 , the former nightclub and 1970s center of disco culture, launched a record label called Studio 54 Music, featuring newly re-imagined versions of classic club disco tracks by Don Ray and T-Connection . Since nu-disco
1648-422: A recording studio. Even though a key element of house production is layering sounds, such as drum machine beats, samples, synth basslines, and so on, the overall "texture...is relatively sparse". Unlike pop songs, which emphasize higher-pitched sounds like melody , in house music, the lower-pitched bass register is most important. House tracks typically involve an intro , a chorus , various verse sections,
1751-772: A repetitive four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 115–130 beats per minute. It was created by DJs and music producers from Chicago 's Black gay underground club culture and evolved slowly in the early/mid 1980s as DJs began altering disco songs to give them a more mechanical beat. By early 1988, House became mainstream and supplanted the typical 80s music beat. House was created and pioneered by DJs and producers in Chicago such as Frankie Knuckles , Ron Hardy , Jesse Saunders , Chip E. , Joe Smooth , Steve "Silk" Hurley , Farley "Jackmaster" Funk , Marshall Jefferson , Phuture , and others. House music initially expanded internationally, to London , then to other American cities, such as New York City , and ultimately became
1854-545: A similar style by other European artists. The presenters of the Italian music show Discoring (produced by RAI ) usually referred to Italo disco tracks as "rock elettronico" ( electronic rock ) or "balli da discoteca" (disco dance) before the term "Italo disco" came into existence. Italo disco originated in Europe in the late 1970s. After Disco Demolition Night in 1979, American interest in disco sharply declined, whereas in Europe
1957-421: 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. In house, the bass drum is usually played on beats one, two, three, and four, and the snare drum, claps, or other higher-pitched percussion on beats two and four. The drumbeats in house music are almost always provided by an electronic drum machine , often
2060-483: A worldwide phenomenon. House has a large influence on pop music , especially dance music . It was incorporated into works by major international artists including Whitney Houston , Mariah Carey , Janet Jackson , Madonna , Pet Shop Boys , Kylie Minogue and Lady Gaga , and produced many mainstream hits such as " Pump Up the Jam " by Technotronic , " French Kiss " by Lil Louis , " Show Me Love " by Robin S. , and " Push
2163-489: Is "everything that springs from the late '70s and early '80s (electronic) disco, boogie , cosmic , Balearic and Italo disco continuum". Originally, service associated it with re-edits of classic disco records and a handful of European electronic producers who made music in that style. It was used alongside alternative dance up until September 2019, when Beatport separated categories into two, leaving nu-disco in "Nu Disco / Disco". In 2008, Spin magazine stated that disco
SECTION 20
#17328584158372266-507: Is a dance genre first and foremost, the drum grooves are an essential part. They often feature four-on-the-floor beats with an organic, lively feel based on the sounds of classic disco recordings by Chic, Sister Sledge, and others. In some cases, producers will sample these grooves directly. While modern production is abundant with synthesized sounds, many nu-disco records are, in the disco tradition, driven by guitar or bass licks. Guitarist, producer, and songwriter Nile Rodgers brought riffs to
2369-529: Is associated with a complete freedom of expression. One of the primary elements in house dancing is "the jack" or "jacking" — a style created in the early days of Chicago house that left its trace in numerous record titles such as "Time to Jack" by Chip E. from the Jack Trax EP (1985), "Jack'n the House" (1985) by Farley "Jackmaster" Funk (1985) or " Jack Your Body " by Steve "Silk" Hurley (1986). It involves moving
2472-421: Is considered a classic in both the house and techno genre and shows the connection and the "boundary between house and techno." It made way to what was later known as "techno" in the internationally known sense of the word, referring to a harder, faster, colder, more machine-driven and minimal sound than house, as played by Detroit's Underground Resistance and Jeff Mills . With house music already important in
2575-620: Is credited with having been the first to use the TB-303 in the house music context. The group's 12-minute "Acid Tracks" was recorded to tape and played by DJ Ron Hardy at the Music Box, supposedly already by 1985. Hardy once played it four times over the course of an evening until the crowd responded favorably. Club play of house tracks by pioneering Chicago DJs such as Ron Hardy and Lil Louis , local dance music record shops such as Importes Etc., State Street Records, Loop Records, Gramaphone Records and
2678-407: Is experiencing a worldwide renaissance, with a flowering of new labels, compilations, and club nights, calling the disco of the 21st century seedy, underground , and punk in attitude. The magazine pointed that Eurodisco sound, including instrumental space disco and the late-1970s—early-1980s Italo disco, was the main influence on the nu-disco scene of that time. Tensnake 's single " Coma Cat " hit
