Black History Month: House Music’s Colorful Origins

Every month should be Black history month, but I’m taking this annual month-long celebration of Black joy, perseverance, and strength as an opportunity to explore a genre of music indebted to the Black community: house music.

While modern media sources may tell you otherwise, the origins of house music are clear. House music was established in the south side of Chicago, by none other than Black and LGBTQ+ groups. Pushed out of almost all other spaces in the 1980s, these marginalized groups formed a community around their common love for music. It makes sense that in a society that rejected their identities, these groups felt drawn to an area that allowed people to shed societal limitations and focus on the art and togetherness that collectively kept them going.

A discussion of house music wouldn’t be complete without mentioning Frankie Knuckles, one of the pioneers of the genre. In the 80s, Knuckles’ held residency at his dance club, The Warehouse, which is how the term “house music” arose in the first place. 

House music’s repetitive 4/4 rhythm and sparse or absent vocals drown out all else in a way that is reliable, centering, and trance-like. The dark rooms and steady beats of dance clubs filter out anything unwanted, at least temporarily. The beat also offers a versatile base for a myriad of layered sounds, which many Black African artists have embraced through the incorporation of African drums. Furthermore, part of what allowed house music to thrive was its musical and financial accessibility, with electronic instruments that were easily adapted and affordable for people at the time. Described as “church for people who [had] fallen from grace” by Knuckles himself, house music was literally built upon the foundations of inclusivity, love, and compassion. Woven into the very identities of its early proponents, dance clubs easily became some of the most progressive spaces in the country.

It is important to emphasize that a large part of house music’s success should be attributed to Black LGBTQ+ folks specifically, those with unique intersectional identities that deserve much more credit in the arena. The Human Rights Ordinance that granted equal treatment to those with differing racial and sexual orientation was passed only in 1988, but even then, as we all very well know, legal changes take decades to manifest into social change. Black LGBTQ+ individuals were especially unwelcome in society, so their free existence was practically forced into places like underground dance clubs, where house music thrived. 

As in many areas, house music’s modern-day mainstream faces do not accurately reflect its diverse and colorful history. From rock and roll to country, Black musicians have frequently been deprived of their rightful credit, and this, too, is no exception. We all know about the David Guettas and Calvin Harrises of the world, but do we know about members of communities that actually created the movement?  Do we focus as much on the careers of house artists like Honey Dijon and Black Coffee? Long after 1988, Black and LGBTQ+ interests do not align with mainstream interests to this day. 

We know the music industry is fraught with injustices at every step, and much of it is still white-dominated. House music isn’t exempt from plagiarizing and hijacking intellectual labor from Black creatives, and sources state that unsurprisingly, white producers and music executives owe close to millions to Black musicians of the past. Luckily, none of this has deterred talent from burgeoning in between the cracks. From Jesse Saunders to Gene Farris to Ron Trent, Black artists continue to fuel the electronic music tradition. The artists mentioned throughout this piece, along with many others, carry the genre forward while simultaneously remaining rooted in its origins. If we’ve learned anything from the life-changing events of 2020, it is that we must amplify marginalized voices – and what better way to do that than celebrating their music? 

Here’s where you can do just that by learning more about house music: 

• Learn more about Larry Levan and Paradise Garage in this video
• Watch artists of today provide their own perspectives on what house music means to the industry, and world: here
• Listen to what it was like in Knuckles’ The Warehouse
• A Black History Month playlist by DJ Minx

Written by Sanjana Sanghani