Chicago House and Frankie Knuckles — The Birth of 'House Music'

The Origin of the Word “House Music”

The word “House music” began to be used in the early 1980s to refer to the music of Frankie Knuckles, resident DJ at the Chicago gay club “The Warehouse.”

• The Warehouse (1977-1982, later continued under different names) operated in Chicago’s West Loop
• Customers at record stores began calling the music you could hear in Frankie Knuckles’s DJ sets “music like at the Warehouse (house-y music)”
• Abbreviated to “house music”

House music is a rare case where the venue name “The Warehouse” became a genre name. Its central figure, Frankie Knuckles, was later called “the Godfather of House.”

Frankie Knuckles’s Origins and NY Days

Frankie Knuckles (real name Francis Nicholls, 1955-2014) was born in the Bronx and was actually a childhood friend of Larry Levan.

NY Days (1970s)

• Frankie and Larry spent their boyhood in the same Bronx Boy Scout troop
• The two went together to David Mancuso’s The Loft (Frankie 15, Larry 13)
• Larry became a DJ first, and Frankie followed as an apprentice
• Frankie became resident DJ at The Continental Baths (an NY gay sauna)

That is, Frankie Knuckles is the brother-disciple of Larry Levan (garage). The reason house and garage are musically close is because these two came from the same Mancuso lineage.

1977, to Chicago

• In 1977, Robert Williams, owner of the new Chicago club The Warehouse, invited Frankie
• Frankie moved from NY to Chicago and became resident DJ at The Warehouse
• On weekend nights, he played DJ at the club where Black and gay youths of the Midwest gathered

For Chicago’s Black and gay community, the late 1970s was a time of losing their own music amid the disco backlash (Disco Sucks from the previous article). Frankie’s NY-derived disco / soul / funk sets became a place to create new culture underground.

The Warehouse (1977-1982) — The Birthplace of House Music

The Venue

• Location: 206 South Jefferson Street, West Loop, Chicago
• The building was a three-story former factory
• A private members’ club (to avoid licensing issues)
• Open 10 hours on weekend nights (23:00 - 9:00)
• Main clientele: young Black gay men

Frankie’s DJ Style

• Audiophile-grade sound like Larry Levan
• Seamlessly connecting NY disco + Philadelphia soul + European electronic
• Especially placing importance on European electro like Kraftwerk and Yellow Magic Orchestra
• Using two copies of the same 12-inch single, looping in parts

The Influence of Kraftwerk

Frankie actively took in the electronic music of Kraftwerk (West Germany, 1970s-). “Trans-Europe Express” (1977), “The Robots” (1978), “Numbers” (1981), etc.

This is an important cultural crossroads:

• The soul and funk of Black America
• The electronic music of white Germans
• The technique of NY discotheque

These three fused at The Warehouse, later crystallizing as house / techno.

Roland TR-909 and the Sound of House Music

What musically characterizes house music is Roland’s drum machines:

Roland TR-909 (1983)

• Released by Japanese Roland (Hamamatsu, Shizuoka) in 1983
• Sequenced kick, snare, hi-hat, clap, cymbals in 16 steps
• Sold from 1983-1985, then bought heavily in the used market for house/techno use
• The basic kick drum sound of modern house / techno is the 909 (commonly called “nine-oh-nine”)

Roland TR-808 (1980)

• Predecessor to TR-909, released 1980
• Features a deep bass kick
• Widely used in hip-hop (Marvin Gaye “Sexual Healing,” Whitney Houston “I Wanna Dance with Somebody,” Beastie Boys)

Roland TB-303 (1982)

• Bass synthesizer, released in 1982
• Originally made “as a substitute when no bassist was available,” but failed for its intended music use
• Circulated cheaply in the used market → became the origin of acid house’s acid bass sound
• Phuture’s “Acid Tracks” (1987) is representative

Roland’s three brothers (808/909/303) decided the sound of house/techno/acid. This is a historic event in which a Japanese electronic instrument maker of the 1980s accidentally decided the sound of the world’s club music.

