Jesse Saunders

Jesse Saunders is a highly respected figure in house music, both for his contributions to house music and his likeability. He founded The Playground club in Chicago in 1982, and he was a resident DJ at The Playground until it became The Candy Store 1984. He is credited with releasing the first house music record, and he also co-founded Trax Records with Larry Sherman.

Debate About The "First" House Record

Jesse Saunders is known as "The Originator" for releasing the track "On & On" in 1984, with five "On And On Tracs" on the B Side of the record. This is considered to be the first house record to be released on vinyl. Saunders produced the legendary track "On & On" as a replacement for a similar record that had been stolen from him.

On And On By Jesse Saunders

On And On By Mach

"On & On" was released in 1984, giving Jesse Saunders a strong claim to being the first person to release a house record. I'll cover grounds for dispute one by one, but my view is that Jesse Saunders made the first house record, and this fact is not controversial. These are the potential disputes over whether On & On is the first house record.

Is On And On House Music?

While "On & On" is often called the first record, some argue it sounds more like Italo-Disco or Hi-NRG because it was a recreation of a disco medley B Side. The most obvious objection to the track "On And On" being the first house record is that it sounds like Italo disco, and therefore it's not house. Maybe it's Italo disco and not house.

However, the track "On & On" was released on an EP with five tracks on the other side, and all of the tracks on the EP are relevant to the EP being the first house record. The tracks on the other side of the record are in the drum track style of The Playground. 5A and 1A are the most notable of the B sides.

1A By Jesse Saunders

The five tracks on the B side of On & On are a cleaner break from Italo disco, and create a lineage that can be traced through other house music, with a demonstrable influence on acid house, and ghetto house after that. Farley "Jackmaster" Funk deejayed with Jesse Saunders at The Playground, and in 1985 he released Funkin With The Bass (as Farley Funkin Keith). After that he released Funkin With The Bass Again as Farley "Jackmaster" Funk. Both of these EPs feature Playground-style drum tracks that are similar to the B Side of On & On. Early releases by Chip E also feature some Playground-like tracks. Similar styles of minimalist became house was commonplace by the time of acid house.

Jackin The Bass By Farley Funkin Keith

It's Dub By Chip E

The Rhythm By Steve Poindexter

Acid Crash By Tyree

The lineage from Playground drum tracks, via acid house, to ghetto house strongly suggests that "On And On Tracs" (the B Side tracks from On & On) are all house music. To deny this would mean asserting that minimalist house music of the 1980s is not house music.

Was On And On The First Though?

The next point to question is whether any house tracks were released before On & On. If On & On was not the first, then what was? The reason it is widely accepted that Jesse Saunders produced the first house record is because he dominated the market in 1984, before other pioneers emerged in 1985. One of the strengths of Jesse Saunders claim is that most of the other candidates to be the first house record are also by Jesse Saunders. Therefore if you fall back from the claim that "On & On" was the first house record, then the first house track is probably still a Jesse Saunders track.

The market dominance of Jesse Saunders in 1984 established the blueprint for the house genre with several key releases: "On & On", "Fantasy" (as Z-Factor), "Funk You Up", and "Dum Dum" (under the alias Fresh). "Dum Dum" could also be viewed as the first "true" house record because it abandoned disco structure, and it clearly sounds like house.

Dum Dum (Reprise) By Fresh

It has never been claimed by Jesse Saunders that On & On was the first house music track ever made, because there's no real way of knowing who was first to make a house track. Jamie Principle made demo tapes around the same time as Jesse Saunders and gave these tapes to DJs. What Jesse Saunders did is prove that there was a market for house music records, not just a market for home made tapes to give to DJs. By establishing market fit for house music records, Jesse Saunders created a path that other producers and labels could follow.

If artists from Chicago weren't releasing their earliest house tracks, there are certainly Italo disco and New York post-disco or garage tracks that sound like house. The main reason these are excluded is because they aren't part of the house scene, however house did create a break from these tracks. If Jesse Saunders had sounded like polished New York post-disco, then nobody would think of house as a separate genre. The raw DIY nature of the early years of house was what separated it as a genre from post-disco, garage and Italo disco. Unlike Frankie Knuckles, Jessie Saunders was more comfortable moving away from disco toward a more "industrial" and electronic sound.

Therefore by releasing house records, Jesse Saunders achieved several things. He created a path for other producers. He codified a distinctive style that formed the basis of Chicago house's identity, thereby turning the house scene into the house music genre. He also established stylistic norms and formats that enabled other producers to develop influential sub-genres, such as acid house. This was a template for the sound of early house music, featuring the 808, repetitive synths and stripped-back arrangements.

Did Jesse Saunders Invent House Music?

Jesse Saunders did not invent house music. He has always stated that he did not invent house music, he originated it. This is why he is known as The Originator.

There is argument that house music existed as a DJing style (associated with Frankie Knuckles) before it was ever recorded. This is true. Northern Soul was a DJ scene that never became a producer scene, and house would have remained a DJ scene if nobody had released any house records. Jesse Saunders does not claim to have invented house music, but rather to have originated it by turning a latent DJ culture into a physical product (vinyl). This allowed house music to travel globally (especially to the UK) without people needing to be in Chicago.

