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ROYAL HOUSE
CAN YOU PARTY
(No.14, 1988)
Todd Terry would later work his magic
remixing Everything But The Girl and the
unfashionable Corrs but there was little middle
of the road about his first taste of UK chart
success. Recorded under the guise of Royal
House, Can You Party is a full-on club banger,
complete with hype man chants (courtesy of
The Jackson 5), wailing sirens and euphoric
diva vocals. And its inspired sample of fellow
house maestro Marshall Jefferson’s Move Your
Body gave a certain Belgian act further up our
list a few ideas, too.
16
HITHOUSE
JACK TO THE SOUND OF
THE UNDERGROUND
(No.14, 1988)
Long before the rise of superstar DJs
Tiësto and Armin van Buuren and the
techno, techno, techno, techno of 2 Unlimited,
the Netherlands’ dance scene was first put on
the map by Hithouse, aka the late Peter
Slaghuis. The Dutchman’s sole UK hit is
notable for the Kelly Charles sample that
would later be utilised by The Prodigy and
Oxide & Neutrino and gained a new lease of
life in the early 90s as the theme to TV sketch
show The Mary Whitehouse Experience.15
THE BEATMASTERS FEATURING
THE COOKIE CREW
ROK DA HOUSE
(No.5, 1988)
Hailed as the cooler alternative to
SAW’s Hit Factory, production trio
Beatmasters helped to revive the chart
fortunes of PP Arnold, launch the career of
Betty Boo and extend Yazz’s brief stint as
Britain’s biggest female pop star. But their
most significant contribution to the late 80s
chart landscape appeared courtesy of Rok Da
House, a pioneering blend of hip-hop and
house featuring the sassy and street tough
flow of South London duo Cookie Crew.THE SECOND SUMMER OF LOVE, THE ACID HOUSE REVOLUTION, THE BIRTH
OF RAVE CULTURE. CALL IT WHAT YOU WILL, THE LATE 80s WITNESSED THE
FLOORFILLING SOUND OF CHICAGO AS IT JACKED ITS WAY TO THE UPPER REACHES
OF THE UK CHARTS, IMPRESSIVELY WITH BARELY ANY MAINSTREAM SUPPORT.
JON O’BRIENH
ouse music may have been initially dismissed
as a cult concern by the nation’s one-time
ultimate tastemaker Radio 1, but within a few
short years the subgenre had spawned
multiple No.1 hits, influencing everyone from
Stock Aitken & Waterman to The Style Council
and essentially kickstarted a cultural movement that still
resonates three decades on. Narrowing down the
biggest bangers to emerge from the early era ofglowsticks, tie-dyed T-shirts and massive yellow smiley
faces was therefore quite the challenge. Limiting our
selection to only UK Top 20 hits (hence the lack of
godfathers Frankie Knuckles, Jungle Brothers, Mr Fingers
etc), we’ve included only one track per artist (so no
Superfly Guy or People Hold On) and avoided anything
which strayed too far into pure pop (see Mel & Kim’s
Respectable, Yazz’s The Only Way Is Up), here’s our
countdown. Can anyone say Acieed?T Op 20
8
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HOUSehiT s