Cubs Fans

In my slow progression of converting this blog into a more information/entertainment source for readers, I want to talk a little about... music.

I thought about this post on the way over here to my favorite coffee house, how music has the ablity to change our lives. Most of the people of this world have a favorite song, no matter what genre, its their song and it's what makes them happy, or sad, or better. I talk to a lot of people about music, their thoughts... and how it effects them. I've gotten many different answers but one that I seem to get a lot is that there's one song, just one that has the best effect on them.

Mine is a Dave Matthews Band song - called "granny," and although it's never been in the studio, their live performances of this song are amazing. The song says all the right things to me, and every time - every single time - I hear that song, I sing it as loud as I can and play it on maximum volume.

Really almost all DMB songs catch me in some way, I guess you can say that I really don't have just one favorite song from them, because there's so many songs that I enjoy. They are my favorite band of all time.

But here I am, a house DJ.

I said in my interview biography on my website that I really just like anything with a beat. I've been saying it since I was a littlin' back in the day. Songs that get my foot tapping are always top of my list. So I guess you can say that house music was just the best fit for me. It has the MOST beat... if you will, above all the other genres of music. But my enjoyment doesn't end at house or Dave Matthews, I like hip hop, jazz, rock, MJ from the olden days... So now I want to change that quote, because it's not so much that I like music with a beat, it's more that I like music with a soul. A soul is hard to describe, really - everyone likes music with a soul to them. We all have music that is specific to our very being... which was my point.

Sitting with a good friend of mine, we were talking about music, and she mentioned to me that she doesn't really have a specific liking of any kind. She just enjoys music whenever, that no genre really gets her going.

I said that she was full of shit.

Later that evening, she talked about a song that she heard from Dave Matthews band - and it changed her life... That one song alone convinced her of a decision she had to make, and she did.

So I said, "wait a minute, just an hour ago you sat there and told me music doesn't effect you in anyway, but yet you are telling me about a song that changed your life?"

She told me to shut up.

But that's just it, nobody can deny that music is what keeps many of us alive each day. These artists, that sing these lyrics, written by other artists... it's a collaboration of feelings, and these feelings are transferred from the song, to the person listening.

Even a symphony can make magic for me personally. Booming horns and strings in a complicated arrangement just does something to me. This is why, some day in the future I hope to be DJing infront of a full orchestra.

So we know everyone has their genre, we know that there is a song that effects everyone, even a little bit, and it's different for all of them. So how as a DJ, do I play music to a mass of people and have everyone enjoy it?

The answer is still being researched.

But I have an idea, specifically related to house and electronic dance music (EDM). Hip Hop, and Rap music is the mainstream. When thinking about dancing, there is always a place for hip hop. They will in my opinion always be in the mainstream here in the US. All the stars, the big names, the big deals, surround the top 40. EDM will never be there. The great thing about this is we don't really care. We are the underground... or the music that is loved but never by the masses. EDM will never die, just like hip hop and rap will never die. All the genres will continue to evolve, each year new artists coming into the world adding their own feelings and personalilty to the mix.

I'm rambling. The point I'm trying to make is that house fans are like Chicago Cubs fans.

Cubs fans are a breed of fan that amazes people all over the world. No matter how good or bad the team is doing, there will always be a good supply of Cubs fans around to root for them. They are faithful even in the darkest of times, in hopes of one day seeing their team win the Series.

House music, and its fans are much in the same light. No matter how hidden house music is to the world, there will always be faithful fans to enjoy it. More than the average Joe can imagine, actually.

I think it's ironic that House music was born in Chicago, where all these die hard Cubs fans can be found. In Chicago, house music is still huge. And, not to be competitive, we can't say the same for hip hop, and disco in Chicago...

Sitting at my day job, I've talked about house a couple times - the reaction I normally get is: "House? What's that?"

I always try to explain it to them as well, in phrases they can understand. House is Disco, just, newer.

Back in 1973, the hidden "underground" New York homosexual world were all dancing to this new type of music. A fresh beat derived from R&B, and funk, disco music was all about the flash and the flair. Boathouse clubs and lofts were filled with this basic 4/4 beat that would be the building blocks for house and its derived genres. In 1978, disco was discovered by the rest of the US, and surged forward into the mainstream. Disco was everywhere, and was everything - the biggest stars and biggest names all bought into it - it was no longer underground. Soon movies like Saturday Night Fever and groups like the Bee Gees brought disco to the top 40, a vision of the future? Not really...

In 1982 - the year I was born - someone woke up and said "Disco Sucks."

It was a revolt, an outrage - the once cherished genre by a select few had grown so much that mutiny erupted, and Disco died. All the artists were out of business, no one cared anymore, shortly after, rock became the mainstream.

People still wanted to dance, however, so the cultural US turned to a new form of music, Afrika Bumbaata along with other artists rose up to creat hip hop, derived also from R&B and Funk. They began a new era of music that still reigns in the clubs today, and the Top 40 charts.

During this time, however, disco didn't really die... it went back to the underground where it started in the first place. Although, this time, it had a new face and name, Chicago.

Around 1983-84 underground clubs in Chicago began playing this strangely familiar style of music that didn't have a name. The club that played it most predominately was called "The Warehouse." Not long after the Warehouse began playing this type of music, songs began to appear in the local record stores that were ripped right from the dancefloors. For lack of a name, they just called it - "Warehouse Music." Likewise in New York, a similar type of music called "Garage" music also came from the woodwork. After gaining popularity in the underground, the two genres merged to form Warehouse/Garage or, for short, house music.

So one can easily say, just as hip hop and rap have been around forever in the mainstream, house music has been around just as long in the underground. This is why, we are so comfortable staying there. No commercialization, no drama, no problems. Just great music with die hard...

... Cubs Fans.