First & foremost

Bronx native DJ Frankie Knuckles invented house music in Chicago in the late ’70s, blending disco, R&B, funk and European electronic music in his sets. The name house comes from:

a) Gay nightclub the Warehouse, where Knuckles began layering drum-machine beats under his records
b) The houses where fledgling producers recorded the funky electronic dance tracks like Jesse Saunders’s “On and On,” released in 1982
c) The energy the music delivers, which makes one feel more important than a member of the U.S. House of Representatives
d) A famously cranky doctor with a limp who could diagnose illnesses with minimal information, but loved to dance with his shirt off

Scroll down for the answer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Answer: a. While “On and On,” recorded by Saunders and Vince Lawrence, is probably the first house music on vinyl, the term house comes from the club owned by Robert Williams at 206 South Jefferson Street. Williams was trying to recreate the feel of David Mancuso’s famed New York club The Loft at his predominately gay nightclub called The Warehouse, where Knuckles was the resident DJ from ’77 to ’82. Knuckles began layering drum-machine beats under his records, and fans began asking other Chicago DJs for “that music they play at The Warehouse,” which became “Warehouse music,” and finally just “house music.”

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