A Giant Business Brain

Jesse Saunders always seems like a Mr Rogers of the house music world. You'd expect such a nice guy to be eaten alive by the music business. However, Jesse Saunders combined likeability with his business brain to achieve things that were essential for the house scene to break through and conquer the world. He possessed a unique ability to combine community, personal warmth, artistic innovation with business sense.

The Community Side

Jesse Saunders built inclusive spaces (like The Playground) for youth, acted as a musical educator rather than a rockstar, and maintained a positive demeanor even when facing difficult pressures in life and significant moral injuries.

Unlike many of his peers, Jesse Saunders focused on facts, rather than just vibes. He used vertical integration by controlling his label (Jes Say), his distribution, his marketing, and his branding. His release of On And On was a masterful first-to-market marketing strategy. Because he treated house music as a scalable business model rather than just an art form, he achieved long-term sustainability and successfully pivoted to the major label world in Los Angeles.

The Teen Scene To The Playground

It doesn't make sense that Jesse Saunders could create a club like The Playground, create Jes Say records, be ahead of the house scene producer scene by a year, and then help create Trax records if this was all from the genius of one person. A story like that makes less sense than the origin myth of house music from The Warehouse. How did Jesse Saunders get his big business brain, to be able to put this all into practice? He got it from the Chicago teen scene.

The Chicago Teen Scene

Before The Playground there was the teen scene, which created the audience for the Playground. This began in Chicago's South Side school gyms, and was connected to Chicago's superstar DJ culture from radio stations. The South Side teen events were very competitive and had big crowds of over 2000 people per event. This encouraged Jesse Saunders to be more competitive, and this in turn pushed house music culture forwards. The success of large venues like The Playground was only possible because a massive audience had already been cultivated in high school gyms (Mendel, Mount Carmel, Corliss, Quigley South).

Chicago had a long history of DJ culture. The teen scene existed before The Warehouse or The Playground. Herb Kent is cited as an early big name DJ on the teen scene. Kent was a radio legend who helped shape the DNA of Chicago's dance floors through "Steppin" culture and soul records before Knuckles arrived at the Warehouse.

Jesse Saunders didn't play house music at first. He was influenced by Herb Kent's sound, which featured New Wave, Synth-pop and Kraftwerk. At The Playground, Jesse Saunders combined his records with 808 drum tracks created on the fly to evolve the cold, mechanical, bass-driven sound of early house music.

The Social Infrastructure Of The Scene

Groups like the Best Friends, Us Boys and Penthouse Boys were non-gang youth social clubs focused on fashion, dance competition ("jacking"), and party promotion. These clubs had street-level promoters, using t-shirts and flyers to build the audience that would eventually fill larger venues. The clubs created a strict social hierarchy based on "cool", dancing ability, and style.

The teen scene has largely been erased from official house music history in favour of "cooler" journalistic origin myths. Sadly, house music history has been a process of revisionism, and the erasure of the Chicago teen scene is one of the first examples of this process in action. Unfortunately, house music history is a case study of how commercial systems of propaganda operate in the world today.

The WBMX Hot Mix 5 played a crucial role by broadcasting Saunders' vinyl records across the city, completing the transition of house music into a recognized genre. The sound of The Playground became the sound of early Jesse Saunders and Farley Jackmaster Funk. The Roland TR-808 went from a backing tool to the lead instrument, creating a synthetic sound distinct from disco.

Business Conflicts And Trax Records

Although he co-founded Trax Records, he seems to have left due to intolerance of the business practices of Trax, which demonstrates the moral compass that everyone respects. Saunders co-founded Trax Records but eventually left due to the poor business practices of Larry Sherman, which included unpaid royalties and poor record quality.

Critiques Of The Music Industry And Peers

Jesse Saunders is known for being candid, having questioned the technical mixing skills of Frankie Knuckles when compared to Ron Hardy. He has criticized modern DJ culture, and argued that singers and artists deserve higher for making the music, than the DJs who play other people's music.

Jesse Saunders Vs. Frankie Knuckles

Comparing Jesse Saunders to Frankie Knuckles isn't comparing like with like, but can be excused because they both played a major role in establishing house music as a genre. House music wasn't really created by one person. Chicago created a DJ scene. Frankie Knuckles added New York disco to the scene, and then Jesse Saunders created a template for producers to release house records.

DJs like Frankie Knuckles and Ron Hardy were the stylistic influencers of the house scene before the producer scene existed. In some ways, Frankie Knuckles was a traditionalist compared to Jesse Saunders, rooted in Philadelphia soul and New York disco. He viewed house as a soulful continuation of those genres. Frankie Knuckles has at times been dismissive of the sound of The Playground that Jesse Saunders and Farley "Jackmaster" Funk created, but this is really an admission of the major influence of the sound of The Playground. This was the sound that turned house from a scene into a genre.

Current Status

Saunders has been proactive in defending his legacy, including writing a book to document his role.

Following a major stroke in 2022, the house music community has shown their affection and support for him through a GoFundMe campaign for his medical care. Recovery from his stroke has been a long journey, but he recently posted on social media with news that he is still getting better.