House music, born in the late '70s at Chicago's Warehouse nightclub, thrives on movement and energy, perfect fuel for your workouts. Today the genre powers a 100-minute House music playlist for BJJ, crafted to bring focus to your drills and fire to your rolls with the sound pioneered by DJ Frankie Knuckles.
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House Sampler no.1 Track List
- Sing It Back (Boris Musical Mix) [Edit] - Moloko
- Ride On Time - Black Box
- Good Life - Inner City
- Show Me Love - Robin S.
- Ain't No Love (Ain't No Use) [feat. Melanie Williams] - Sub Sub
- Professional Widow (Armand's Star Trunk Funkin' Mix) - Tori Amos
- Free (Mood II Swing Radio Edit) - Ultra Naté
- Music Sounds Better with You (Radio Edit) - Stardust
- Don't Call Me Baby - Madison Avenue
- Turn Around (Radio Edit) - Phats & Small
- Heatwave - Phoenix
- I Feel For You - Bob Sinclair
- Groovejet (If This Ain't Love) [feat. Sophie Ellis-Bextor] - Spiller
- Flawless (Atoc Reremix Radio) - The Ones
- Days Go By - Dirty Vegas
- Make Luv - Room 5
- Baby I'm Yours (feat. Irfane) - Breakbot
- Pick Up (Even Shorter Version) - DJ Koze
- Baianá (Pablo Fierro Edit) - Barbatuques
- 2People (feat. Tara Busch) [Dr Packer Remix] - Jean Jacques Smoothie
- The Player - Brooklyn Baby
- Shined on Me (feat. Andrea Love) [Les Bisous Remix] - Praise Cats
- FEELS RIGHT - Darius & Duñe
- Love You Feel (Wh0 Classic Remix) - Soul Avengerz
- Pandora's Box - Jay Faded
Craving More House?
Check out the House Music Sampler no.2 for another 100 minute mainline of House music to fight to.
House History, Remixed
In late '70s Chicago, the Warehouse nightclub, founded by Robert "Robbie" Williams, throbbed with life inside an abandoned three-story factory. It opened its doors to the Black gay community, offering a sanctuary where a groundbreaking new sound would emerge. DJ Frankie Knuckles, who had honed his craft in two of the earliest disco clubs, took the helm as venue's first musical director. At the Warehouse he fused disco, jazz and funk with relentless four-on-the-floor beats, birthing House Music.
In the early 80s, Knuckles left the Warehouse to launch what later became the Powerhouse. Meanwhile, the original club's owners relocated and rebranded the Warehouse as the Music Box. Enter Ron Hardy, a DJ who eschewed pristine sound quality, pushed the genres boundaries by tweaking pitch to incorporate a wider array of music into the style. He's remembered for crafting sets that pulsed weaving tension and release, electrifying the dancefloor.
By the late 80s, the genre had become commercialized and mainstream and by the 90s it exploded onto MuchMusic in Canada, where I first caught the bug amid a sea of Eurodance noise.
Pre-Internet, pinning down genres was nearly impossible where I grew up. Dance and club compilations dominated, but most missed the mark burying bangers like Inner City's Good Life deep within their tracklists, while singles like Stardust's Music Sounds Better With You were hard to find on CD and priced as much as full albums.
Nowadays I dig back into not only the music, but the wild culture and trailblazers who shaped House.
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External Links
- Frankie Knuckles – The godfather of house
- Warehouse (Nightclub) – Where it all began
- Ron Hardy – The wild innovator
- BJJ Heroes – Dive into BJJ culture
- Resident Advisor – House music’s modern pulse