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John M Lund Photography Inc/Getty Images
John M Lund Photography Inc/Getty Images
Beyonce’s Renaissance brought house music back to mainstream audiences. But even when it wasn’t gracing the Grammys, house never went away. Born from the ashes of disco in the late 1970s and ’80s, house was by and for the Black, queer youth DJing and dancing in Chicago’s underground clubs. Since then it’s become the soundtrack of parties around the world, and laid the groundwork for one of the most popular musical genres in history: electronic dance music. Today on the show, the origins of house music — and its tale of Black cultural resistance — told by the people who lived it.
If you want to read more about what it was like to be in Chicago in the moments when house music was being created, we’ve also got a feature full of quotes from people — DJs, dancers, promoters and musicians — who were at the basement parties and clubs like the Warehouse where it happened.
If you’d like to hear more of this music, take a tour through the world of house, curated by DJ Terry Hunter.