Ron Hardy

"The difference between Frankie and Ronnie was that people weren't making records when Frankie was playing, though all the guys who would become the next DJs were there checking him out. It was The Music Box that really inspired people." 

1986: While Frankie Knuckles had laid the groundwork for house at the Warehouse, it was to be another DJ from the gay scene that was really to create the environment for the house explosion - Ron Hardy. Where Knuckles' sound was still very much based in disco, Hardy was the DJ that went for the rawest, wildest rhythm tracks he could find and he made The Music Box the inspirational temple for pretty much every DJ and producer that was to come out of the Chicago scene. He was also the DJ to whom the producers took their very latest tracks so they could test the reaction on the dance floor.

"People would bring their tracks on tape and the DJ would play spin them in. It was part of the ritual, you'd take the tape and see the crowd reaction. I never got the chance to take my own stuff because Robert Owens would always get there first."

"The Music Box was underground " remembers Adonis. "You could go there in the middle of the winter and it'd be as hot as hell, people would be walking around with their shirts off. Ron Hardy had so much power people would be praising his name while he was playing, and I've got the tapes to prove it!

House pioneer Ron Hardy began DJing at the Chicago club Den One in 1974, playing records and splicing reel-to-reel tape together. He and fellow revolutionary Frankie Knuckles later began DJing at the Warehouse, mixing in disco tracks to effect a continuous music mix, later called the birth of house. Just as the movement gained momentum, Hardy moved to Los Angeles, only returning after Knuckles had become the name associated with house. His residency at a new club, Muzic Box, was marred by a drug habit; five years after leaving the club [1986/1987?], Hardy died in 1991.

Adonis on Ron Hardy: "When Ron played, he played to take you some place. he didn't play just because he had a record that everybody liked, and he didn't play just to make some money. For him it was a way of life, it was an art form, ..."

"Ron Hardy, who was to become the backbone of the Chicago club scene by consistently breaking the new records, began playing at The Muzic Box around the same time [1983/84] as Frankie Knuckles left The Warehouse, and other DJs like Farley and the Hot Mix 5 who threw down the mix shows on the radio station WBMX were making names for themselves." (Before 1985)

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