A Rap With The Knuckles

Frankie Knuckles bestrides the world of house music like a Colossus. Indeed, it was Knuckles' residency at the Warehouse club in Chicago between 1977 and 1982 that laid the foundations for much of modern dance music. The author of spinetingling classics like ‘Your Love’, ‘Tears’, ‘Move Your Body’ and ‘Baby Wants To Ride’, which combined the essence of soulful, gay NY disco with the metronomic beat of the drum machine to create a sound called house, Knuckles, along with Larry Levan and Ron Hardy, unwittingly got not just a nation but the world under a groove.

Twenty years later, it’s a sound that’s still going strong: take a listen to the output on modern underground labels like Rz, Get Physical and Mood Music and a new version of ‘Your Love’ by 20/20 Soundsystem for proof that Chicago house is as relevant as ever.
“Whenever anyone talks about house music, Chicago is usually mentioned,” Knuckles notes. “House got much bigger than any of us ever thought it would, but, before I got into music, my background was in fashion and every few years you’d get the same style coming around again. If you look at the trends in dance music, you see the same thing happening. There were all these sub-genres for a while but then people wanted to go back to the music’s roots,” he adds.
“Some of the new stuff sounds like Chicago, Philly and acid trax, but it’s scary when you’ve been through it the first time and you start hearing it all over again!”
While Knuckles’ audience nowadays is global, he gained his spinning experience in the US gay community and, unlike many big DJs, he has a social conscience and is involved in the fight against AIDS, which has claimed many of his peers’ lives.
“I try to help and lend my name to these campaigns and, if it gets extra funding and raises awareness about this issue, then what’s wrong with that? I came from the first wave of clubbing and I have seen so many talented people like Sylvester get wiped out by this disease. These are people who, if they were alive today, would be huge stars,” he believes. “It’s a horrible disease and I wish I could do more work to fight it, but sometimes people just get caught up in their own lives.”
Currently working on a remix version of New Reality and an artist album for Jamie Principle, Knuckles’ contribution to dance music was finally honoured last year by his adopted hometown, Chicago. The city’s authorities decreed that August 25th was ‘Frankie Knuckles Day’ and re-named the street where the Warehouse was located ‘Frankie Knuckles Way’. So how does the godfather of house feel about the recognition?
“I thought the recognition for house music was long overdue,” he answers matter-of-factly. “I’ve always had support from the grassroots, but to stand there with senators and mayors who are naming a street after you is a big deal!
However, Knuckles remains critical of the US clubbing scene and believes that the authorities’ attempts to clamp down on clubs, as well as attitudes towards house music, mean he spends most of his time travelling to Europe and Asia to perform.
“Let’s face it, New York will never be the same again: 9/11 and Bloomberg, the city’s mayor, put paid to that. He’s not interested in music, he just wants to Disney-fy the city,” Frankie believes. “There is also a greater appreciation for what I do in Europe and people come up to me in the pub and chat to me. Don’t you find that I’m an approachable guy and easy to talk to?”

Frankie Knuckles plays Spirit, Dublin, on Sunday, February 27th.