House | Hard House

Hard house is typified by a set formula of up-tempo house music compressed kick drums, signature style off-beat basslines and the use of 'hoover' type sounds. In contempt of the name it shares some parts in style with house music, but borrows elements heavily from trance music (synths and sometimes breakdown formula), and hardcore/rave music (hoover sounds, chants). Generally, hard house is part of a wider group of styles called hard dance and has little in common with the modern trance or house scenes going for a stronger storm sound.

The starting point: Chicago early to mid 80's House was first and foremost a direct descendant of dance. Dance had already been going for about 10 years. But the underground scene was beginning to develop a new style that was deeper, rawer and designed to make people dance. Dance had already produced the first records to be aimed specifically at DJs with extended 12" versions that included long percussion breaks for mixing purposes and the early eighties proved a vital turning point.

But it wasn't just American music laying the groundwork for house. European music, spanning English electronic pop like Depeche Mode and Soft Cell. One of the reasons for their popularity was two clubs that had broken the barriers, two clubs that were to pass on into dance music legend - Chicago's Warehouse and New York's Paradise Garage. when the Warehouse, opened in 1977 and presided over by Frankie Knuckles and the Garage where Larry Levan spun, the emphasis was on the music. The music was as varied as the people - R&B black dance music and disco mixed with things as different as rock. For most people, these were the places that acted as breeding grounds for the music that eventually came to be known after the clubs - house and garage.