[Swirls 888]
UPLOADED ON YOUTUBE BY THE CREATOR SWIRLS 888, THAT WAS A MIX ARRANGED BACK IN 1989, NONE OTHER THAN FOR WNUR STREETBEAT.
STREETBEAT BROADCASTS OFF 89.3, THE SAME STATION YOU’RE LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW. IT’S THE LATE NIGHT MUSIC SEGMENT FOR WNUR-FM, AIRING GENRES THAT INCLUDE RAP, R&B, ELECTRONICA, BUT PERHAPS MOST IMPORTANTLY, HOUSE. HERE’S JACK IZZO, A MEDILL SENIOR. HE’S THE CURRENT EXECUTIVE OF BOTH STREETBEAT AND ROCK SHOW.
[Jack Izzo]
HOW DID HOUSE MUSIC BECOME SO FIRMLY ROOTED IN STREETBEAT’S IDENTITY? HOW DID STREETBEAT IN TURN CONTRIBUTE TO THE BURGEONING HOUSE SCENE? AND HOW CAN IT STILL CONTRIBUTE, AS IT CELEBRATES ITS 40TH ANNIVERSARY?
[house music transition]
IT MIGHT BE EASIEST TO GO BACK TO THE BEGINNING: DISCO.
THAT IS, DISCO DEMOLITION NIGHT. AT THE HEIGHT OF THE RIVALRY BETWEEN ROCK AND DISCO, THE DETROIT TIGERS FACED OFF AGAINST THE CHICAGO WHITE SOX AT COMISKEY FIELD IN A DOUBLE-HEADER ON JULY 12, 1979. BUT THIS WASN’T ANY ORDINARY GAME.
TO ATTRACT PEOPLE INTO THE STADIUM, WHITE SOX OWNER BILL VEECK AND HIS SON MIKE VEECK CAME UP WITH “DISCO DEMOLITION DAY,” A PLAY ON “DISCO NIGHT ” HELD TWO YEARS PRIOR. FANS WOULD BE ADMITTED FOR 98 CENTS IF THEY BROUGHT A DISCO RECORD, TO BE DESTROYED ON THE FIELD IN BETWEEN GAMES. THE EVENT WAS ALSO SPEARHEADED BY STEVE DAHL, A ROCK DJ FIRED DURING THE HEIGHT OF DISCO IN THE LATE SEVENTIES.
[Lauren Lowery]
THAT WAS LAUREN LOWERY, A STREETBEAT ALUM AND HOST OF THE VINTAGE HOUSE, A TALK-SHOW WHICH AIRS HERE ON 89.3 WEDNESDAYS AT 10.
[Lauren Lowery cont.]
AS A GENRE THAT GREW IN LARGE PART FROM BLACK AND QUEER COMMUNITIES, SOME PERCEIVED DISCO DEMOLITION DAY AS AN ACT OF ACT OF AGGRESSION. IT WASN’T JUST ABOUT PEOPLE NOT LIKING DISCO ANYMORE, IT WAS A REJECTION OF EVERYTHING THAT CAME WITH IT.
ULTIMATELY, THE SEATS FILLED TO CAPACITY, WITH 20,000 MORE WAITING OUTSIDE. THEY STORMED THE ENTRANCE, AND AS THE DISCO DEMOLITION BEGAN, THOUSANDS STORMED THE FIELD. THE FIELD WAS TORN, A BONFIRE WAS STARTED, BASES WERE LITERALLY STOLEN, ACCORDING TO EDM MAGAZINE. THE POLICE SHOWED UP, AND DOZENS WERE ARRESTED.
[music transition]
DISCO TOOK AN ALL-BUT FATAL BLOW AFTER DEMOLITION DAY. BUT IT WASN’T ALL BAD, AS IT FORCED DJS TO REEXAMINE THE MUSIC FORM.
[Jack Izzo]
AND OUT OF THESE TWO CHANGES, CAME HOUSE.
