ABSTRACT
The specific historical and social context of the cultural tapestry of Chicago has led to a musical scene which has produced a dance music with recognisable local characteristics, while at the same time this music is part of a wider international flow of communication. According to Frankie Knuckles, when he arrived in 1977 in Chicago there were mostly drinking places with jukeboxes; perhaps the city had about two or three clubs that employed Disc jockeys at the time. The contents of the lyrics of Chicago house music were often sexually explicit. There was also a celebration of purely being alive in these hedonistic frenzied dance gatherings. In the Chicago outside of this scene, no-one wanted to know about it and most people there are still ignorant of its existence. If anything, as the house scene briefly appeared from its underground existence, it was eventually perceived as ‘trouble’.