2781-426: Is regarded as hugely influential in the history of Chicago house music, and has been described as "ghetto house's Motown ". One of the prototypes for Dance Mania's new ghetto house sound was the single "(It's Time for the) Percolator" by Cajmere, also known as Green Velvet , from 1992. Cajmere started the labels Cajual Records and Relief Records, the latter combining the sound of Chicago, acid, and ghetto house with
2884-465: Is relatively closer to disco than other dance styles. As Chicago house gained international popularity, New York and New Jersey's music scene was distinguished from the "house" umbrella. In comparison to other forms of house music, garage house, and Jersey sound include more gospel -influenced piano riffs and female vocals. The genre was popular in the 1980s in the United States and in the 1990s in
2987-901: Is the Key " (1985), have also been referred to as the first house tracks. Starting in 1985 and 1986, more and more Chicago DJs began producing and releasing original compositions. These compositions used newly affordable electronic instruments and enhanced styles of disco and other dance music they already favored. These homegrown productions were played on Chicago radio stations and in local clubs catering mainly to Black, Mexican American , and gay audiences. Subgenres of house, including deep house and acid house, quickly emerged and gained traction. Deep house 's origins can be traced to Chicago producer Mr. Fingers 's relatively jazzy, soulful recordings " Mystery of Love " (1985) and "Can You Feel It?" (1986). According to author Richie Unterberger, it moved house music away from its " posthuman tendencies back towards
3090-500: The San Francisco-based hi-NRG producer Patrick Cowley , who worked with singers as Sylvester and Paul Parker . In the late 1970s, Italo disco group D. D. Sound ( La Bionda ) released the song "1, 2, 3, 4, Gimme Some More". In 1979, Jacques Fred Petrus and Mauro Malavasi created the soulful post-disco groups Change and B. B. & Q. Band . In 1981, both groups gained US R&B and Dance hits with " Paradise " and "On
3193-520: The UK singles chart in 1986. Around that time, UK record labels started releasing house music by Chicago acts, but as the genre grew popular, the UK itself became one of the new hot spots for house, acid house and techno music, experiencing the so-called second summer of love between 1988 and 1989. In Detroit during the early and mid-1980s, a new kind of electronic dance music began to emerge around Juan Atkins, Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson , known as
Nu-disco - Misplaced Pages Continue
3296-631: The ZYX Italo Disco New Generation discs: Birizdo I Am, Boris Zhivago, D-White, Estimado, Italove, Mirko Hirsch, Nation in Blue, Siberian Heat, among many others. Italo disco is also one of the major influences to the sound of the synthwave genre. Synthwave and Italo disco revival artists are often featured on the same mixtapes, playlists, and labels. Space disco is a type of dance music using synthesizers and space-like sounds and themes. At least one modern history of " space disco " traces
3399-412: The torso forward and backward in a rippling motion matching the beat of the music, as if a wave were passing through it. Early house lyrics contained generally positive, uplifting messages, but spoke especially to those who were considered to be outsiders, especially African Americans, Latinos, and the gay subculture . The house music dance scene was one of the most integrated and progressive spaces in
3502-533: The "house" sound. A big comeback of German disco began in 1998, when Modern Talking reunited. Rete 4 channel in Italy, Hits 24, Goldstar TV, and ProSieben channels in Germany , and the program Nostalgia on Spain's TVE channel started to broadcast Italo disco. Several online radio stations , like Radio Stad Den Haag (Netherlands), stream the genre. The renewed popularity inspired re-releases and new mixes by many of
3605-456: The 1970s. Kano is noted for incorporating American musical elements ("heavy funk" influences, "breakbeat" rhythm, the use of vocoder) with electronic music while using rudimentary synthesizers, constituting one of the earliest forms of Italo disco. This form of Americanized Italo disco, that also includes Klein + M.B.O. (" Dirty Talk ", "Wonderful", "The M. B. O. Theme"), re-entered the States and
3708-528: The 1980s dance club scene, eventually house penetrated the UK singles chart. London DJ "Evil" Eddie Richards spun at dance parties as resident at the Clink Street club. Richards' approach to house focuses on the deep basslines. Nicknamed the UK's "Godfather of House", he and Clink co-residents Kid Batchelor and Mr. C played a key role in early UK house. House first charted in the UK in Wolverhampton following
3811-476: The 1980s; the black and gay populations, as well as other minority groups, were able to dance together in a positive environment. House music DJs aimed to create a "dream world of emotions" with "stories, keywords and sounds", which helped to "glue" communities together. Many house tracks encourage the audience to "release yourself" or "let yourself go", which is further encouraged by the continuous dancing, "incessant beat", and use of club drugs , which can create
