10 Tracks That Defined 80s House Music

Chicago native and 80s era house music legend Farley “Jackmaster” Funk is the producer of some of the most influential electronic music released in the mid to late 1980s. Born Farley Keith Williams in 1962, the man has put out music under a variety of different aliases including “Rue Boy Farley Keith,” “The Housemaster Boyz,” and “The Godfather of House” to name a few.

Farley started DJing in his teen years and was an original member of the “Hot Mix 5,” a group of DJs at a radio station based in Oak Park, Illinois. Being part of this group jump started his music career. In 1985, Farley, in collaboration with 

 launched a record label called “House Records” which debuted Farley’s first single “Aw Shucks (Let's Go Let's Go)” later that same year.

Farley’s cover of Isaac Hayes’ “Love Can’t Turn Around” was the first house single to reach the charts, making it to the top 10 in the UK Singles Chart in 1986. Resident Advisor has him listed as “The True King of House Music” which is a huge claim to make but well-deserved because the previously mentioned track was the first to popularize house music internationally. The last album released by Farley, “Greatest,” came out in 2014 featuring a pretty similar tracklist to his debut album self-titled “Farley ‘Jackmaster’ Funk” with a couple remixes added in. Farley is and always will be highly regarded as one of the pioneers of house music and his music will remain reminiscent of a time when house music was just being born.

Farley Jackmaster Funk

Alicia Baron