Let’s take a minute and hit pause on the mainstream airwaves and let’s press play on some house. House music was born in the ‘80s right here in Chicago and flourished throughout the city’s underground nightclubs. House is as Chicago as Vitners and softball, so much so the city dedicated Jefferson street to the legendary, “father of House” DJ Frankie Knuckles. Since the ’90s,  sub-genres of house have come to be such as tech, acid house and many more, below are just a few samples.

Let me show you love-Romanthony

Romanthony was an American house DJ from New Jersey who joined the underground movement in 1992. Like many American house DJs, he found more success in Europe than America where he remained an underground classic in the growing electronic scene. Romanthony received worldwide recognition after he provided the vocals for Daft Punk’s “One more time.” Though not a cult classic, “Let Me Show You Love” is a bop true house heads recognize for its passionate vocals and catchy beat.

Love Can’t Turn Around-Farley “Jackmaster” Funk

Like many house songs, DJ Farley Jackmaster Funk’s iconic cover of Isaac Hayes’  “Love Can’t Turn Around” places love front and center. Funk himself sings and produced the remix, which made it into the U.K.’s top ten most played hits the same year. Farley began his career as a DJ when he was a teenager in the early ‘80s and played alongside the father of house Frankie Knuckles. Funk brought house into the limelight after being part of the “Hot Mix 5,” the legendary WBMX-FM DJ team which mainstreamed the genre.

Preacher Man-Green Velvet

Unlike his fellow house prodigies, Curtis Jones, aka Green Velvet, is still keeping the old style genre alive by producing major tech house hits. Fitting into the Chicago mold, Green Velvet was born and raised in Chicago’s South Side and created his own record label to give a platform to other local house and techno artists. Creator of the classic song “Percolator 2000,” Green Velvet headlined in Chicago’s well-established summer music festival Mamby on the Beach in 2017 where he mixed a live version of “Preacher Man.”

Music sounds better with you-Stardust

Perhaps the most popular of modern house song, “Music Sounds Better With You” was released in 1998. French house producers, otherwise known as Stardust, received the “DJ award for track of the season” after it was one of the highest selling singles of ‘98 in the U.K. after its release on Daft Punk’s French house label, Roulé. “Music sounds better with you” also reached Billboard’s Dance Club Songs Chart the same year.