3914-566: The 1983 compilation album The Best of Italo-Disco . These records, along with the Italo Boot Mix megamix , were released by Bernhard Mikulski on his ZYX label, who was therefore credited with coining the term "Italo disco". The Best of and Boot Mix compilations each became a 16-volume series that culminated in 1991. Both series primarily featured disco music of Italian origin, often licensed from independent Italian labels which had limited distribution outside Italy, as well as songs in
4017-399: The 1990s, independently from the Chicago scene, the idea of Peace, Love, Unity & Respect (PLUR) became a widespread set of principles for the rave culture. One of the main influences of house was disco, house music having been defined as a genre which "...picked up where disco left off in the late 1970's." Like disco DJs, house DJs used a "slow mix" to "lin[k] records together" into
4120-551: The Beat" respectively. Italo disco often features electronic sounds, electronic drums , drum machines , catchy melodies, vocoders , overdubs, and heavily accented English lyrics. By 1983, Italo disco's instrumentation was predominantly electronic. Along with love, Italo disco themes deal with robots and space , sometimes combining all three in songs like "Robot Is Systematic" (1982) by Lectric Workers and "Spacer Woman" (1983) by Charlie. Then also new musical genres that had set aside
4223-503: The Belleville Three . The artists fused eclectic, futuristic sounds into a signature Detroit dance sound that was a main influence for the later techno genre. Their music included strong influences from Chicago house , although the term "house" played a less important role in Detroit than in Chicago, and the term "techno" was established instead. One of their most successful hits was a vocal house track named " Big Fun " by Inner City ,
Nu-disco - Misplaced Pages Continue
4326-591: The British and American charts. Dua Lipa released the nu-disco album Future Nostalgia in 2020, which also topped the charts. The album spawned the nu-disco single " Don't Start Now ", which peaked at number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 . In 2020, Róisín Murphy released a nu-disco album Róisín Machine which received widespread critical acclaim. Róisín Machine' s first single, "Simulation", came out in 2012. In November 2020, Australian singer-songwriter Kylie Minogue ,
4429-1061: The Coldcut-produced " The Only Way Is Up " by Yazz. One of the early club anthems, " Promised Land " by Joe Smooth , was covered and charted within a week by UK band The Style Council . Europeans embraced house, and began booking important American house DJs to play at the big clubs, such as Ministry of Sound , whose resident, Justin Berkmann brought in US pioneer Larry Levan. The house music club scene in cities such as Birmingham , Leeds , Sheffield , Wolverhampton , and London were provided with dance tracks by many underground pirate radio stations. Club DJs also brought in new house styles, which helped bolster this music genre. The earliest UK house and techno record labels, such as Warp Records and Network Records (formed out of Kool Kat records), helped introduce American and later Italian dance music to Britain. These labels also promoted UK dance music acts. By
4532-557: The European charts in 2010 and was one of the most successful nu-disco tracks of that time. In the early 2010s, bands such as Metronomy , Hercules & Love Affair and Friendly Fires started using nu-disco elements in their songs, bringing nu-disco back to mainstream popularity and critical acclaim. Nu-disco artists Aeroplane and Soulwax became massively influential and have been released on major labels, while other producers are commissioned anonymously to work for pop acts. Steve Kotey,
4635-517: The Feeling On " by the Nightcrawlers . Many house DJs also did and continue to do remixes for pop artists. House music has remained popular on radio and in clubs while retaining a foothold on the underground scenes across the globe. 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
4738-575: The Hot 100, and in the process became the eventual song of the summer itself. Both were popular with a wide variety of demographic groups. From the mid-2010s onward, the trend has continued. Many major dance-pop artists dabbled into the style. Taylor Swift and producer Ali Payami incorporated nu-disco influences into Swift's 2015 single " Style ". Calvin Harris released the nu-disco and funk album Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 1 in 2017, which reached high positions on
4841-564: The K-Tel label and the first volume of Italo Super Hits on the Ariola label. There is no documentation of where the term "Italo-Disco" first appeared, but its origins are generally traced to Italian and other European disco recordings released in the West-German market. Examples include the phrase "Original Italo-Disco" on the sleeve of the West-German edition of "Girls on Me" by Amin-Peck in 1982, and
4944-543: The Music Box: "I wasn't even into dance music before I went to the Music Box [...]. I was into rock and roll . We would get drunk and listen to rock and roll. We didn't give a fuck, we were like 'Disco Sucks!' and all that. I hated dance music 'cos I couldn't dance. I thought dance music was kind of wimpy, until I heard it at like Music Box volume." A precursor to house music is the Colonel Abrams hit song " Trapped ", which
