Club Music

Dance clubs have long been an epicenter of musical evolution. From the earliest days of jazz to the rave culture of the 1990s, dance halls and dance clubs have fueled the development and popularity of new types of grooves. It is in these locales that DJs and MCs (eager to get their patrons' feet moving) do their best to explore new forms and to improve on what has come before.

Recent History of Club Music

The club scene as we know it today basically had its birth in the disco era. Disco was one of the first types of truly electronic music, and it was designed almost expressly for the purpose of getting people to dance. The club culture that developed around disco would soon grow tired with the disco sound, and would move on to a more minimalist and progressive form: house.

House music grew up in the 1980s, and was during that time the sole reining champ of the dance floor. By the late '80s, house clubs had sprouted up all over the United States and Europe, but the sudden ubiquity of this type of music soon lead to exciting new developments. New types of dance music like techno, acid house and garage began to threaten classic house's monopoly on the dance music world.

Electronic dance music has from the very beginning been highly experimental, so it's no surprise that dozens of new forms have popped up over the last two decades. Club-goers these days now have a choice between all of the classical house and techno sounds, as well as relative newcomers like breakbeat, progressive house and jungle.