Dance Music Hall Of Fame

08/10/2021

29/04/2021

17/03/2021

The U.S. Dance Music Hall Of Fame was established to create a point of reference for how we got from disco to club music, to house music, trance, and all forms of electronic dance music or... EDM.

The USDMHOF is a comprehensive look at the bodies of work from those who’ve contributed to the acceptance of dance music as a legitimate music style as opposed to the ‘bastard child of music’ it had often been labeled.

To understand the struggles of dance music, one has to go back to disco and understand that ‘dance music’ here in the States had never been taken seriously by the Program Directors, Music Directors, and radio stations. Through the years, dance music [and those who created, promoted, worked within the field and DJ’D] were never given the respect they so rightly deserved.

From the days before Studio 54 to disco’s peak at clubs like The Saint, Cinderella Rockefella, Faces, and others – careers for the U.S. Dance Music Hall of Fame were formed.

In these hallowed virtual halls are names like Larry Levan, Tom Moulton, Frankie Knuckles, John Luongo, Francois K, Steve Silk Hurley, Joseph Carvello, and others who are the equivalents [from the past] to today’s Tiesto, Armin Van Buuren, Hardwell, Skrillex, Pasquale Rotella, and others. Their contributions to the advancement of dance music, electronic dance music, and EDM through the years has helped us to get where we are today.

Today’s palaces of Dance and EDM are multi-million dollar complexes like The Palladium, The Marquee in NYC, Hakassan and Club XS in Las Vegas, and countless others, Ibiza and the soon-to-be-built party island in Dubai.

The festival scene that used to be simply be called “raves” in the UK, Germany, and across Europe in the ’90s are now today’s biggest grossing events. Names like Electric Daisy Carnival, Nature One, and others help make Dance Music and EDM a multi-billion dollar industry it is today.

The roots for where we’ve grown were planted back in the days of disco to the sounds of post-disco; The B-Boy sound, Arthur Baker’s street sound of NYC, HI-NRG, The R&B dance from D Train, Lakeside, Gap Band to early synth-pop of Depeche Mode, Yaz, Bostich and then Freestyle from TKA, Expose’ and others. In the midst of all that we had the initial stages of techno from Detroit to Rotterdam and places in between.

The ’90s saw a bit of a resurgence with club hits, euro-dance of the late 90’s and the early stages of Trance which was simply called ‘Dream House’ (before it was renamed) and of course ‘Electronica’ via Chemical Brothers, Crystal Method and others.

The resurgence of dance music has an irony to it all. The irony begins in our home city of Chicago where ‘dance music’ (in the form of disco) was both laid to rest and reborn again in 1984 with Jesse Saunders, Frankie Knuckles, Marshall Jefferson, Farley Jackmaster Funk, The Hot Mix 5, Ron Hardy and other ‘Founders’, ‘Godfathers’ and ‘Originators’ of House Music where many of the roots for today’s EDM were planted.

Of course, there’s DnB, Dubstep, Trap, Goa-Psy, and other forms of EDM. Today’s underground is massive and vibrant as well.

This organization will honor all those who’ve had their hand in making dance music, club music, electronic dance music, and EDM what it is today here in the U.S.A.

Dance music was ‘underground’ after disco. While it [from time to time] popped its head up [every now and then], mass media always helped to kill it. We see some of that today in certain trash rag publications taking shots at the scene by ‘marginalizing’ the accomplishments of dance and EDM artists today.

Hip-Hop had to endure the mass media wrath and overcame it – ruling American airwaves for 20 years alongside rock and pop. Today? dance music, electronic dance music, EDM, they’re the new pop music and reigning music style much of America’s youth finally have a chance to be exposed to unlike generations before.

Today’s dance music styles are the "pop", they’re dance, the underground, and every level between. EDM itself consumes it all and brings it in, it's inclusive of all music as opposed to ‘excluding’.

While we’ve had many false starts in the ’80s, 90’s and early 2000’s with dance music, today it’s firmly entrenched in the culture and in the lifestyles of millions here in the U.S.A. and grows every day.

With the birth of the internet, electronics, and entry levels [into music production] removed (to be a DJ or a producer/artist), Dance and EDM are part of that group now.

What’s most incredible about Dance and EDM is that millions of people used to have to go online [for the most part] to hear it in the U.S. Today, dance music is now part of the ‘scene’, part of the ‘mainstream’ and heard on the traditional media outlets that never acknowledged its existence. We hear it in commercials, movies, TV shows, and more.

More proof of how the DJ and club music has evolved, even the underground gets exposure on mix shows on the weekends on major market commercial radio stations.

The U.S. Dance Music Hall Of Fame honors and respects those household names of today to those from back in the day. Their contributions to this industry helped get us from disco to today in the U.S.A.

The initial honorary induction of the first 100 most important people in the movement occurred on Dec. 5, 2013.

The inductees are names you’ll know and names you’ll get to know. It’s the past, present and future of Dance and EDM in the U.S.A.

The initial list is not the end, there will be another induction of the most influential names from the past and in the here and now.

There will not be a #1 or a numbered approach to the U.S. Dance Music Hall Of Fame. It will be an alpha order because they’ve all had their hand in getting the scene to where it is today. No one more important than the other but collectively, a major force that has helped get us from to disco to today in dance music and EDM.

What a long, strange trip it's been

Here were the honorary inductees into the U.S. Dance Music Hall of Fame on Dec. 5, 2013

Above & Beyond
Afrika Bambaataa
Afrojack
Armand Van Helden
Armin Van Buuren
Arthur Baker
ATB
Avicii
Bad Boy Bill
Bassnectar
Ben Liebrand
Benny Benassi
Bernard Edwards
Bobby D
Bobby Orlando
Bruce Forrest
C + C Music Factory
Calvin Harris
Chip E
Chris Cox
Crystal Waters
Curtis McClain
Daft Punk
Dan Hartman
Danny Tenaglia
David Guetta
David Mancuso
David Morales
Deadmau5
Derrick May
DJ International Records (Rocky Jones)
Donna Summer
Erick Morillo
Farley Jackmaster Funk
Fast Eddie
Fatboy Slim
Ferry Corsten
First Choice
Francois Kervorkian
Frankie Knuckles
Gene Hunt
Giorgio Moroder
Gloria Gaynor
Hardwell
Henri Belolo
Ian Anthony Stephens
Jacques Morali
Jamie Principle
Jesse Saunders
John Jellybean Benitez
John Luongo
John Robinson
Johnny "D" DeMairo
Joseph Carvello
Juan Atkins
Judy Weinstein
Junior Vasquez
Jurgen Korduletch
Kaskade
KC & The Sunshine Band
Kevin Saunderson
Kool Rock Steady
Lady Gaga
Larry Levan
Larry Sherman
Lewis Martinee
Loleatta Holloway
Lou DeVito
Louie Vega
Madonna
Markus Schulz
Marshall Jefferson
Masters At Work
Michael Jackson
Morgan Page
Nile Rodgers
Patrick Cowley
Paul Oakenfold
Peter Lewicky
Praga Khan
Prodigy
Ray Caviano
Ron Hardy
Shep Pettibone
Skrillex
Steve Silk Hurley
Stock, Aitken & Waterman
Swedish House Mafia
The Berman Brothers
The Hot Mix 5 (Kenny Jammin' Jason, Mickey Mixin' Oliver, Farley Jackmaster Funk, Ralphi Rosario, Scott Smokin' Silz)
Tiesto
Timmy Regisford
TKA
Todd Terry
Tom Moulton
Tony Humphries
Tyree Cooper
Vince Lawrence
Vince Pellegrino
WBMX