Ron Hardy
Encyclopedia
Ron Hardy was an instrumental DJ in the development of house music
. An innovator and originator of the genre, he is highly regarded not only for his iconic performances at the Muzic Box, a Chicago
house music club, but for his pioneering edits and mixes of disco
, soul music
, funk
and early house music (sometimes known as Chicago Deep House
).
club Den One. Here, with a set-up of two turntables
, a mixer and a reel-to-reel tape-deck, he played long nights of underground black dance music. Around 1977, he went to work in Los Angeles
. At the end of 1982, when DJ Frankie Knuckles
left the Warehouse to open the Power Plant, Ron Hardy DJed at the Warehouse's new location until Robert Williams renamed it "The Muzic Box." Producer Chip E.
introduced Hardy to recording
music in 1986 when the two mixed "Donnie" by The It (featuring Chip E.
, Larry Heard
, Robert Owens
, and Harri Dennis). From humble beginnings, Hardy's contributions to House Music
are considered mammoth.
imports to new wave
, mutant disco and rock tracks. Hardy also pitched records up way more than Knuckles (pitch being the difference between normal speed and the speed at which the record is currently playing. Usually expressed as + or -, with 10 being maximum/minimum). Techno artist Derrick May remembers hearing Ron playing a Stevie Wonder
cut with the speed at +8.
. A Ron Hardy trademark was playing a track backwards. Theo Parrish and several others have confirmed that he did this by turning the needle upside down and putting the record on a cylinder so the needle played the underside of the record. The Muzic Box was also known for its insanely loud sound volume.
Stacey Collins says that he did this by using a Reel-to-reel
.
. Among the classic disco that was a staple in Chicago clubs at the time, typical tracks one could hear him play were Visage
- "Frequency 7", Klein & MBO - "Dirty Talk", ESG - "Moody", Patrick Adams - "Big Phreek", Liquid Liquid - "Optimo", First Choice
- "Let No Man Put Asunder", a lot of Philly Soul Classics and even pop hits like Eurythmics
- "Sweet Dreams" and Talk Talk
- "It's My Life". He also played Electronic Body Music
acts like Nitzer Ebb
. Such eclecticism and the technical wizardy described were highlights of a unique style that separated Hardy from others like Knuckles and Levan. The main ingredient, however, was the soulful black disco tracks.
and tapes. A roll-call of major Chicago producers including Marshall Jefferson, Larry Heard, Adonis, Phuture's DJ Pierre and Chip E.
all debuted their compositions at The Music Box. When DJ Pierre and his friends Herb and Spanky created a weird squelching rhythm track from a Roland TB 303
bassline machine, they gave this track to Ron Hardy. The first time he played it, the dancers left the floor. He played the track 3 more times that night, and by the fourth time the audience was going crazy. The track was named "Acid Tracks", and the band was called Phuture
.
Lately, there has been a renewed interest in Ron Hardy's legacy as a DJ. In 2004, two bootleg
12" records were released with "Ron's edits" and in 2005, Partehardy Records, run by his nephew Bill released authentic edits not heard in over 20 years. There is also another bootleg series of edits called "Music Box", containing either genuine Ron Hardy re-edits or tributes by other DJs imitating his editing style. DJ Theo Parrish
also made a series of tribute-remixes called "Ugly Edits" some of which bear a striking resemblance to Hardy's re-edits. These have been bootlegged too. Some of DJ Harvey's Black Cock edits records are tributes to Hardy's edits as well.
In addition to his DJ mixes, long-buried original productions have also come to light—among them, "Throwback 87", a collaboration between Ron Hardy and Gene Hunt.
Ron Hardy has a section dedicated to him on the 2nd DVD of the DJ documentary "Maestro".
House music
House music is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago, Illinois, United States in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American, Latino American, and gay communities; first in Chicago circa 1984, then in other...
. An innovator and originator of the genre, he is highly regarded not only for his iconic performances at the Muzic Box, a Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
house music club, but for his pioneering edits and mixes of disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
, soul music
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
, funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
and early house music (sometimes known as Chicago Deep House
Chicago Deep House
Chicago Deep House is a name given to a sub-genre of house music coined in the mid- to late 1980s. Whereas house music in a general sense, refers to an original type of music created in Chicago in the 1980s by the likes of Marshall Jefferson, Chip E., and Lil Louis, Chicago deep house music has...
).
Early career
Hardy started his career in 1974 in Chicago gayGay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
club Den One. Here, with a set-up of two turntables
Phonograph
The phonograph record player, or gramophone is a device introduced in 1877 that has had continued common use for reproducing sound recordings, although when first developed, the phonograph was used to both record and reproduce sounds...
