History of House Music Timeline

After the Warehouse closed in 1983, eventually the crowds went to Knuckles' new club, The Power House, later called The Power Plant, and then renamed into Music Box with Ron Hardy as the resident DJ. Ron Hardy produced unconventional DIY mixtapes which he played straight-on at the club.

Image source: Music Box Theatre (Chicago)

Colonel Abrams' hit song "Trapped", produced by Richard James Burgess in 1984, has been referred to as a proto-house track and a precursor to "garage house music", a subgenre consisting of the New York City/New Jersey scene of the main genre.

Image source: Trapped (Colonel Abrams song)

"On and On", produced in 1984 by Chicago DJ Jesse Saunders and co-written by Vince Lawrence, had typical elements of the early house sound, such as the Roland TB-303 bass synthesizer, minimal vocals, a Roland TR-808 drum machine, a Korg Poly-61 synthesizer, and the bassline from Player One's "Space Invaders" (1979).

Phuture's 12-minute "Acid Tracks", recorded to tape and played by DJ Ron Hardy at the Music Box supposedly already by 1985, was released on Trax Records in 1987 and is generally cited as the origin of acid house on vinyl.

Image source: Acid Tracks

Chicago artist Chip E.'s 1985 song "It's House" may have helped define this new form of electronic music, contributing to the naming and popularization of the genre in its birthplace.

Image source: Chip E.

Tracks often cited among the first house records include "Jack'n the House" by Farley "Jackmaster" Funk (1985), "Jack Your Body" by Steve "Silk" Hurley (1986), Fingers Inc.'s "Mystery of Love" (1985) and "Can You Feel It?" (1986), and Hurley's "Music is the Key" (1985).

Image source: Jack Your Body

The independent Chicago-based house label Trax Records was originally founded by Jesse Saunders in 1985 but passed on to Raymond Barney in 1988. It became central to releasing Chicago house music.

Image source: Trax Records

Starting in 1985 and 1986, more and more Chicago DJs began producing and releasing original compositions, transforming the city's DJ culture into a full-fledged record-producing movement that defined house music.

The 1986 documentary "House Music in Chicago", by filmmaker Phil Ranstrom, captured opening night at The Power House and stands as the only film or video to capture a young Frankie Knuckles in this early era, right after his departure from The Warehouse.

Image source: Frankie Knuckles

Fingers Inc., the project of Larry Heard, released the relatively jazzy and soulful "Can You Feel It" in 1986/1987, a defining deep house recording alongside "Mystery of Love" (1985).

Image source: Can You Feel It (Larry Heard song)

The emergence of New York DJ and producer Todd Terry in 1988 demonstrated the continuum from the underground disco approach to a new, commercially successful house sound. Meanwhile, while acid house hype spawned in the UK and Europe, in Chicago it reached its peak around 1988 and then declined.

Image source: Todd Terry

DJ and producer Paul Johnson was an important figure during the early to mid-1990s and until the 2000s, releasing the Warehouse-anthem "Welcome to the Warehouse" on Armando's label in 1994 in collaboration with Armando himself.

Image source: Paul Johnson (producer)

Mayor Daley proclaimed August 10, 2005 to be "House Unity Day" in Chicago, in celebration of the "21st anniversary of house music" — actually the 21st anniversary of the founding of Trax Records, the independent Chicago-based house label.

House was also being developed by DJs and record producers in the booming dance club scene in Ibiza, notably when DJ Alfredo, the father of Balearic house, began his residency at Amnesia in 1983.

The record generally credited as the first house hit in the UK was Farley "Jackmaster" Funk's "Love Can't Turn Around", which reached number 10 in the UK singles chart in September 1986, opening the British market to house music.

Image source: Love Can't Turn Around

In January 1987, Chicago DJ/artist Steve "Silk" Hurley's "Jack Your Body" reached number one in the UK, showing it was possible for house music to achieve crossover success in the main singles chart.

In March 1987, the UK tour of influential US DJs such as Knuckles, Jefferson and Fingers Inc. spread the sound. Following the success of MARRS' "Pump Up The Volume" in October 1987, UK acts like The Beatmasters, Krush, Coldcut, Yazz, Bomb The Bass and S-Express opened the doors to house success on the UK charts through 1989.

Image source: Pump Up the Volume (song)

By early 1988, house became mainstream and supplanted the typical '80s music beat, and major labels began signing acts from this new dance genre, marking its commercial breakthrough.

By late 1987, DJs such as Trevor Fung, Paul Oakenfold and Danny Rampling were bringing the Ibiza sound to key UK clubs such as the Haçienda in Manchester. As the genre grew popular, the UK became a hot spot for house, acid house and techno music, experiencing the so-called second summer of love between 1988 and 1989.

Image source: Second Summer of Love

In 1989, the Los Angeles-based former EBN-OZN singer/rapper Robert Ozn started indie house label One Voice Records. His Dada Nada moniker did its first releases in 1990 using a jazz-based deep house style.

In 1990, Italo house group Black Box's big hit "Everybody Everybody" reached the US Billboard Hot 100, bringing the Italo house strain of the genre to American audiences.

Image source: Everybody Everybody

Armando Gallop released seminal acid house records starting in 1987. He became even more influential by co-founding the new Warehouse nightclub in Chicago on 738 W. Randolph Street, where he was resident DJ from 1992 until 1994, and by founding Warehouse Records in 1988.

Image source: Armando (producer)

Tyree Cooper's single "Turn Up the Bass" featuring Kool Rock Steady (1988) was an influential hip house breakthrough, though the Beatmasters claimed inventing the genre with "Rok da House" (1986). Fast Eddie released "Hip House" and "Yo Yo Get Funky!" (both 1988), and Farley "Jackmaster" Funk released "Free at Last" in 1989 and a Real Hip House compilation in 1990.

One of the prototypes for Dance Mania's new ghetto house sound was the single "(It's Time for the) Percolator" by Cajmere, also known as Green Velvet, from 1992.

The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 was a UK government attempt to ban large rave dance events featuring music with "repetitive beats" due to alleged links with illegal drugs. The Spiral Tribe event at Castle Morten was the last of these illegal raves, as unauthorised house music dance events became illegal in the UK.

Image source: Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994

Big room house became increasingly popular since 2010, through international dance music festivals such as Tomorrowland, Ultra Music Festival, and Electric Daisy Carnival.

When three solo artists formed the trio Swedish House Mafia, it showed that house could still produce chart-topping hits, such as their 2012 single "Don't You Worry Child", which cracked the Billboard top 10.

Image source: Swedish House Mafia

Tropical house went onto the top 40 of the UK singles chart in 2015 with artists such as Kygo and Jonas Blue, bringing a breezy, melodic take on house to mainstream pop audiences.

Image source: Tropical house

In 2019, the DJ Awards introduced an additional Afro house category, recognizing the growing prominence of African-influenced house music on the global stage.

In 2020, American singer Lady Gaga released Chromatica, her return to her dance roots towards deep house, French house, electro house, and disco house.

Image source: Chromatica

Fred Again, United Kingdom-born DJ, released "Marea (We've Lost Dancing)" in 2021 about the pandemic, capturing the collective grief over lost dance floors during COVID-19 lockdowns.

Image source: Fred Again

In 2022, Canadian rapper Drake released Honestly, Nevermind, a departure from his signature hip hop, R&B, and trap sound towards house music and its derivatives: Jersey club, and ballroom.

Image source: Honestly, Nevermind

American singer Beyoncé's album Renaissance, released in 2022, incorporated ballroom house and gqom, celebrating the legacy of Black and LGBTQ+ dance music pioneers.

Image source: Renaissance (Beyoncé album)