[transition]
AT THE BEGINNING, HOUSE MUSIC WAS PRETTY INSEPARABLE FROM DISCO. HERE’S MEREDETH “SWEET MD” JOHNSON. HE WAS ONE OF THE MAIN FIGURES WHO BROUGHT HOUSE MUSIC TO WNUR STREETBEAT BACK IN THE 80S.
[Meredith Johnson]
THE WAREHOUSE WAS A NIGHTCLUB LOCATED ON 206 SOUTH JEFFERSON STREET ON THE WEST LOOP OF CHICAGO, STARTED IN 1977. UNDER THE DIRECTION OF RESIDENT DJ FRANKIE KNUCKLES, DJS FROM THE WAREHOUSE STARTED TAKING DISCO TRACKS AND MIXING IT AGAINST CONTINUOUS FOUR BY FOUR BEATS. THESE BEATS WERE OFTEN CREATED USING NEW DRUM MACHINES LIKE THE ROLLING 909S or 808S. THE RESULT WAS A THUMPING STYLE OF MUSIC THAT CAME TO BE KNOWN AS HOUSE, DUE TO ITS DIRECT ASSOCIATION WTH THE WAREHOUSE.
[Meredith Johnson]
[Lauren Lowery]
THE HISTORY OF THE WAREHOUSE IS ALSO BOUND TO THE HISTORY OF QUEER COMMUNITIES IN CHICAGO.
[Lauren Lowery]
ULTIMATELY, THE WAREHOUSE CLOSED IN THE EARLY EIGHTIES. BUT IT GAVE RISE TO OTHER HOUSE CLUBS IN CHICAGO. NOTABLY, THE PLAYGROUND, COCONUTS, AND FRANKIE KNUCKES’ THE POWER PLANT. IT ALSO GAVE RISE TO HOUSE ON THE RADIO, MOST IMPORTANTLY, WNUR STREETBEAT.
WNUR STREETBEAT STARTED BACK IN 1983, AS A SUCCESSOR OF SOUL SHOW. IT WAS MAINLY R&B AND HIP-HOP. BUT AS HOUSE INCREASINGLY EXPANDED OUTWARD THROUGH CHICAGO, IT BECAME A DEFINING FEATURE OF STREETBEAT. HERE’S IRA “THE I” BROWN, ONE OF THE EARLY STREETBEAT DJS.
[Ira Brown]
COLLEGE RADIO PROVED TO BE A REALLY POWERFUL WAY TO EXPERIMENT WITH HOUSE, STILL A DEVELOPING MUSIC FORM. HERE’S KEVIMN MCFALL. He WAS A DJ FOR WPGU, WHICH OPERATES OUT OF UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS URBANA-CHAMPAIGN. HE’S ALSO A CO-HOST OF THE VINTAGE HOUSE, WITH LAUREN LOWERY.
[Kevin McFall]
SINCE THEN, HOUSE HAS GROWN SIGNIFCANTLY.
[“Break My Soul” transition]
[Jack Izzo]
BUT WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR A GENRE THAT ORIGINATED IN LARGE PART FROM THE INTERSECTION OF BLACK, QUEER, AND LATINX IDENTITIES? HERE’S MADELINE, A FORMER STREETBEAT GENERAL MANAGER AND A CURRENT RESIDENT DJ AT SMARTBAR, ONE OF THE MOST ENDURING HOUSE CLUBS IN CHICAGO.
[Madeline]
[Lauren Lowery]
AND WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR STRTEETBEAT, ON ITS 40TH ANNIVERSARY?
[Madeline]
MAYBE, THIS ISN’T THE WORST THING. STREETBEAT DJS HAVE ALWAYS HAD TO BE FLUID, FINDING WAYS TO MAKE GOOD MUSIC AS OLD MOVEMENTS FADED.
[Madeline]
AND HOUSE ITSELF HAS ALWAYS BEEN SOME OF THE MOST FLUID MUSIC OUT THERE.
[Madeline]
FOLLOWING THE PEOPLE THAT STARTED IT ALL, MIGHT JUST BE THE MOST EXCITING WAY FORWARD.
FOR WNUR NEWS, I’M PAUL O’CONNOR.
