[1984] Jesse Saunders - On and On [JS9999 black label]

This is the US 12" (Jes Say JS9999, with black labels, one of the first 500 pressed in January 1984), ripped to 16/44.1 FLAC in July 2010.

This is the first electronic music production released on vinyl by a Chicago club DJ, and it's often said to be the first house record. This does not mean it sounds very much like what you think of as classic Chicago house music, nor does it mean it's very good!

The A-side is a relatively minimal, easy-to-mix "DJ tool" type of song, but with a sound that was fresh and "hard" for its day. The B-side is ultra-minimal, just a TR-808 drum machine and reverb, banging out the same kinds of patterns used in the break portion of the main song.

This music's roughness around the edges made other local DJs say "I can do better than that!"—and that's exactly what happened. Instead of just making tape re-edits of disco records or adding drum machines and tape loops to their mix sets, they dove into the world of original disco-ish electronic music production and releasing their own records. Primarily being music made by and for Chicago's insular club scene, the sound quickly evolved, building on the foundation of this record and other dance music that was popular in the city at the time. By 1986, house had stabilized into more-or-less the form known now.

"On and On" is actually Saunders' personalized remake of a record that was stolen from him in 1983. The original, Mach's "On and On", was a bootleg mash-up of tape loops from disco records, primarily featuring a bass line taken from Player (1)'s 1981 hit "Space Invaders".

Saunders' version doesn't attempt to be a faithful interpretation. Only the bass line is close. Instead, his version was co-written with his friend Vince Lawrence, who gave it more of a song structure and spoken lyrics. I'm thinking the humorous "bitch!" exclamations, an apparent homage to Laid Back's "White Horse", may have been Saunders' idea.