Crystal Waters - Crystal Waters - Mercury - UK House

Information on the UK House Genre

UK House contains records released on UK labels fromthe birth of house to the present day

History
late 1980s – early 1990s

In Britain the growth of house can be divided around the "Summer of Love" in 1988/9. House had a presence in Britain almost as early as it appeared in Chicago. House grew in northern England, the Midlands and the South East. Founded in 1982 by Factory Records, The Haçienda in Manchester became an extension of the "Northern Soul" genre and was one of the early, key English dance music clubs.

Until 1986 the club was financially troubled; the crowds only started to grow when the resident DJs (Pickering, Park and Da Silva) started to play house. Many underground venues and DJ nights also took place across the UK, such as the private parties hosted by an early Miss Moneypenny's contingent in Birmingham and many London venues. House was boosted in the UK by the tour in the same year of Knuckles, Jefferson, Fingers Inc. (Heard) and Adonis as the DJ International Tour. One of the early anthemic tunes, "Promised Land" by Joe Smooth, was covered and charted within a week by the Style Council. The first English house tune came out in 1986 - "Carino" by T-Coy. Europeans embraced house, and began booking legendary American house DJs to play at the big clubs, such as Ministry of Sound, whose resident, DJ Harvey brought in Larry Levan.

The house scene in cities such as Birmingham, Manchester and London were also provided with many underground Pirate Radio stations and DJs alike which helped bolster an already contagious, but otherwise ignored by the mainstream, music genre. One of the earliest and most influential UK house and techno record labels was Network Records (otherwise known as Kool Kat records) who helped introduce Italian and U.S. dance music to Britain as well as promoting select UK dance music acts.

But house was also developing on Ibiza. In the 1970s Ibiza was a stop-over for the rich party crowd. By the mid-1980s a distinct Balearic mix of house was discernible. Several clubs like Amnesia with DJ Alfredo were playing a mix of rock, pop, disco and house. These clubs, fueled by their distinctive sound and Ecstasy, began to have an influence on the British scene. By late 1987, DJs like Paul Oakenfold and Danny Rampling were bringing the Ibiza sound to UK clubs like the Hacienda in Manchester, and in London clubs such as Shoom in Southwark, Heaven, Future and Spectrum.

Associated genres
Acid • Ambient • Balearic • Dark • Deep • Disco • Diva • Dream • Electro • Fidget • Funky • Garage • Ghetto • Hard • Hardbag • Hip • Latin • Micro • Madchester • Nu jazz • Progressive • Rave • Swing • Tech • Tribal • Vocal