- published: 31 Jan 2014
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House music is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the American city of Chicago, Illinois in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to African-Americans and Latinos in Chicago circa 1984. From 1985 onwards, it began to fan out to other cities such as Detroit, Toronto, New York City, Montreal, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Manchester, Miami, London, and Paris. It then reached and began to influence popular music in Europe as a whole, with pop chart hits such as "House Nation" by House Master Boyz and the Rude Boy Of House (1987) and "Doctorin' The House" by Coldcut (1988). Since the early to mid-1990s, house music has been infused in mainstream pop and dance music worldwide.
Early house music was generally dance-based music characterized by repetitive 4/4 beats and rhythms centered around drum machines, off-beat hi-hat cymbals and synthesized basslines. While house displayed several characteristics similar to disco music, it was more electronic and minimalistic, and the structured music's focus around a repetitive rhythm was more important than the song itself. House music today, while keeping several of these core elements, notably the prominent kick drum on every beat, varies a lot in style and influence, ranging from the soulful and atmospheric deep house, to the more minimalistic microhouse. House music has also fused with several other genres creating fusion subgenres, such as Euro house and tech house.