POPSCENE!
Acid House
THE TABLOIDS ARE IN A LATHER, BUT IT’S JUST GREAT DANCE MUSIC AT THE END OF THE DAY…
STEVE O'BRIEN
YOUR AT-A-GLANCE GUIDE TO SOME OF OUR FAVOURITE SUB-GENRES
The Haçienda on 6 July 1988 – and yes, that is Bez in the background
© Getty
© Alamy
What is it?
Though it was a movement that was arguably most popular in the UK, acid house’s origins lie across the pond, in Chicago, in fact, where a gaggle of DJs, such as Nathaniel ‘DJ Pierre’ Jones, Earl ‘Spanky’ Smith Jr, and Herbert ‘Herb J’ Jackson, first popularised the sound. Of course, it evolved from house music (with a little dash of Detroit techno, New York disco and Euro electropop thrown in), defining itself by the squelching basslines of the Roland TB-303 electronic bass synthesizer-sequencer.
It arrived in the UK via Ibiza. One night in September 1987, four DJ mates – Paul Oakenfold, Johnny Walker, Nicky Holloway and Danny Rampling – sampled ecstasy for the first time at the island’s famed Amnesia club. That day, its DJ was spinning some of the latest house records from Chicago, and the four Brits were entranced by their minimalist beats. Individually, they began playing those records at their own clubs and by 1988 acid house, as it was now called, dominated UK clubland.