Frankie’s Representative Works (1983-1990)

“Your Love” (1987, Frankie Knuckles feat. Jamie Principle)

• One of Frankie’s representative works
• Composed the Black gay love song as a house track
• The prototype of modern deep house

“Baby Wants to Ride” (1987, Jamie Principle produced by Frankie)

• A sensual house track, a masterpiece of early Chicago house

“Tears” (1989, Robert Owens vocal)

• Co-produced with Satoshi Tomiie (Tokyo-born pianist/producer)
• The first time a Japanese person appeared at the center of house music

“The Whistle Song” (1991)

• A worldwide hit, the commercial peak of Frankie
• Also influenced later trance like Robert Miles’s “Children” (1996)

The Chicago Second Generation (1985-1990)

After Frankie, Chicago house was developed by second-generation producer/DJs:

Larry Heard (Mr. Fingers)

• 1985 “Mystery of Love” — origin of deep house
• Abstract use of the Roland TB-303
• Direct origin of modern deep house (Motor City Drum Ensemble, Moodymann, Theo Parrish)

Marshall Jefferson

• 1986 “Move Your Body (The House Music Anthem)” — representative of piano house
• Established a popular house sound with piano

Ron Hardy (Music Box, 1983-1987)

• Resident at another Chicago club Music Box, different from The Warehouse
• Rougher house play than Frankie
• Young Larry Heard, Chip E, Farley “Jackmaster” Funk gathered at Music Box

Phuture “Acid Tracks” (1987)

• Trio of DJ Pierre, Spanky, Herb J
• Acid house was born from experiments with random operation of the TB-303
• The word “acid house” itself comes from this Phuture title

Trax Records and DJ International Records

Two major labels of Chicago house:

Trax Records (1984-)

• Run by Larry Sherman
• Released Marshall Jefferson, Farley “Jackmaster” Funk, Phuture, etc.
• Rough sound quality, but preserved the raw quality of house
• Re-releases continue today

DJ International Records (1985-)

• Run by Rocky Jones
• Released JM Silk, Steve “Silk” Hurley, Fingers Inc., etc.
• More polished sound, more commercial

The main works of Chicago house from 1985-1990 came from these two labels.

Hot Mix 5 and Chicago Radio

Radio also played an important role in the spread of Chicago house:

• From 1981-1990, DJ group “The Hot Mix 5” at WBMX radio (now WBBM-FM) pushed house on radio
• Members: Farley “Jackmaster” Funk, Steve “Silk” Hurley, Mickey “Mixin’” Oliver, Ralphi Rosario, Kenny “Jammin’” Jason
• On weekend nights, young people across all of Chicago listened at home
• The circuit “hear house on radio” → “buy at record store” → “dance at the club”

The three-piece set of radio + club + record store formed Chicago house culture.

Transmission to the UK (1986-1988)

Chicago house crossed to the UK and caused the acid house Second Summer of Love (1988) (covered in the next article):

• Around 1985, DJ Danny Rampling and other British DJs encountered Chicago house on Ibiza vacations in Spain
• In 1987, the Shoom club in London introduced acid house to Britain
• Summer 1988, Second Summer of Love — an acid house boom across the UK

Transmission to Tokyo (1988-1990)

Chicago house and European acid house arrived in Tokyo at about the same time:

• Around 1988, some clubs in Roppongi and Aoyama began to play imported house music
• 1989, house/techno-specialized clubs like Yellow in Ebisu, Tokyo appeared
• Japanese DJ Satoshi Tomiie (1965-) teamed with Frankie Knuckles to release “Tears” (1989), a global success
• Satoshi moved to NY and continues as an international DJ

Japan’s house / techno culture properly began in 1988-1990. The foundation of today’s Tokyo club scene (WOMB, ageHa, Contact, Vent, etc.) was formed at this time.

Frankie Knuckles’s Legacy

Frankie continued activity in the 1990s-2000s, including a Grammy Award, and died from diabetic complications at 59 on March 31, 2014.

Posthumous Honors

• 2014, President Barack Obama issued a memorial message for Frankie (relationship from his time as Chicago mayor)
• 2004, Frankie Knuckles Day — Chicago designated August 25 as Frankie’s day
• 2013, the Chicago City Council renamed a district near The Warehouse’s former site “Frankie Knuckles Way”

Frankie is a person who elevated house music from “one music genre” to “the foundation of global club music” and made the roots of 21st-century club music culture.

What Chicago House Left to the Present

Elements Chicago house (1977-1990) left to modern club music:

Element	Content
4-on-the-floor kick	Kick drum on all 4 beats, basic of house/techno
BPM 120-130 range	Central BPM band of modern club music
Remix culture of the 12-inch single	Extended mix for DJs
Warehouse-party-type club space	Club design remodeling former factories and warehouses
Gay club culture = origin of club music	Deep tie with LGBTQ+ culture
Sound of Roland equipment	The sound of 808/909/303 still used today

All modern deep house, tech house, minimal, and EDM connects technically and culturally to 1980s Chicago house.

From This Article to the Next

While house was born in Chicago in the same early 1980s, in Detroit, the “Belleville Three” of Juan Atkins, Derrick May, and Kevin Saunderson chose another path. If house is the music of gay clubs and vocals, techno is the music of the industrial city’s vision of the future and the instrumental. The next article traces the birth of Detroit techno.