House Music
There is somewhat of confusion about House Music roots. Some claim that house music emanated in Studio 54 in New York, the 1978. Others claim it was derived from Chicago’s South-side. Most of the encounters were with gay or bisexual men. This new Chicago club called The Warehouse gave House music its name. Frankie Knuckles, (RIP) who opened The Warehouse, mixed old disco classics, old Motown sonic sounds and de-funked (retired) records and Euro-beats pop. The legendary Warehouse club – where many of the experiments were tried including sexual brief encounters of a naughty kind.
House was the first direct descendant of disco. In comparison with disco, House was “rawer,” and more designed to make people dance. Disco was waning but it left a mark. It was specifically at Disco DJ’s, with extended 12″ versions that included long percussion breaks for mixing purposes. Some records continually sampled with their sparse, synthesized sounds. Introducing dub, changes in tempo, and ‘drop-outs’ that had never been heard before. For instance, the Warehouse in Chicago, where a simple mix of old times music such as the O’Jays and European pop music by synthesizer groups like Kraftwerk.
INSIDE THE HACIENDA
The 4 pictures below all relate to The Hacienda. They are not originals or mine. But the experience is.
Punters and the bar you can see for yourself–mostly white.
Auctioning of the ‘tacky bender’- or the Hacienda
Demolition of the Hacienda.
A picture of the Hacienda: just before the demolition.
The Hacienda. Which was a large former steel warehouse on the corner of Whitworth Street. The initial cost of the venue was estimated at £70,000, half of which would be paid by the label, and half by New Order. Of course it was way more than that. Originally the frontage was built with red bricks. (see above.) It was in the city center.
 |
In Manchester, in the UK, my favorite DJ’s, at the Hacienda were Mike Pickering, Graeme Park, Dave Haslam, and the two other White guys Mark (my ex- boyfriend) and Adam. Live acts which I saw were: Madonna, New Order, The Stone Roses, 808 State, Happy Mondays, Oasis, Blur, OMD, 808 State, A Guy Called Gerald, and Echo & Bunnymen. The vast number of groups were local. There were visits to the Hacienda, who inspired DJ’s like Sasha and the Chemical Brothers. Wow, all that up-beat music. A Guy Called Gerald was the first one to create the Acid Ravers movement. Madonna performed whilst at The Haçienda and the performance was described by Fatboy Slim as “mesmerised the crowd”
The first resident D.J. Hewan Clarke (a Black man,) said that he was hidden away in a little box-room. As I spoke to him, he was half way there, because he lobbied for the DJ box and a wooden structure on the balcony. Which was eventually built, overlooking the dance floor. Minus my favorite D.J. Hewan Clarke.
I knew a few people at the Hacienda. Dominic and I went to the front of the line, and they let us in for a fee. The whole of the Hacienda was rocking.
As it got more popular, troves of White people came. I guess we all eventually became a little bored so we spread our wings out. We decided to branch out to other clubs. Such as the PSV, the Gallery and Man Alive. Yet, my love of House Music superseded any other music.
It was sometime in the mid-eighties at the PSV. I was with the mixed race (half Black and half Spanish) woman. She took with her some photographs, as was a very keen photographer. We went to the PSV and I was dancing. Suddenly she pulled me down to the floor, as she spotted a red laser light and she uttered those unforgettable words, “there is a shooter in the PSV.” The whole place erupted into chaos and we crawled out of the PSV Night club on our knees. There was panic and then silence. It was a hoax. Phew!
The other place was the “Dry bar.” Opened in late 80’s. Co-owned by Factory Records and New Order. Where there some stars such as Shaun Ryder. I knew them all.
My fathers’ friend, whose daughter (Natalie) came to stay with me in Manchester. I took her inside the Hacienda. She was star struck. All the “stars” that she mentioned were from the Greater Manchester. I was shocked and surprised to hear they were my acquaintance. To me, they were ordinary punters. I did not know anything about their “star” status, until I was reintroduced to them by Natalie. I did not know them as ‘pop stars,’ I just knew them as ordinary folks going about their business: dancing their heads off.
The Hacienda finally closed down on 15th of June 1997. It was rumored that either mismanagement or the bar was not making enough. The Manchester Museum of Science now hold a diversity of: recordings, posters, and props from the Hacienda.