Acid House & the 303

In 1987 Phuture’s "Acid Tracks" weaponised the squelching Roland TB-303 bass synth into a new sound — acid house — that detonated on Chicago floors and then ignited the UK’s Second Summer of Love.

Part of Chicago House

30 moments in this segment.

1. 1987 — Ralphi Rosario — "You Used to Hold Me". With Xavier Gold’s vocal — a Chicago vocal-acid classic.
2. 1987 — Armando — Chicago Dance Party (Acid House, 1987). Armando and the WGCI/102.7 acid-house dance-party energy of 1987 Chicago.
3. 1987 — Phuture — "Your Only Friend" (1987). The anti-cocaine acid track from the "Acid Tracks" EP.
4. 1987 — The It (Larry Heard & Harry Dennis) — "Donnie". A dark, hypnotic deep/acid record.
5. 1987 — Mr Fingers / The It — "Set Your Mind To It". Larry Heard & Harry Dennis’ deep, dark project.
6. 1987 — Pierre’s Pfantasy Club — "Dream Girl". DJ Pierre’s acid-era project.
7. 1987 — Phuture — "Spank Spank". The B-side energy of the Phuture acid crew.
8. 1987 — Phuture — "Acid Tracks" (1987). DJ Pierre and Phuture’s 12-minute "Acid Tracks" — built entirely from a tweaked TB-303 — defined the acid-house genre and was road-tested for years on Ron Hardy’s floor.
9. 1987 — The Roland TR-909. The TR-909 drum machine’s punchy kick and crisp hats became the rhythmic backbone of house and acid — another "failed" Roland product that the Chicago producers made iconic.
10. 1988 — Fast Eddie — "Acid Thunder". Fast Eddie bridged acid house and hip-hop into "hip house".
11. 1988 — Bam Bam — "Where’s Your Child?". A dark, eerie acid-house classic.
12. 1988 — Armando — "Land of Confusion". Armando Gallop’s acid-house cornerstone.
13. 1988 — Armando — "Confusion’s Revenge" (1988). More raw Armando acid.
14. 1988 — Phortune — "Can You Feel the Bass". DJ Pierre & co — acid-era bass weight.
15. 1988 — Armando — "151". Another raw Armando acid-house track.
16. 1988 — Hercules — "7 Ways". Marshall Jefferson’s acid project.
17. 1988 — Fast Eddie — "Jack to the Sound of the Underground". A jack-track / hip-house cornerstone.
18. 1988 — Armando — "Downfall". More raw acid from Armando Gallop.
19. 1988 — Bam Bam — "Give It to Me". More dark acid from Bam Bam.
20. 1989 — Tyree Cooper — "Turn Up the Bass". A hip-house crossover from Chicago.
21. 1989 — Armando — "100% of Dissin’ You". Classic house from 1988,Label-Warehouse Records,catalog#: WH-002,format 12" vinyl US 1988
22. 1989 — Steve Poindexter — "Work That Mother...". A brutally raw, hard Chicago jack classic.
23. 1989 — Mike Dunn — "Magic Feet". Raw, percussive Chicago jack/acid.
24. 1989 — Tyree — "Hardcore Hip-House". The Chicago hip-house fusion.
25. 1991 — DJ Pierre — "Generate Power" (Wild Pitch). DJ Pierre’s "wild pitch" style — slowly-building, hypnotic peak-time house.
26. 1991 — Robert Armani — "Circus Bells". A hard Chicago-acid record that became a rave anthem (Hardfloor remix).
27. 1995 — Waxmaster — Dance Mania ghetto trax. The raw, sample-chopped Dance Mania ghetto-house sound.
28. 1995 — DJ Rush — Chicago acid/techno. The harder, acid-techno edge of Chicago.
29. 2008 — The Roland TB-303 — the acid machine. A failed bass-guitar substitute, the TB-303’s squelching, resonant filter — misused by Chicago producers — became the unmistakable sound of acid house. The subject dates from 1987; this photograph was taken in 2008.
30. 2016 — How acid house was invented. The story of Phuture discovering the acid sound on a second-hand TB-303.