{
  "slug": "the-desk-chicago-in-the-room",
  "theme": null,
  "genre": "Chicago House",
  "genreUrl": "https://waxonia.com/genre/chicago-house/",
  "brief": "Six records from the Chicago rooms themselves rather than from the documentary about them. Two of them are not house at all, which is the point: what a room plays and what a genre is later said to be are different lists.",
  "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-chicago-in-the-room/",
  "updated": "2026-08-29",
  "curator": {
    "slug": "the-desk",
    "name": "The Waxonia Desk",
    "bio": "The people who write the rankings on this site. We keep the lists honest, we argue about the order, and we get asked the same question more than any other: where should someone actually start. These are our answers.",
    "link": "https://waxonia.com/",
    "url": "https://waxonia.com/artist/the-desk/"
  },
  "ordered": false,
  "pickCount": 6,
  "years": {
    "first": 1980,
    "last": 1987
  },
  "picks": [
    {
      "trackKey": "mr-fingers--can-you-feel-it",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/mr-fingers--can-you-feel-it/",
      "title": "Can You Feel It",
      "artist": "Mr. Fingers",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/mr-fingers/",
      "year": 1986,
      "label": "Trax",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "The record most often used to explain house to people who were not there. What it did in a room and what it does in a documentary are two different things, and the room came first.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "genre",
          "slug": "chicago-house",
          "name": "Chicago House",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/chicago-house/"
        },
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-eighties",
          "name": "The Eighties",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/the-eighties/"
        },
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-a-way-in",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — A Way In",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-a-way-in/"
        },
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-chicago-looped-and-filtered",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Looped and Filtered",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-chicago-looped-and-filtered/"
        },
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Mr.%20Fingers%20Can%20You%20Feel%20It",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=p2XxyBViBog",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "trackKey": "frankie-knuckles-and-jamie-principle--your-love",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/frankie-knuckles-and-jamie-principle--your-love/",
      "title": "Your Love",
      "artist": "Frankie Knuckles & Jamie Principle",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/frankie-knuckles-and-jamie-principle/",
      "year": 1987,
      "label": "Trax",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "It circulated on tape for years before anybody pressed it. A city's music is a strange object when its most famous song exists first as a cassette somebody made you a copy of.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "genre",
          "slug": "chicago-house",
          "name": "Chicago House",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/chicago-house/"
        },
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "sung-to-someone",
          "name": "Sung to Someone",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/sung-to-someone/"
        },
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Frankie%20Knuckles%20%26%20Jamie%20Principle%20Your%20Love",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=M6LAE5ejrjg",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "trackKey": "marshall-jefferson--move-your-body",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/marshall-jefferson--move-your-body/",
      "title": "Move Your Body",
      "artist": "Marshall Jefferson",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/marshall-jefferson/",
      "year": 1986,
      "label": "Trax",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "Subtitled the house music anthem, and it earned the definite article. The piano is the argument: it opened the music to people who needed a tune to hold, and began the long business of making house respectable.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "genre",
          "slug": "chicago-house",
          "name": "Chicago House",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/chicago-house/"
        },
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-chicago-looped-and-filtered",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Looped and Filtered",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-chicago-looped-and-filtered/"
        },
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Marshall%20Jefferson%20Move%20Your%20Body",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=RhKMMh4qOL8",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "trackKey": "fingers-inc--bring-down-the-walls",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/fingers-inc--bring-down-the-walls/",
      "title": "Bring Down the Walls",
      "artist": "Fingers Inc.",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/fingers-inc/",
      "year": 1986,
      "label": "Alleviated",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "Robert Owens singing gospel phrasing over a drum machine, in rooms most churches would not have admitted the congregation to. That tension is the whole record and nobody has resolved it since.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "genre",
          "slug": "chicago-house",
          "name": "Chicago House",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/chicago-house/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Fingers%20Inc.%20Bring%20Down%20the%20Walls",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/search?q=Fingers%20Inc.%20Bring%20Down%20the%20Walls",
          "exact": false
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "trackKey": "strafe--set-it-off",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/strafe--set-it-off/",
      "title": "Set It Off",
      "artist": "Strafe",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/strafe/",
      "year": 1984,
      "label": "Jus Born",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "A New York electro record that Chicago played as house. The line people draw between the two genres was not visible from inside the booth, and this is the record that proves it.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "genre",
          "slug": "electro",
          "name": "Electro",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/electro/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Strafe%20Set%20It%20Off",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=z8wokfoyHf4",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "trackKey": "loose-joints--is-it-all-over-my-face",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/loose-joints--is-it-all-over-my-face/",
      "title": "Is It All Over My Face",
      "artist": "Loose Joints",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/loose-joints/",
      "year": 1980,
      "label": "West End",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "Larry Levan's mix, and the disco record that sounds most like what came after it. Chicago inherited more from New York than the city's own mythology tends to admit.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "genre",
          "slug": "disco",
          "name": "Disco",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/disco/"
        },
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-what-the-djs-kept",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — What the DJs Kept",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-what-the-djs-kept/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Loose%20Joints%20Is%20It%20All%20Over%20My%20Face",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=hn27RiqRj7s",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}