History of...House music
House is a form of dance music that evolved during the early 1980s from disco and the black American soul-music tradition. It takes its name from the Warehouse, a Chicago club where DJs such as Frankie Bones first played their (often self-produced) records to a mass audience. ("Garage" house, a more laid-back, "deep" variation of house, evolved around the same time and takes its name from Larry Levan's Paradise Garage in New York City.) The original "House" sound is characterized by "four on the floor" beats at 120-130 BPM, forward-driven bass lines, an emphasis on the second and fourth beats of each measure, handclaps, and hi-hat cymbals. Over the years, house has spawned a number of variations, including:

acid house (with its "trippy" melodic lines, usually generated on a Roland 303 synthesizer)

deep house (with a greater emphasis on "soul" and atmospheric background sounds)

speed garage (featuring choppy basslines, reggae-style vocals and often "broken" beats)

progressive house (usually faster than traditional house, with many volume and phase variations and a "progression" of different background sounds)

disco house (even greater emphasis on the bassline, and the return of many disco-ish accoutrements such as violin sections)

tech house ("electric" / techno sounds featured over a house-derived beat, with melodic progression often less emphasized)

Latin house (incorporating elements of traditional Latin American music)

tribal house (greater emphasis on drumlines; melodies may be present, but with less traditional "progression")