Classic House

Putting The Science Into Music

Classic House is an era-based category for influential house music from the genre's formative decades, similar to how Old School Hip Hop marks an earlier period rather than a fixed subgenre. It generally covers recordings from the 1980s and 1990s, occasionally reaching into later tracks that keep the production style and character of that era.

House music developed in Chicago during the early 1980s from disco, electronic music, funk, soul and the city's Black and Latino club culture. DJs including Frankie Knuckles and Ron Hardy shaped its early direction, while producers used drum machines, synthesisers, sequencers and edited disco recordings to build music specifically for the dance floor.

Labels including Trax Records and DJ International carried Chicago House to wider audiences through artists such as Marshall Jefferson, Larry Heard, Adonis, Phuture and Farley "Jackmaster" Funk. Early recordings set several lasting features of the genre: four-to-the-floor drums, repetitive basslines, piano chords, soulful vocals and extended arrangements.

House later grew through important scenes in New York, New Jersey, Detroit and Britain, producing styles including Garage House, Deep House, Acid House, Vocal House and Hip House. Producers such as Masters at Work, Todd Terry, David Morales and Frankie Knuckles connected underground club music with international dance charts through the late 1980s and 1990s.

The Classic House category can take in Chicago originals, New York and New Jersey Garage, early Deep House, piano-led anthems, vocal records and other defining club tracks from the period. Its classification rests mainly on era, influence and recognisable old-school production, rather than any single tempo or formula.

At Scientific Sound Asia, classic house is a defining feature of Velvety Elements, with further appearances on Roots and Electronic Roots.