Blog 4 - House Part 2

The Move Towards the Mainstream

Although house music’s popularity was growing at a steady rate throughout the beginning of the eighties, many clubbers were still unable to buy the tracks they heard in the clubs from record stores. In 1984 Jesse Saunders would change this with the release of his hit “On & On” and the launch of his own label “Jes Say records/Trax”. Jesse Saunders was sixteen years old when he first saw Frankie Knuckles at the Warehouse. Inspired by this experience, Jesse Saunders would begin to DJ his own songs and within a few years owned his own club, The Playground. He the began producing his own music and created a record label where house artist could now promote and make money. Utilizing the Roland TB-303 bass synthesizer, the house being produced by the likes of Saunders began to get faster developing into the sub - genre of acid house. During this period Jes Say Records/Trax produced hits such as “Funk u up” (The first house track to chart on the billboard 200) and “Love Can’t Turn Around”. It would be this last hit that would be taken over to London by pirate DJ’s and played underground throughout the clubs, exposing British youth to acid house and house music for the first time. With the summer of love, 88’, unfolding throughout Britain, the once black and middle class American disco music was being adopted by the working-class youth of Europe. Crossing over with the growing ecstasy culture, house would grow into a different kind of beast. By the end of the 80’s house had entered the UK mainstream. Sadly many of the original Chicago artists received little to no money and by the end of the decade new laws had seen the closure of most clubs through Chicago.