5047-505: The Twins , Lian Ross , C. C. Catch , Blue System and London Boys . During the mid-1980s, spacesynth, a derivation of Italo disco, developed. It was mostly instrumental, featured space sounds, and was exemplified by musicians, such as: Koto , Proxyon, Rofo, Cyber People, Hipnosis , Laserdance and Mike Mareen (whose music inhabited the spacesynth/hi-NRG overlap). As Italo disco declined in Europe, Italian and West-German producers adapted
5150-548: The U.S. In English-speaking countries, it was called Italo disco and hi-NRG. In Mexico the style is known just as "disco", having nothing to do with the 1970s genre. West-German productions were sung in English and were characterized by an emphasis on melody, exaggerated production, and a more earnest approach to the themes of love; examples may be found in the works of: Modern Talking , Fancy , American-born singer and Fancy protégé Grant Miller, Bad Boys Blue , Joy , Silent Circle ,
5253-680: The UK's underground music scenes in the UK, and its impact can be heard in the music of several British electronic acts such as the Pet Shop Boys , Erasure and New Order . Canada, particularly Quebec , produced several remarkable Italo disco acts, including Trans X (" Living on Video "), Lime ("Angel Eyes"), Rational Youth ("City of Night"), Pluton & the Humanoids ("World Invaders"), Purple Flash Orchestra ("We Can Make It"), and Tapps ("Forbidden Lover"). Those productions were called "Canadian disco" during 1980–1984 in Europe and hi-NRG disco in
SECTION 50
#17328584158375356-525: The United Kingdom. DJs playing it include Tony Humphries at Club Zanzibar, Larry Levan, who was resident DJ at the Paradise Garage from 1977 to 1987, Todd Terry , Kerri Chandler , Masters at Work , Junior Vasquez , and others. Italo disco Italo disco (variously capitalized, and sometimes hyphenated as Italo-disco ) is a music genre which originated in Italy in the late 1970s and
5459-442: The Warehouse club in Chicago from 1977 to 1982, worked primarily with early disco music with a hint of new and different post-punk or post-disco music. Knuckles started out as a disco DJ, but when he moved from New York City to Chicago, he changed from the typical disco mixing style of playing records one after another; instead, he mixed different songs together, including Philadelphia soul and Euro disco . He also explored adding
5562-442: The Warehouse" in the store, shortened to "House". Patrons later asked for new music for the bins, which Chip E. implies was a demand the shop tried to meet by stocking newer local club hits. In a 1986 interview, when Rocky Jones, the club DJ who ran Chicago-based DJ International Records , was asked about the "house" moniker, he did not mention Importes Etc., Frankie Knuckles, or the Warehouse by name. However, he agreed that "house"
5665-687: The acid house subgenre. Juan Atkins , a pioneer of Detroit techno , claims the term "house" reflected the association of particular tracks with particular clubs and DJs, considered their "house" records. At least three styles of dancing are associated with early house music: jacking , footwork and lofting. These styles include a variety of techniques and sub-styles, including skating, stomping, vosho, pouting cat, and shuffle steps (also see Melbourne shuffle ). House music dancing styles can include movements from many other forms of dance, such as waacking , voguing , capoeira , jazz dance , Lindy Hop , tap dance , and even modern dance . House dancing
5768-540: The answer lies with him." Chicago artist Chip E. 's 1985 song "It's House" may also have helped to define this new form of electronic music. However, Chip E. himself lends credence to the Knuckles association, claiming the name came from methods of labeling records at the Importes Etc. record store, where he worked in the early 1980s. Bins of music that DJ Knuckles played at the Warehouse nightclub were labelled "As Heard at
5871-450: The backlash against disco started, known as " Disco Demolition Night ", held in Chicago , ironically the city where house music would be created a few years later, dance music went from being produced by major labels to being created by DJs in the underground club scene. That is until several years later by 1988, when major labels would begin signing acts from this new dance genre. While disco
5974-428: The chorus and back down again. Otherwise monotonous lines are brought to life with the use of filters, samples, and other subtle changes in the sound or groove over time in ways that make people want to keep dancing. Daft Punk 's "One More Time" is considered one of the most influential examples of the application of "filter disco." House music House is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by
6077-652: The development of house were audio mixing and editing techniques earlier explored by disco, garage music and post-disco DJs, record producers , and audio engineers such as Walter Gibbons , Tom Moulton , Jim Burgess , Larry Levan , M & M , and others. While most post-disco disc jockeys primarily stuck to playing their conventional ensemble and playlist of dance records, Frankie Knuckles and Ron Hardy, two influential DJs of house music, were known for their unusual and non-mainstream playlists and mixing. Knuckles, often credited as "the Godfather of House" and resident DJ at
