I formulated this playlist from a thread on the subject on okayplayer
a few months back. Just as there was a pre-commercialization period for any
sub-genre of music, the same is true for Chicago House music. The infamous Chicago DJ Ron Hardy pushed the boundaries of which genres and cultures of music could fall under the 'house' umbrella.
Any conniseur of any type of music will invariably say "oh that's not real (fill in the genre), real (fill in the genre) music was....." and that could be punk, jazz,country, or hip-hop. Usually one song marks this shift, ex. "Rapper's Delight" for hip-hop. So this thread on OKP was bliss for me; when House was in it's pre-commercial heyday in the late 70s and early 80s, obviously there was no iTunes, allmusicguide,etc to look this stuff up. Half these songs were released white-label only (promos for DJs) or on local labels such as Traxx or DJ International that weren't widely distributed. Net-net I never knew the name or the artist until I saw this posting I mentioned. So after much digital 'crate digging' I compiled this list. If you are a house fan, or want to learn about it, this list is a good one.:

  1. Act Like You Know - Fat Larry's Band
  2. All I Do - Stevie Wonder
  3. As - Stevie Wonder
  4. Bad Luck - Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes
  5. Bring Down the Walls - Robert Owens
  6. Clouds - Chaka Khan
  7. Do I Do - Stevie Wonder
  8. Don't Leave Me This Way - Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes
  9. Girl You Need a Change of Mind - Eddie Kendricks
  10. Funky Sensation - Gwen McCrae
  11. Hit and Run - Loleatta Holloway
  12. Hot Music - Soho
  13. I Got My Mind Made Up - First Choice
  14. Is It All Over My Face - Loose Ends
  15. It Only Takes a Minute( To Fall In Love) - Tavares
  16. Let No Man Put Asunder - First Choice
  17. Love is the Message - MFSB
  18. Love Sensation - Loleatta Holloway
  19. Moody - ESG
  20. Peace Pipe - BT Express
  21. Strings of Life - Rhythm is Rhythm
  22. Tears - Larry Levan
  23. Donnie - The It
  24. The Music Got Me - Visual
  25. There But For the Grace of God - Machine
  26. Your Love - Frankie Knuckles feat. Jamie Principle
  27. You Get the Best From Me - Alicia Myers
  28. Angel Eyes - Lime
  29. Brighter Days - Dajae
  30. Video Clash - Lil Louis




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