Ron Hardy and the History of House Music.

I have written before about Frankie Knuckles and how he is the founding father of house music, but just like a progressive family House Music is a baby with two Daddies. If you like it smooth and soulful, you’re a fan of the musical style pioneered by Knuckles and other fore fathers like Paul Johnson. If you like it hard fast and raw, well then you’re probably more in sink with Ron.

Ron Hardy made a name for himself throwing down underground black disco at a Chi Town club called Den One. He left in 1977 to seeking greener pastures in California but returned to Chicago to head up a renamed Warehouse in 1982. Spinning at the music box, Hardy managed to steal a lot of Knuckles’s thunder with his manic drug fueled energy. While Frankie focused on sound and technique, Ron was all about the energy. His energy was so intense that many who saw him spin, even all these years later claim he is the best DJ in the world. Like many artists with such a captivating level of energy he tragically died as a result of the drugs that fueled his mind blowing sessions.

Hardy is not only responsible, in part, for house music as I know and love it today; he is also responsible, in part, for Acid House. Young Acid House producers waited outside the music box to give Hardy their tracks because, “If he said he loved something that was it. But if Ron Hardy had said he didn’t like it, that would have been the Acid.” Hardy dropped the tracks and the dance floor cleared, but Hardy forced it down the crowd’s throat until they liked. So if you like Acid House, or just prefer your music a little more cut up, poor some out the cup for Ron Hardy.


DJ Ron Hardy - Live at the Music Box 6/19/1984 (via deep house page)
Get - Live at the Music Box Part 1 & Live at the Music Box Part 2