6180-468: The doors to house music success on the UK charts. Early British house music quickly set itself apart from the original Chicago house sound. Many of the early hits were based on sample montage, and unlike the US soulful vocals, in UK house, rap was often used for vocals (far more than in the US), and humor and wit was an important element. The second best-selling British single of 1988 was an acid house record,
6283-546: The early days, edits were done with scissors and tape. Some edits became even more popular than the original records from which they were derived. The early editors (such as Walter Gibbons ) earned a reputation and developed a studio career from their editing work. Given the popularity of edits, labels predominantly releasing edits and remixes began to appear. The first one to arrive was Disconet in 1977, followed by well-known DJ edits services and labels such as Hot Tracks, Rhythm Stick and Razormaid. Such labels remained active until
SECTION 60
#17328584158376386-519: The early house sound, such as the Roland TB-303 bass synthesizer and minimal vocals, as well as a Roland TR-808 drum machine and a Korg Poly-61 synthesizer. It also utilized the bassline from Player One's disco record " Space Invaders " (1979). "On and On" is sometimes cited as the "first house record", even though it was a remake of a Disco Bootleg "On and On" by Florida producer Mach. Other examples from around that time, such as J.M. Silk 's " Music
6489-715: The early to mid-1990s and until the 2000s was DJ and producer Paul Johnson , who released the Warehouse-anthem "Welcome to the Warehouse" on Armando's label in 1994 in collaboration with Armando himself. He also had part in the development of an entirely new kind of Chicago house sound, " ghetto house ", which was prominently released and popularized through the Dance Mania record label. It was originally founded by Jesse Saunders in 1985 but passed on to Raymond Barney in 1988. It featured notable ghetto house artists like DJ Funk , DJ Deeon , DJ Milton, Paul Johnson and others. The label
6592-492: The end of the 1980s, UK DJs Jenö, Thomas, Markie and Garth moved to San Francisco and called their group the Wicked Crew. The Wicked Crew's dance sound transmitted UK styles to the US, which helped to trigger the birth of the US west coast's rave scene. The manager of Manchester's Factory nightclub and co-owner of The Haçienda , Tony Wilson , also promoted acid house culture on his weekly TV show. The UK midlands also embraced
6695-519: The first half of the 1990s, when an increase of copyright enforcement gradually put them out of business. However, the scene's activity didn't fade away, it went underground, where many disco edit labels continue to exist today, such as Brooklyn 's influential Razor-N-Tape . The early developments of the genre are linked with the Black Cock Records , disco edits label, primarily active in 1993–1998, founded by DJ Harvey and Gerry Rooney. The label
6798-503: The forefront of the groove with Chic in the 1970s and again with Daft Punk in 2013. Other notable modern examples include "Baby I'm Yours" by Breakbot and "Holding On" by Classixx . "Be Good 2 Me" by Luxxury is an example of mixing live instrumentation (bass, guitar, vocals) with samples (beats, percussion). As with other electronic genres, nu-disco producers use both digital and analog synths to create melodic and harmonic lines, and add ambiance and color to their records. Gigamesh uses
6901-463: The genre maintained mainstream popularity and survived into the 1980s. The adoption of synthesizers and other electronic instruments by disco artists led to electronic dance music , which spawned many subgenres such as hi-NRG in America and space disco in Europe. Italo disco's influences include Italian producer Giorgio Moroder , French musician Didier Marouani , Italo-French drummer Cerrone , and
7004-413: The genre prior to the album's rediscovery in the 21st century. According to Hillegonda C. Rietveld, "elements of hip hop and rap can be found in contemporary house tracks", with hip hop acting as an "accent or inflection" that is inserted into the house sound. The constant bass drum in house music may have arisen from DJs experimenting with adding drum machines to their live mixes at clubs, underneath
7107-529: The genre's name is strongly tied to marketing efforts of the ZYX record label, which began licensing and marketing the music outside Italy in 1982. Italo disco faded in the early 1990s and then split into many genres ( Eurobeat , Italo house , Italo dance ). The term "Italo", a generic prefix meaning Italian, had been used on pop music compilation albums in West Germany as early as 1978, such as Italo Top Hits on
7210-662: The genre's origins to science fiction themes (outer space, robots, and the future) in the titles, lyrics and cover artwork of dance music in the late 1970s. Plausible associations are drawn between the popularity of Star Wars (released mid-1977), the subsequent surge of interest in science fiction themes in popular culture, and the release of a number of science fiction themed and "futuristic"-sounding (synthesizer and arpeggiator -infused) disco music worldwide. The most commercially successful space disco tracks were " Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band " (1977) by Meco , and " Automatic Lover " (1978) by Dee D. Jackson , with each song reaching
