Pete Tong's History of House, a look at classic dance hits

August 18, 2018 1:44 PM

Pete Tong looks back at classic dance hits with from decades past with History of House, talking with the musicians behind those timeless tracks. There are currently 12 segments online: Kings of Tomorrow - "Finally" ֍ The Shapeshifters - "Lola's Theme" ֍ Inner City - "Good Life" ֍ Josh Wink - "Higher State of Consciousness" ֍ Roger Sanchez - "Another Chance" ֍ David Morales - "Needin' U"* ֍ Reel 2 Real - "I Like To Move It" ֍ Mylo - "Drop the Pressure" ֍ MJ Cole - "Sincere" ֍ Felix Da Housecat - "Silver Screen (Shower Scene)" ֍ Candi Staton - "You Got The Love"* ֍ Ultra Naté - "Free" ֍ Bonus links inside

* Most clips don't include the referenced songs, but these two clips do, but even those aren't the full-length versions. Because the discussions are incomplete without the songs, here they are, plus Discogs entries for the tracks in question, and more!

1. Kings of Tomorrow - "Finally" [Original Extended mix] - 2000/1 -- bonus: mash-up
2. The Shapeshifters - "Lola's Theme" [Main Mix; Official Video] - 2003/4 -- Lola's Theme was named so because a certain Lola played Johnny Taylor's "What About My Love" for Simon Marlin, who was instantly inspired.
3. Inner City - "Good Life" [Original 12" mix] - 1988
4. Josh Wink - "Higher State of Consciousness" [The Deep & Slow Mix; Version 3 - Tweekin Acid Funk; Original video] - 1994/5
5. Roger Sanchez - "Another Chance" [Original mix; Official video] - 2001 -- inspired by, and including, the vocals from "I Won't Hold You Back" by Toto, from the album Toto IV
6. David Morales - "Needin' U" [Original Mistake; Official video] - 1998
7. Reel 2 Real - "I Like To Move It" [Erick "More" Club Mix / Official video featuring The Mad Stuntman / the Madagascar version] - 1993
8. Mylo - "Drop the Pressure" [Club Mix; Official video] - 2004
9. MJ Cole - "Sincere" [Album version / Vocal mix] - 1998 as a single, then "re-cued" in 2000 as the title track to his 2nd album
10. Felix Da Housecat - "Silver Screen (Shower Scene)" [Original mix; Original video] - 2001 -- inspired by a stuttering edit of Bobby Orlando & The Flirts - Passion (Original 12"), made with Miss Kitten and Dave The Hustler, with words by Tommie Sunshine
11. Candi Staton - "You Got The Love" [Original Version; Your Love / You Got The Love (Remix); The Source's version] - 1986/1989/1991 [previously]
12. Ultra Naté - "Free" [M&S Philly Klub Mix; Official video] - 1997

posted by filthy light thief (12 comments total)

I was never really into house music (I'm still not, I guess), but as someone who grew up in the 90s almost every one of these songs takes me back.
posted by Werod at 2:14 PM on August 18, 2018 [1 favorite]

I can't remember if this was posted here or in one of my Slacks, but I have watched/listened to the Radio One Ibiza Prom from 2015 so many times in the last few weeks.

That version of Cafe Del Mar! The closing with You Got The Love! Amazing.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 2:28 PM on August 18, 2018 [1 favorite]

Anyone else getting weird, non-rendering unicode boxes on the main paragraph of the post?
posted by slater at 3:44 PM on August 18, 2018 [3 favorites]

This list is missing "The Bomb" by The Bucketheads, which was contemporary to Higher State and had a much bigger impact.
posted by grumpybear69 at 4:05 PM on August 18, 2018 [4 favorites]

Agree with grumpybear69 re: the absence of "The Bomb" by Bucketheads. That said, Ultra Naté is on here, so I'm satisfied. I would've preferred "Found A Cure", but "Free" was admittedly the bigger hit.

Also: if you're going to put in a Roger Sanchez track, why not "Luv Dancin' ", which is a masterwork of 90s NYC deep house? (Extended Vocal Mix or GTFO)

Oh, and what about that sublime MK production, "Push the Feeling On" by the Bucketheads?
posted by LMGM at 5:58 PM on August 18, 2018 [2 favorites]

Anyone else getting weird, non-rendering unicode boxes on the main paragraph of the post?

Those are supposed to be right-facing (unicode-table.com) Armenian eternity signs (Wikipedia), sorry for the non-rendering.

As payment for the weird glyphs, here's an Ableton's lesson on how to make the bassline for "Good Life".
posted by filthy light thief at 6:56 PM on August 18, 2018 [1 favorite]

And the reason I used Armenian eternity signs in the OP was because I was looking for a separating character that was interesting, and potentially implied spinning.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:47 PM on August 18, 2018 [2 favorites]

And no list of iconic house tracks would be complete without Green Velvet's Flash.

HEE HEE HEE HEE HEE HAW HAW
posted by grumpybear69 at 7:59 PM on August 18, 2018 [2 favorites]

I imagine it's a matter of who had time to talk with Pete. I was hoping there'd be more by now, but here we are.

With that, here's Green Velvet talking briefly about "Flash"

“When I’m doing Cajmere it’s coming from the house roots, and that’s all based in disco and gospel… it’s more inspirational and uplifting. When I do Green Velvet I’m coming from an industrial lane, there’s more chatter,” he says. “I’ll just talk about stuff, like Flash was a song I did totally off the top of my head, one take in the studio, recorded it straight to DAT, it just came…”

posted by filthy light thief at 8:33 PM on August 18, 2018 [3 favorites]

My favorite Green Velvet is La La Land.

But, if we are talking theme songs, then Sia - Drink to get Drunk is mine.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 11:26 PM on August 18, 2018 [3 favorites]

There was this website called DanceCity. Net (malware site now) and it had all the best mixes on it, shared on ratio'd FTP servers. I raided that site every time I could and grabbed all that was available. Some of my favorite mixes of the Napster era came from there.

It didn't last long, but I got a bunch of mixes from some Toronto DJs. DJ008, Peter Ivals, and such. Amazing stuff. I sort of feel like 2000's house was the pinnacle of the form, though my opinion is formed by the fact that I met my wife then and stopped clubbing so much - and my opinions have likely ossified.

Anyway, the wife thing ended badly, but the house music remains.

Have you fleeped ? You should fleep. Amazing deep house for lost souls.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 11:50 PM on August 18, 2018 [4 favorites]

Fun series. I wonder if Tong might later cover Trance or other genres. He could expand this to cover techno and trance pretty easily.

A few other songs that should be on the 'classic house' list:

Larry Heard "Can You Feel It"

Marshall Jefferson "Move Your Body"

Rhythm Is Rhythm (Derrick May) "Strings Of Life"

fleep.com is great- he recorded one of those mixes in an old apt of mine and still has a Firewire interface I lent him... (I don't mind; I went to USB)
posted by gen at 1:16 AM on August 20, 2018 [1 favorite]