, a mixer and a reel-to-reel tape-deck, he played long nights of underground black dance music. Around 1977, he went to work in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. At the end of 1982, when DJ Frankie Knuckles
Frankie Knuckles
Frankie Knuckles is an American DJ, record producer and remix artist. He played an important role in developing house music as a Chicago DJ in the 1980s and he helped to popularize house music in the 1990s, with his work as a producer and remixer...
left the Warehouse to open the Power Plant, Ron Hardy DJed at the Warehouse's new location until Robert Williams renamed it "The Muzic Box." Producer Chip E.
Chip E.
Irwin Larry Eberhart II known as Chip E., is an American DJ and record producer.-Life and career:Born in Chicago, Illinois, Chip E. attended St. Ignatius College Prep, Kenwood Academy, Columbia College and DePaul University. He started spinning records in 1982 and by 1984 he was producing records....
introduced Hardy to recording
Recording
Recording is the process of capturing data or translating information to a recording format stored on some storage medium, which is often referred to as a record or, if an auditory medium, a recording....
music in 1986 when the two mixed "Donnie" by The It (featuring Chip E.
Chip E.
Irwin Larry Eberhart II known as Chip E., is an American DJ and record producer.-Life and career:Born in Chicago, Illinois, Chip E. attended St. Ignatius College Prep, Kenwood Academy, Columbia College and DePaul University. He started spinning records in 1982 and by 1984 he was producing records....
, Larry Heard
Larry Heard
Larry Heard is a Memphis, Tennessee-based musician widely known for the Chicago-based house music he produced during the mid-1980s and continues to produce today. He was leader of the influential group Fingers Inc. and has recorded solo under various names, most notably Mr...
, Robert Owens
Robert Owens (musician)
Robert Owens is an American contemporary R&B and house-music vocalist best known for his work with the Chicago house group Fingers Inc. in the mid-1980s...
, and Harri Dennis). From humble beginnings, Hardy's contributions to House Music
House music
House music is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago, Illinois, United States in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American, Latino American, and gay communities; first in Chicago circa 1984, then in other...
are considered mammoth.
Musical and Mixing Styles
While Frankie Knuckles at the Warehouse (and later the Power Plant) had a very smooth style of playing, Hardy was very different. He had less regard for sound quality and would play with a manic energy, mixing everything from classic Philadelphia Disco classics, italo discoItalo disco
Italo disco encompasses much of the dance music output in Europe during the 1980s. It is one of the world's first forms of mostly electronic dance music and evolved during the late 1970s and early 1980s in Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and other parts of Europe...
imports to new wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
, mutant disco and rock tracks. Hardy also pitched records up way more than Knuckles (pitch being the difference between normal speed and the speed at which the record is currently playing. Usually expressed as + or -, with 10 being maximum/minimum). Techno artist Derrick May remembers hearing Ron playing a Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
cut with the speed at +8.
Trademarks
Hardy played a lot of reel-to-reel edits and was always tweaking the soundsystem and playing with the EQEqualization
Equalization, is the process of adjusting the balance between frequency components within an electronic signal. The most well known use of equalization is in sound recording and reproduction but there are many other applications in electronics and telecommunications. The circuit or equipment used...
. A Ron Hardy trademark was playing a track backwards. Theo Parrish and several others have confirmed that he did this by turning the needle upside down and putting the record on a cylinder so the needle played the underside of the record. The Muzic Box was also known for its insanely loud sound volume.
Stacey Collins says that he did this by using a Reel-to-reel
Reel-to-reel audio tape recording
Reel-to-reel, open reel tape recording is the form of magnetic tape audio recording in which the recording medium is held on a reel, rather than being securely contained within a cassette....
.
Favorite Song Selections
Ron always opened his set with "Welcome To The Pleasure Dome" by Frankie Goes to HollywoodFrankie Goes to Hollywood
Frankie Goes to Hollywood were a British dance-pop band popular in the mid-1980s. The group was fronted by Holly Johnson , with Paul Rutherford , Peter Gill , Mark O'Toole , and Brian Nash .The group's debut single "Relax" was banned by the BBC in 1984 while at number six in the charts and...
. Among the classic disco that was a staple in Chicago clubs at the time, typical tracks one could hear him play were Visage
Visage
Visage are a British New Wave rock band. Formed in 1978, the band became closely linked to the burgeoning New Romantic fashion movement of the early 1980s, and are best known for their 1980 hit "Fade to Grey".-New Wave years :...
- "Frequency 7", Klein & MBO - "Dirty Talk", ESG - "Moody", Patrick Adams - "Big Phreek", Liquid Liquid - "Optimo", First Choice
First Choice (band)
First Choice was an American girl group vocal music trio from Philadelphia. The group produced the disco hits "Armed and Extremely Dangerous", "Smarty Pants", "The Player", "Love Thang", "Let No Man Put Asunder" and "Dr. Love". They were signed to soul label Philly Groove Records and to disco label...
