House music is a style of electronic dance music that was developed by DJs in the prodominantly gay Chicago dance clubs in the late '70s and early '80s. House was seen as an improvement over the much-maligned dance music that had come before it: disco. House was rawer than disco, and more authentic. Over the years, the style has remained vibrant by branching off into dozens of different styles and genres.

Genres of House Music

The basic building blocks of house music are a 4/4 beat (usually created using a drum machine) and a rhythmic bassline (which might also be generated using an electronic machine). This is the foundation of house, but the style really comes from what you put on top of this foundation. House music employs all sorts of different samples on top of the basic rhythm tracks: from jazz instrument samples to rock samples to singing samples to even just shouting samples (typically borrowed from the Godfather of Soul: James Brown).

From its humble beginnings, house has evolved into a complex and eclectic style of music with many different variants. Jungle uses faster beats (sometimes up to several hundred beats per minute) mixed with dark reggae basslines. Disco house is far lighter and borrows more heavily from the style that got house started in the first place.

There is house music out there for virtually any taste, and the best idea when buying records is not to restrict yourself to a specific sub-style. Naming systems in electronic music are notoriously confusing and contradictory. The best way to find what you like is to listen to a lot of different styles and artists to see what works best.