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The Warehouse was a
nightclub A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gener ...
established in
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
,
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...
in
1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...
under the direction of Robert Williams. It is best known as one of the birthplaces of
house music House is a music genre characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 120 beats per minute. It was created by Disc jockey, DJs and music producers from Chicago metropolitan area, Chicago' ...
, specifically
Chicago house Chicago house refers to house music produced during the mid to late 1980s within Chicago. The term is generally used to refer to the first ever house music productions, which were by Chicago-based artists in the 1980s. History and origins Disco ...
, and the genre's center in the United States under its first musical director, DJ
Frankie Knuckles Francis Warren Nicholls, Jr. (January 18, 1955 – March 31, 2014), better known as Frankie Knuckles, was an American DJ, record producer and remixer. He played an important role in developing and popularizing house music in Chicago during the 1 ...
.


Description

A broad range of dance music was played at the Warehouse; however, first and foremost were
R'n'B Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...
and
Disco Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...
. Knuckles experimented with different possibilities of developing an original expression, mixing
disco music Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric piano ...
with European
electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...
. DJ History reports: "The style of music now known as house was so named after a shortened version of his nuckles'club." Located at 206 South Jefferson Street in Chicago, the club was made out of a three-storey former factory. The Warehouse drew in around five hundred patrons from midnight Saturday to midday Sunday. The Warehouse was patronized primarily by gay black and Latino men, who came to dance to disco music played by the club's resident DJ,
Frankie Knuckles Francis Warren Nicholls, Jr. (January 18, 1955 – March 31, 2014), better known as Frankie Knuckles, was an American DJ, record producer and remixer. He played an important role in developing and popularizing house music in Chicago during the 1 ...
. Admission was five dollars and the club offered free juice and water to dancers. In the middle floor is where DJ Knuckles began to experiment with editing disco breaks on a reel-to-tape recorder. This mixing would soon become the beginnings of the house music genre.
Simon Reynolds Simon Reynolds (born 19 June 1963) is an English music journalist and author who began his professional career on the staff of ''Melody Maker'' in the mid-1980s. He has since gone on to freelance and publish a number of full-length books on music ...
: ''Generation Ecstasy. Into the World of Techno and Rave Culture.'' New York: Routledge 1999.
The Warehouse became a hub for the people of Chicago, specifically black gay men. It was compared to a religious and spiritual experience.Bill Brewster/Frank Broughton: ''Last Night a DJ Saved My Life: The History of the Disc Jockey'', London: Headline 1999. At the time, many black gay men felt excluded from the religious communities that they had been raised in. This contributed to the culture created at the Warehouse. It was a place where people could be open and "this sexual openness enabled the club to be unusually free of aggression”.
Chicago house Chicago house refers to house music produced during the mid to late 1980s within Chicago. The term is generally used to refer to the first ever house music productions, which were by Chicago-based artists in the 1980s. History and origins Disco ...
was a specifically black gay genre in many ways for many years and the Warehouse was a specific space that cultivated that scene in a safe way. Black music was at the heart of the disco era and it is impossible to separate the roots of disco from the disenfranchised queer people of color that flocked to it. House is connected to disco in that "it mutated the form, intensifying the very aspects of the music that most offended white rockers and black funkateers: the machinic repetition, the synthetic and electronic textures, the rootlessness, the ‘depraved’ hypersexuality and ‘decadent’ druggy hedonism." The Warehouse was a place that allowed house music to flourish as a continuation of disco under Frankie Knuckles. It continued the tradition of making music for the club, for people to truly feel and to create a holy dance atmosphere and experience over just trying to make something that could get hits on the radio or top 40 charts. "The stomping four-to-the-floor kick-drum would become the defining mark of house music." Knuckles also used to alter songs by adding synthetic handclaps, special hi-hat patterns and bass loops. This way, he pushed the boundaries of how a song is supposed to sound and how a song can be manipulated to fit a club setting.


Changes

After the Warehouse doubled its admission fee in late 1982, it grew more commercial. Knuckles decided to leave and start his own club the Power Plant, and later the Powerhouse, to which his devoted followers followed. In response, the Warehouse's owners renamed it the Muzic Box and hired a new DJ named
Ron Hardy Ron Hardy (May 8, 1958 – March 2, 1992) was an American, Chicago, Illinois-based DJ and record producer of early house music. He is well known for playing records at the Muzic Box, a Chicago house music club. Decades after his death, he is re ...
, who became quite influential for the development of house music himself.


Frankie Knuckles tributes

In 2004, the city of Chicago – which "became notorious in the dance community around the world for passing the so-called 'anti-
rave A rave (from the verb: '' to rave'') is a dance party at a warehouse, club, or other public or private venue, typically featuring performances by DJs playing electronic dance music. The style is most associated with the early 1990s dance mus ...
ordinance' in 2000 that made property owners, promoters and deejays subject to $10,000 fines for being involved in an unlicensed dance party" – named a stretch of street in downtown Chicago after Knuckles, where the old Warehouse once stood, on Jefferson Street between Jackson Boulevard and Madison Street in Chicago's
West Loop The Near West Side, one of the 77 community areas of Chicago, is on the West Side, west of the Chicago River and adjacent to the Loop. The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 started on the Near West Side. Waves of immigration shaped the history of the ...
. On August 25, 2004, the city renamed the block "Frankie Knuckles Way" and declared August 25 to be Frankie Knuckles Day. Future
United States President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United State ...
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
was among the advocates for the change as an Illinois state senator.


See also

*
Chicago house Chicago house refers to house music produced during the mid to late 1980s within Chicago. The term is generally used to refer to the first ever house music productions, which were by Chicago-based artists in the 1980s. History and origins Disco ...
*
List of electronic dance music venues A rave (from the verb: '' to rave'') is a dance party at a warehouse, club, or other public or private venue, typically featuring performances by DJs playing electronic dance music. The style is most associated with the early 1990s dance mus ...
*
Homophobia in the African American community Homophobia in ethnic minority communities is any negative prejudice or form of discrimination in ethnic minority communities worldwide towards people who identify as–or are perceived as being–lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT), k ...


References


External links


The Warehouse/Music Box, Chicago
– ''Clubbers Guide to Life'' from
Ministry of Sound Ministry of Sound or Ministry of Sound Group is a multimedia entertainment business based in London with a nightclub, shared workspace and private members' club, worldwide events operation, music publishing business and fitness studio. James ...
. Retrieved on September 6, 2007. *
41.878956,-87.640536 google maps
{{DEFAULTSORT:Warehouse (Nightclub) 1977 disestablishments in Illinois African-American history in Chicago Electronic dance music venues Former music venues in the United States Hispanic and Latino American culture in Chicago LGBT African-American culture LGBT culture in Chicago LGBT Hispanic and Latino American culture Music venues completed in 1977 Nightclubs in Chicago