Paradise: The Ultimate Collection (1980 – 2019)
Released on November 22, 2019
In Conversation With Tony Humphries
https://youtu.be/ejg0UUxDC0k It’s hard to know where to begin when it comes to House icon Tony Humphries. The legendary DJ, producer and remixer started his career at Kiss-FM Radio making a name for himself on WRKS 98.7 Kiss-FM and Hot 97’s radio slots and then thanks to his residency at one of the greatest US clubs, The [...]
15 Essential Disco House Tracks That Every Head Should Know
House is a continuation of disco. You can hear that easily in its arrangement and in its sound, which samples and pulls liberally from the popular club music of the ’70s and early ’80s. And, in fact, many of the first Chicago house records featured interpolated vocal riffs, basslines and melodies cribbed from classic Salsoul, Prelude and West End [...]
10 EARLY-80S POST-DISCO TRACKS THAT HELPED INSPIRE HOUSE (MIXMAG)
Because it didn't go from 'I Feel Love' to 'Strings Of Life' - the early 80s saw the birth of what we now know to call ‘post-disco’ LOUIS ANDERSON-RICH When Frankie Knuckles famously described house music as disco's revenge, it set in motion an origin story tantamount to Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. House and [...]
Yvonne Turner Helped Invent House Music—So Why Does No One Know Her Name?
Yvonne Turner back in the day. Graphic by Drew Litowitz. Nineteen eighty-four is often remembered as one of pop’s most seismic years, thanks in large part to Prince and Madonna. But it was also the year that gave us house music. Jesse Saunders’ “On and On” is widely considered to be the first house [...]
‘Let’s blow up this black music!’: The ugliness and unrest of 1979’s Disco Demolition Night
https://www.facebook.com/boilerroom.tv/videos/223659578458779/?t=0 Forty years ago, on July 12, 1979, what was supposed to be a wacky promotional stunt by shock-rock DJ Steve Dahl to sell tickets to a double-header White Sox baseball game at Chicago’s Comiskey Park turned ugly — when piles of vinyl records, many by artists of color, were destroyed as thousands of anti-disco [...]
Gino Soccio was the one-man-band behind countless disco gems—until he vanished
At the board, 1981. Photo courtesy of Gino Soccio. About a month before thousands chanted “Disco sucks!” at Chicago’s Comiskey Park, Gino Soccio was ensconced in his Montreal studio, sipping coffee with cognac and laying down tracks for his second LP. Leaning against a twenty-four-channel mixing desk, Soccio spoke like a disco evangelist during [...]
GRANDMASTER FLASH BECOMES FIRST DJ TO WIN “NOBEL PRIZE FOR MUSIC”
Grandmaster Flash has become the first DJ to win the Polar Music Prize, often dubbed the "Nobel Prize For Music". The prize was founded by Stig Anderson, better known as ABBA's lyricist and manager, in 1989. Previous winners include Led Zeppelin, BB King, Metallica, and Paul McCartney. Flash, real name Joseph Saddler, accepted the prize [...]
Plugging Into Chicago’s Forgotten House Venues
For decades, house music has shaped pop worldwide—but many of the spaces that birthed it here disappeared so quickly they barely left a trace. By Leor Galil @imLeor “It was a time when people didn’t put as much emphasis on the DJs or the performer per se, and really danced and enjoyed themselves.” —DJ and producer [...]
Owner of D.C.’s famed nightclub Tracks dies at 76
Marty Chernoff opened Tracks D.C. in 1984. The club is still regarded by many as the city’s greatest nightclub ever. (Washington Blade file photo by Tyler Grigsby) Martin “Marty” Chernoff, a Denver-based businessman who is credited with employing state-of-the-art technology in video, lighting, and sound systems for the gay nightclubs called Tracks that he opened [...]
