Masters at Work: Kings of House

To most people who aren’t avid fans of electronic music from Kraftwerk onward, house is the genre that will forever be that one with the booming black female voices singing “it’s gonna beee/alllriight,” or the one associated with those two herbs from Night at the Roxbury trying to “jack” their way into someone’s pants. But house, even if you can muster no enthusiasm for its catalogue, is interesting for its place in music history. Here’s the extremely short version:

“House” refers to a style of electronic music that originated at places like the Warehouse, a club in Chicago where New York’s Frankie Knuckles spun recycled Europop and disco from the late 70s through the early 80s, and where George Clinton was a regular. It emerged out of the gay scene, where the “anything goes” spirit of Studio 54 mixed with a new optimism to create spaces where barriers like class, race, and sexuality (supposedly) melted under the music. All of this was, of course, set up consciously against the “disco sucks” campaign of the early 80s. Two labels, Trax and DJ International, dominated until around 1990 when house made the move from the underground to the mainstream. In fact, house basically was the 90s. If you don’t believe me, try to remember what was on the radio when you were suffering through early adolescence. The Real McCoy. “Rhythm is a Dancer.” “Everybody Dance Now.” Told ya.

This week saw my birthday come and go. Of all the thoughtful gifts I received, maybe the most was this recent two-disc compilation spanning the early days of house to the present by the “Masters at Work” production collective, comprised of Kenny “Dope” Gonzales and “Little” Louie Vega. And I’m not just saying this because DFA made it cool to listen to electronic music—so go get this to sit, dusty, on your 360-slot CD shelf, ready to brandish should you need to impress someone. I’m saying this because, as a gift from one friend with a love of music that extends to a need for an encyclopedic knowledge of music to another, this particular CD said a lot. From one actual DJ to a would-be DJ, it said: “I know you have that Acid House compilation, but here’s the real deal. You should’ve heard this first.”

So I listened, and it was good. I heard the whole story of house music, but not from an overly historical or chronological perspective. It was the story from two people who’d been there—through all of the drugs, partying, and mythmaking—and made it back alive, still kicking, and with fond memories. On the first disc, Kenny Dope admits that he could’ve chosen more “classic” tracks. Instead, he chose the ones that first struck him when he was but a lowly record store clerk, the tracks that he immersed himself in when he was just getting started. He included two of my favorites, Tyree’s “Acid Crash” and house’s original dance instruction manual “7 Ways to Jack” by Hercules. The second disc waxes slightly more canonical, but even still, runs a gamut from hip-house standards like Mr. Lee’s “I Can’t Forget” to sleazy favorites like “Move, Bounce, Shake” by Anane and Mr. V that make current club hit-makers like Beyoncé and Gwen Stefani seem, well, tame in comparison.

If you’re still not convinced, just pretend you’re researching a sociology paper on race, class, and gender in the Reagan Era and buy this. You can thank me later.

[buy it here]