7313-399: The harder sound of techno. By the early 1990s, artists of note on those two labels included Dajae , DJ Sneak , Derrick Carter , DJ Rush , Paul Johnson, Joe Lewis, and Glenn Underground. While house became popular in UK and continental Europe, the scene in the US had still not progressed beyond a small number of clubs in Chicago, Detroit, New York City, and Newark . In New York and Newark,
7416-545: The house label for British artists Idjut Boys, Faze Action , Raj Gupta and Crispin J Glover , which are considered to be the pioneers of nu-disco. The Idjut Boys, best known for pioneering a house music style called "disco-dub" were heavily inspired by the freestyle and dub -influenced, post-disco dance sounds of the early 1980s. Faze Action were one of the first house production units to make "all live" productions that insisted on drawing on methods used in disco. DJ Dave Lee aka Joey Negro and Crazy P are also called to be
7519-423: The kind of music you play down at the Warehouse!" In self-published statements, South-Side Chicago DJ Leonard "Remix" Rroy claimed he put such a sign in a tavern window because it was where he played music that one might find in one's home; in his case, it referred to his mother's soul and disco records, which he worked into his sets. Chicago house artist Farley "Jackmaster" Funk was quoted as saying, "In 1982, I
7622-459: The late 1980s house scene with illegal parties and raves and more legal dance clubs such as The Hummingbird. While the acid house hype spawned in the UK and Europe, in Chicago it reached its peak around 1988 and then declined in popularity. Instead, a crossover of house and hip-hop music, known as hip house , became popular. Tyree Cooper 's single "Turn Up the Bass" featuring Kool Rock Steady from 1988
7725-537: The late 1990s to early 2000s, disco-inspired dance genres became popular; many French house , funky house , and disco house songs broke into the charts. Popular tracks such as Kylie Minogue 's " Love at First Sight ", Sophie Ellis-Bextor 's " Take Me Home " and " Murder on the Dancefloor ", Jamiroquai 's " Little L ", and Freemasons " Love on My Mind " all made the top ten of the UK Singles Chart . By this time,
7828-429: The lush" soulful sound of early disco music. Acid house , a rougher and more abstract subgenre, arose from Chicago artists' experiments with the squelchy sounds of the Roland TB-303 bass synthesizer that define the genre. Its origin on vinyl is generally cited as Phuture 's " Acid Tracks " (Trax Records, 1987). Phuture, a group founded by Nathan " DJ Pierre " Jones, Earl "Spanky" Smith Jr., and Herbert "Herb J" Jackson,
7931-533: The main singles chart. The same month also saw Raze enter the top 20 with "Jack the Groove", and several other house hits reached the top ten that year. Stock Aitken Waterman (SAW) expensively-produced productions for Mel and Kim , including the number-one hit "Respectable", added elements of house to their previous Europop sound. SAW session group Mirage scored top-ten hits with "Jack Mix II" and "Jack Mix IV", medleys of previous electro and Europop hits rearranged in
8034-425: The nu-disco scene was heavily associated with disco house and French house. The moniker "nu-disco" first appeared in print as early as 2002. In 2002, The Independent described nu-disco as the result of applying "modern technology and pin-sharp production" to 1970s disco and funk. Metro Area 's self-titled album , released in 2002, is often regarded as one of the most influential albums in the genre. The album named
8137-500: The only film or video to capture a young Frankie Knuckles in this early era, right after his departure from The Warehouse. In the Channel 4 documentary Pump Up the Volume , Knuckles remarks that the first time he heard the term "house music" was upon seeing "we play house music" on a sign in the window of a bar on Chicago's South Side . One of the people in the car joked, "you know that's
8240-414: The original Italo disco record labels. ZYX Records has released many new CD mixes since 2000. Panama Records and Radius Records have re-released Italo tracks on vinyl . Northern European labels I Venti d'Azzurro (Netherlands) and Flashback Records (Finland) have produced unreleased demos, new versions of old hits, and new songs. A number of new Italo disco artists have emerged and have been featured on
8343-503: The pioneers of the genre. In 1997, DJ I-F released the track Space Invaders Are Smoking Grass , a track based around electro-funk drum patterns , 80s FM synth stabs and vocoder vocals, that single-handedly started the electroclash movement, and brought melodic, European sounding electro-disco back to clubs and DJ sets. In 1999, I-F released the first of his "Mixed Up In The Hague" mixes, made up almost entirely of Italo disco and Eurodisco , which became hugely influential. In
