Ever since Beyonce’s Renaissance dropped last summer, house music has found its way back to mainstream audiences, prompting some to ask, “Is house back?” But the truth is, it never went away.
Born out of the ashes of disco in the underground clubs of Chicago by Black queer youth in the late 1970s and ’80s, house music continues to be the best soundtrack for parties around the world.
House music laid the groundwork for one of the most popular musical genres in history – electronic dance music. And yet, the deeper you dig into the origins of house music, the more clear it becomes that the history of house, like the history of rock and roll, is a complicated tale of Black cultural resistance.
Listen to Dance Yourself Free, a podcast produced by NPR, at www.npr.org/2023/02/28/1160259231/dance-yourself-free.
Listen to the music at open.spotify.com/playlist/1EpgkgXuZkgcowCt34G1SQ.
