By Marisa Young | Staff Writer
I used to think you had to be a fraternity DJ to enjoy house music. Now, the genre claims a spot on my Spotify Wrapped every year. As an ex-hater, let me convince you why house deserves a place in every person’s playlist.
I will be the first to admit that for the majority of my life, I dismissed house as a sort of copout, an alternative to true hip hop or lyrical rap. From a writer’s standpoint, I felt like the lyrics in this genre were shallow, predictable and overly accessible. From a musician’s standpoint, I thought that the music itself was simple, repetitive and just overall lacking in creativity. It seemed to me that the genre itself had insufficient depth. In contrast, lyrical rap originated from the voices of suppressed African-American communities. I perceived house music as the little sibling to SoundCloud, parented by contemporary wannabe DJs.
Over the last couple of years, however, I have ventured out of my musical comfort zone and realized house music and the community that built it deserve just as much respect as any other genre. Below are just a few reasons why I came to this conclusion.
Community
Unbeknownst to me, house music did not originate in fraternity basements.
According to NPR, it was born in the 1970s, in the underground clubs of large cities like New York and Chicago. These clubs were primarily populated by LGBTQ+, African American, Latino and other marginalized communities, as well as anyone else who wanted to escape from the mounting social issues of the time through dance. DJs of the time were experimenting with mixing music as a way to encourage dancing, as disco was in decline.
In 1979, a tragedy known as Disco Demolition Night occurred, in which thousands of disco records were blown up between innings of a Chicago White Sox game in an effort to protest disco music. After this event, aka “the night that disco died,” house music transitioned to above-ground clubs, where it continued to evolve with the advancement of technology.
Today, the genre retains its original power and intent of bringing communities together and creating an environment of escapism through dance.
Experience
Witnessing a house music event live is unlike seeing any other concert or musical event. In many cases, the DJ at a house show is positioned in the middle of the crowd rather than at the front of the room, which creates a more intimate and communal atmosphere.
House music shows are rarely about the artist, unlike at pop concerts. Instead, everyone in attendance is solely concerned with the music itself. There is a particular effect of the house genre that immerses its audience in the experience of listening and dancing, which allows you to forget about the outside world for a brief time.
Science
Many people describe house music as ‘euphoric’ or ‘feel-good’ music, and turns out there is actually science behind why it has this effect. House has an average speed of 120-130 beats per minute. Studies show that music between 90-150 beats per minute produces feelings of joy while also affecting a person’s sympathetic nervous system. Additionally, a study done at the University of Agder showed that the build-up and beat drop nature of house music triggers humans’ dopamine responses, leading to the release of positive hormones.
Activities that typically accompany house music, such as socializing and dancing, trigger the release of endorphins, also causing both pleasurable feelings and pain relief.
If the above reasons are not enough for you to give house music a try, don’t worry — there are many, many more. For those wanting to dip their toe in, I would recommend artists like Fred again.., Disclosure and Dom Dolla as a starting point. At the end of the day, music is one of the greatest gifts we have, so I’d encourage you to listen to as much of it as you can in one life.