8446-517: The popular Hot Mix 5 shows on radio station WBMX-FM helped popularize house music in Chicago. Later, visiting DJs and producers from Detroit fell into the genre. Trax Records and DJ International Records, Chicago labels with wider distribution, helped popularize house music inside and outside of Chicago. The first major success of house music outside the U.S. is considered to be Farley "Jackmaster" Funk's " Love Can't Turn Around " (feat. Jesse Saunders and performed by Darryl Pandy ), which peaked at #10 in
8549-819: The records they were playing. In the early 1980s, Chicago radio jocks Hot Mix 5 from WBMX radio station (among them Farley "Jackmaster" Funk), and club DJs Ron Hardy and Frankie Knuckles played a range of styles of dance music, including older disco records (mostly Philly disco and Salsoul tracks), electro funk tracks by artists such as Afrika Bambaataa , newer Italo disco , Arthur Baker , and John Robie , and electronic pop . Some DJs made and played their own edits of their favorite songs on reel-to-reel tape, and sometimes mixed in electronic effects , drum machines, synthesizers and other rhythmic electronic instrumentation. The hypnotic electronic dance song " On and On ", produced in 1984 by Chicago DJ Jesse Saunders and co-written by Vince Lawrence , had typical elements of
8652-530: The rock of the 1970s thanks to new groups, such as Duran Duran , Depeche Mode , Spandau Ballet and great pop artists Michael Jackson and Madonna . The 1980s brought the electronics with real instruments, experimenting new sounds, in short, it was a decade of great change in modern music. — Claudio Simonetti In 1983, there were frequent hit singles, and labels such as American Disco, Crash, Merak, Sensation and X-Energy appeared. The popular label Discomagic Records released more than thirty singles within
8755-538: The same time as disco appeared in the early 1970s, when DJs were looking for ways to make music easier to mix. A disco edit is a modified version of the original master, edited by disco and house DJs to extend and emphasize the best and most dance-friendly elements. For example, Todd Terje 's edit of the Bee Gees hit " You Should Be Dancing " does exactly that, downplaying the old-school vocal riffs in favour of driving bass, lively percussion, and an overall sense of space. In
8858-519: The second best album of the decade by Resident Advisor and the best nineteenth of the decade by Fact magazine. In the early 2000s the genre was a dance music mainstay, right until the mid-2000s when electro house gained commercial success, leaving nu-disco in decline from mainstream and pushing it to further development. In the 2000s, nu-disco gained a new sound, which was developed in various local scenes: In July 2008, Beatport added genre category "Nu Disco / Indie Dance", stating that nu-disco
8961-602: The sound to Japanese tastes, creating " Eurobeat ". Music produced in this style is sold exclusively in Japan due to the country's Para Para culture, produced by Italian producers for the Japanese market. The two most famous Eurobeat labels are A-Beat-C Records and Time Records. One traditional Italo disco label, S.A.I.F.A.M., still produces Eurobeat music for Japan. Around 1989 in Italy, Italo disco evolved into Italo house when Italian Italo disco artists experimented with harder beats and
9064-508: The success of the Northern Soul scene. The record generally credited as the first house hit in the UK was Farley "Jackmaster" Funk's "Love Can't Turn Around", which reached #10 in the UK singles chart in September 1986. In January 1987, Chicago DJ/artist Steve "Silk" Hurley's "Jack Your Body" reached number one in the UK, showing it was possible for house music to achieve crossover success in
9167-508: The successor of the Warehouse, the Music Box (reopened and renamed in 1983 after Knuckles left). Like Frankie Knuckles, Hardy "combined certain sounds, remixing tracks with added synths and drum machines", all "refracted through the futurist lens of European music." Marshall Jefferson , who would later appear with the 1986 house classic " Move Your Body (The House Music Anthem) " (originally released on Trax Records ), describes how he got involved in house music after hearing Ron Hardy's music in
9270-512: The terms " garage house ", "garage music", or simply "garage", and "Jersey sound", or " New Jersey house ", were coined for a deeper, more soulful, R&B -derived subgenre of house that was developed in the Paradise Garage nightclub in New York City and Club Zanzibar in Newark, New Jersey, during the early-to-mid 1980s. It is argued that garage house predates the development of Chicago house, as it
9373-533: The top ten in a number of countries, including the United Kingdom. Additional examples of space disco usually include the compositions "Just Blue" and "Symphony" (both 1978) of French band Space , the same for the track Magic Fly; additional tracks by Dee D. Jackson during the 1970s and 1980s, and "I Feel Space" by Lindstrøm . Labels producing this type of music include New York City-based post-disco record label Emergency Records specialized in reissuing/selling records from Italy (e.g. Kano "I'm Ready"), since
9476-404: The track "Techno Music", which was featured on an influential compilation that was initially planned to be named "The House Sound of Detroit", but was renamed into " Techno! The New Dance Sound of Detroit " after Atkins' song. The 1987 song " Strings of Life " by Derrick May (under the name Rhythm Is Rhythm) represented a darker, more intellectual strain of early Detroit electronic dance music. It
