RETROSPECTIVE
Hard house
It’s house and it’s hard. This pleasingly straightforward subgenre has never taken itself too seriously
Lisa Lashes and other DJs exemplified the genre’s fun, inclusive spirit
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Hard house as a genre emerged in the mid 1990s, primarily from London gay clubs initially, before spreading further afield. But, to tread into uncharacteristically philosophical territory, what exactly distinguishes hard house the genre from other house music which happens to be hard? The best way to explain is probably to look back at what came before the term was coined.