- "Let No Man Put Asunder", a lot of Philly Soul Classics and even pop hits like Eurythmics
Eurythmics
Eurythmics were a British pop rock duo, formed in 1980, currently disbanded, but known to reunite from time to time. Consisting of members Annie Lennox and David A...
- "Sweet Dreams" and Talk Talk
Talk Talk
Talk Talk were an English musical group, active from 1981 to 1991. The group had a string of international hit singles including "Today", "Talk Talk", "It's My Life", "Such a Shame", "Dum Dum Girl", "Life's What You Make It" and "Living in Another World"....
- "It's My Life". He also played Electronic Body Music
Electronic body music
Electronic body music or industrial dance is a music genre that combines elements of industrial music and electronic dance music...
acts like Nitzer Ebb
Nitzer Ebb
Nitzer Ebb is a British EBM group formed in 1982 by Essex school friends Vaughan "Bon" Harris , Douglas McCarthy , and David Gooday .-Band name:...
. Such eclecticism and the technical wizardy described were highlights of a unique style that separated Hardy from others like Knuckles and Levan. The main ingredient, however, was the soulful black disco tracks.
Beginnings of Chicago House
Midway through the 80's, many Chicago DJs and clubgoers started experimenting with creating their own rhythm tracks. DJs would play these homemade tracks, and (in short) this is how house music was born. Hardy was no exception, often getting the hottest acetatesAcetate disc
An acetate disc, also known as a test acetate, dubplate , lacquer , transcription disc or instantaneous disc...
and tapes. A roll-call of major Chicago producers including Marshall Jefferson, Larry Heard, Adonis, Phuture's DJ Pierre and Chip E.
Chip E.
Irwin Larry Eberhart II known as Chip E., is an American DJ and record producer.-Life and career:Born in Chicago, Illinois, Chip E. attended St. Ignatius College Prep, Kenwood Academy, Columbia College and DePaul University. He started spinning records in 1982 and by 1984 he was producing records....
all debuted their compositions at The Music Box. When DJ Pierre and his friends Herb and Spanky created a weird squelching rhythm track from a Roland TB 303
Roland Corporation
is a Japanese manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, electronic equipment and software. It was founded by Ikutaro Kakehashi in Osaka on April 18, 1972, with ¥33 million in capital. In 2005 Roland's headquarters relocated to Hamamatsu in Shizuoka Prefecture. Today it has factories in Japan,...
bassline machine, they gave this track to Ron Hardy. The first time he played it, the dancers left the floor. He played the track 3 more times that night, and by the fourth time the audience was going crazy. The track was named "Acid Tracks", and the band was called Phuture
Phuture
Phuture is a Chicago-based acid house group founded in 1985 by Spanky, DJ Pierre and Herb J.The group's 12-minute track "Acid Tracks" is one of several recordings that lay claim to being the first-ever acid house record....
.
Later In Life
In early 1987, Chicago passed an ordinance forcing after-hours clubs to close at the same time as bars, and The Muzic Box was one of many casualties. Hardy continued to DJ at various events around Chicago until he passed away in early 1992.Lately, there has been a renewed interest in Ron Hardy's legacy as a DJ. In 2004, two bootleg
Bootleg recording
A bootleg recording is an audio or video recording of a performance that was not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority. The process of making and distributing such recordings is known as bootlegging...
12" records were released with "Ron's edits" and in 2005, Partehardy Records, run by his nephew Bill released authentic edits not heard in over 20 years. There is also another bootleg series of edits called "Music Box", containing either genuine Ron Hardy re-edits or tributes by other DJs imitating his editing style. DJ Theo Parrish
Theo Parrish
Theo Parrish is a techno/house musician based in Detroit, Michigan. He was born in Washington, DC. He grew up in Chicago, Illinois listening to jazz musicians like Miles Davis, Nina Simone, and George Gershwin. He graduated from the Chicago Academy of the Arts and went to study at the Kansas City...
also made a series of tribute-remixes called "Ugly Edits" some of which bear a striking resemblance to Hardy's re-edits. These have been bootlegged too. Some of DJ Harvey's Black Cock edits records are tributes to Hardy's edits as well.
In addition to his DJ mixes, long-buried original productions have also come to light—among them, "Throwback 87", a collaboration between Ron Hardy and Gene Hunt.
Ron Hardy has a section dedicated to him on the 2nd DVD of the DJ documentary "Maestro".
External links
- Ron Hardy discography at DiscogsDiscogsDiscogs, short for discographies, is a website and database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. The Discogs servers, currently hosted under the domain name discogs.com, are owned by Zink Media, Inc., and are...
. - Back to the Music Box Photos of Ron Hardy and the Music Box from 5 Magazine.
- Suenomartino.net Brief biography and playlists.
- DJ History Article from Faith magazine.
- Ron Hardy Mixes at Gridface.
- Interview with Ron's Nephew at Gridface.
- Interview with Music Box employee VERB at Gridface.