Evolution of house music: The 21st century

By. Fabian Kolly

The 21st century: 2000s

Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley proclaimed August 10, 2005 to be "House Unity Day" in Chicago, in celebration of the "21st anniversary of house music" (actually the 21st anniversary of the founding of Trax Records). The proclamation recognized Chicago as "the original home of house music" and that the music's original creators "were inspired by the love of their city, with the dream that someday their music would spread a message of peace and unity throughout the world".

It was during this decade that vocal house became firmly established, both in the underground and as part of the pop market, and labels such as Defected, Roule and Om were at the forefront of championing the emerging sound. In the mid-2000s, fusion genres such as electro house, fidget house and tech house emerged. This fusion is apparent in the crossover of musical styles by artists such as Dennis Ferrer and Booka Shade, with the former's production style having evolved from the New York soulful house scene and the latter's roots in techno. DJs today can be heard blending all sub-genres of house as many of the best musical elements are shared across these sub-genres.

During this time, house music became increasingly accessible to mainstream suburban kids who came into major US cities to party at large venues like New York's The Sound factory, Exit and Twilo or Miami's Crobar and Space, causing many underground fans to label the scene as becoming "bridge and tunnel". The growing interest in house music from suburban, predominantly white, middle-class listeners encouraged many DJ/producers to increasingly promote their sound by releasing singles and CD compilations on a large, more commercial scale. As a result, major music warehouses like Tower Records began to carry larger selections of house music, often dedicating sections of their stores solely to dance music. As Napster and other internet downloading sites became more popular in the late 1990s and into the new millennium, house music gained an even broader audience as members shared new mixes of popular club tracks.

Today, innovative house music is celebrated and showcased at the Burning Man festival and at major industry sponsored events like Miami's Winter Music Conference.


As of the late 2000s, house influenced music retains widespread popularity in clubs throughout the world. House Music has also seen a comeback into the mainstream with producers like Deadmau5, Justice, Sickindividuals, Fedde Le Grand, and Benny Benassi bringing lighter, more diluted, eurodance-infused house tracks back to the US Top 40 charts. With this steady, yet subtle, mainstream success throughout the years, House has gained momentum and concepts developed by House producers have infected the mainstream pop and hip-hop worlds. With the introduction of Vocoders and Auto-Tune, as well as the popularization of digital audio workstations and new production techniques like sidechaining and heavy compression, House is becoming more and more a part of American musical culture. 

Australian House became popular in the mid-2000s, acts like The Aston Shuffle, Tommy Trash, Bag Raiders and Empire of the Sun became well-known domestically.