Everything has a beginning, and house and techno culture is no exception. Learn about the key cities around the world that have helped make house and techno a global dancefloor phenomenon. From Los Angeles to New York and across the pond, the genres changed the music landscape and have helped create a global, interconnected community. Every game has important players, so it’s time to get to know some of the key cities that have contributed to the strong presence of house and techno music around the world.
The origins of house music start in Chicago, and thus it’s the first pitstop when digging into the vault of underground music in the house and techno culture. The electronic music movement has strong roots in the Midwest region of the United States. House music is disco’s offspring and took flight in the 1980s throughout the Southside of Chicago. “In the beginning, we didn’t know it was house. Nobody knew. It was dance music coming from disco,” said house music originator Jesse Saunders. Born in the Bronx, Frankie Knuckles may not be from Chicago but the Windy City certainly became his second home. While the question of who actually created the genre is hard to answer, he almost single-handedly shaped it. Joining in Knuckles’ league are Marshall Jefferson, Larry Heard, Paul Johnson, Ron Hardy, and Steve “Silk” Hurley. They were also instrumental in helping define house music. Thanks to them, house music has served as the bedrock of electronic music inspiring artists for forty years and counting.
The house music spirit continues to run deep throughout the city. From early spaces like The Warehouse, some tie “house” music’s name back to an abbreviation of the venue, to the modern-day influential venues like Smartbar, you could get your house music fix at any time on any day. Looking to get down on a Sunday? Queen! was your answer. The independent music venue, before COVID-19, hosted a weekly dance party gliding you into a fresh start to your week. Resident DJs included hometown talent and beloved figures Derrick Carter and Michael Serafini. If you’re ever in the city, make sure to visit Gramaphone Records where you might be lucky enough to catch Serafini behind the counter. It’s not unusual for touring artists to make a pitstop at the iconic record store that has served as a musical incubator. The dance music shop has survived the music industry’s volatile environment selling music in all its formats (CDs, cassettes, and vinyl) from all over the world for more than 50 years.
As the influence of house music grew, another city was paving the way for a subgenre of the house and techno culture just east of Chicago. Detroit became the birthplace of techno. Drawing inspiration from the city’s other musical creations (Motown, funk, jazz) as well as European musical artists like Kraftwerk and Giorgio Moroder techno an industrial musical experiment. Why industrial? Its actual physical surroundings influenced the sound that charac