9579-510: The trend of splicing together different records when he found that the records he had were not long enough to satisfy his audience of dancers. After the Warehouse closed in 1983, eventually the crowds went to Knuckles' new club, The Power House, later to be called The Power Plant, and the club was renamed, yet again, into Music Box with Ron Hardy as the resident DJ. The 1986 documentary, "House Music in Chicago", by filmmaker, Phil Ranstrom , captured opening night at The Power House, and stands as
9682-443: The usually programmed or live original instrumentation that nu-disco relies on. The other key difference is in the song structure — nu-disco usually has a typical song structure of a pop or classic disco song, with multiple breakdowns , and often with verses and a chorus, whereas disco house generally has a more constant and unvaried character throughout the composition, as does most of house music. Disco edits or re-edits emerged at
9785-467: The vocal lines may also be simple "words or phrases" that are repeated. One book from 2009 states the name "house music" originated from a Chicago club called the Warehouse that was open from 1977 to 1982. Clubbers to the Warehouse were primarily black gay men, who came to dance to music played by the club's resident DJ, Frankie Knuckles , who fans refer to as the "godfather of house". Frankie began
9888-616: The year. It was also the year that the term "Italo disco" became widely known outside Italy, with the release of the first volumes of The Best of Italo Disco compilation series on the West-German record label ZYX. After 1983, Italo disco was also produced outside Italy. Although Italo disco was successful in mainland Europe during the 1980s, only a few singles reached the UK charts , such as Ryan Paris 's " Dolce Vita ", Laura Branigan 's " Self Control ", Baltimora 's " Tarzan Boy ", Spagna 's " Call Me " and Sabrina's " Boys ", all of which were top 5 hits. Italo disco maintained an influence in
9991-448: Was DJing at a club called The Playground and there was this kid named Leonard 'Remix' Rroy who was a DJ at a rival club called The Rink. He came over to my club one night, and into the DJ booth and said to me, 'I've got the gimmick that's gonna take all the people out of your club and into mine – it's called House music.' Now, where he got that name from or what made him think of it I don't know, so
10094-412: Was a regional catch-all term for dance music, and that it was once synonymous with older disco music before it became a way to refer to "new" dance music. Larry Heard , a.k.a. "Mr. Fingers", claims that the term "house" came from DJs creating music in their house or at home using synthesizers and drum machines, such as the Roland TB-303, Roland TR-808, and TR-909. These synthesizers were used to create
10197-518: Was an influential breakthrough for this subgenre, although the British trio the Beatmasters claimed having invented the genre with their 1986 release " Rok da House ". Another notable figure in the hip house scene was Fast Eddie with "Hip House" and "Yo Yo Get Funky!" (both 1988). Even Farley "Jackmaster" Funk engaged in the genre, releasing "Free at Last", a song to free James Brown from jail that featured The Hip House Syndicate, in 1989, and producing
10300-715: Was associated with lush orchestration, with string orchestra , flutes and horn sections , various disco songs incorporated sounds produced with synthesizers and electronic drum machines, and some compositions were entirely electronic; examples include Italian composer Giorgio Moroder 's late 1970s productions such as Donna Summer 's hit single " I Feel Love " from 1977, Kraftwerk's "' The Man-Machine " album from 1978, Cerrone 's " Supernature " (1977), Yellow Magic Orchestra 's synth - disco-pop productions from Yellow Magic Orchestra (1978) or Solid State Survivor (1979), and several early 1980s productions by hi-NRG groups like Lime , Trans-X and Bobby O . Also important for
10403-399: Was focused on releasing non-official re-edits of disco tracks and some funk -influenced rock . It was not the only existing disco edits bootleg label in the 1990s, but had a huge impact on a generation of house music producers, inspiring many in digging decadent genre and adjusting their own house music productions with disco-sounding elements. In the mid-1990s Nuphonic Records was
10506-403: Was mainly produced in the 1980s. Italo disco evolved from the then-current underground dance, pop, and electronic music, both domestic and foreign ( hi-NRG , Euro disco ) and developed into a diverse genre. The genre employs electronic drums , drum machines , synthesizers , and occasionally vocoders . It is usually sung in English, and to a lesser extent in Italian and Spanish. The origin of
10609-417: Was produced by Richard James Burgess in 1984 and has been referred to as a proto -house track and a precursor to garage house . The electronic instrumentation and minimal arrangement of Charanjit Singh 's Synthesizing: Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat (1982), an album of Indian ragas performed in a disco style and anticipated the sounds of acid house music, but it is not known to have had any influence on
#836163