From its humble origins, beginning in the very early 80's with NYC Garage (a term to denote the music programmed at NY's fabled Paradise Garage, the per-cursor to the modern mega dance club), this music would eventually dominate the global dance market. However, this style of music or more specifically, the music being played during that time was actually not genre specific.


The term House and Garage were not yet synonymous with electronic music being produced in the mid to late 80's. House music as it were, was the music played at the Warehouse, a black gay underground club, in Chicago in the mid to late70's. The word House was taken from the Warehouse and used as a colloquialism to describe the music being selected and played by the resident DJ the legendary Frankie Knuckles during that time period, who 's nightly play-lists would include everything from rock to punk to jazz and gospel, old soul and funk, african and brazilian flavors. There was no House Music yet, There were no 808 or 909 drum machines.


In NYC, Underground dance music or club music as it was referenced there, has a similar story, where legendary DJ's like Larry Levan at the Paradise Garage and Tee Scott at Zanzibar and Better Days, would play a variety of music styles with a common thread, they were danceable and funky. Mesopotamia by the B52's, The Magnificent Dance by The Clash, Moody by ESG, Love is A Battlefield by Pat Benatar, Fela Kuti, Manuel Gottsching and John Coltrane are just some examples of the eclectic play-lists.


Utopia's Paradise is currently entering its third decade year of programming. Its origins however, are much deeper and possess a long and storied history going back to 1979 to the era where the foundation was officially laid, as Tony Desypris started a 25 year sojourn that would take him to NYC on a bi-weekly basis and to the Paradise Garage where he would witness the quiet revolution bubbling underneath, the incubator, where years later Garage and House music would eventually dominate the world.


Deep house, garage classics and underground disco. Up until dawn - keepin it thumping since 1992. The legend Tony D and his crew bringin it to you for four str8 hours of classic and remodeled vibes.

Every Sunday 2 - 6am (EST)

August 25, 2024

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