Acieed
As in the development of the 12-inch single, Acid House was invented by serendipitous good fortune. Those other-worldly sounds emanating from the Roland TB-303 synthbass pushed past its limits became the basis for the offshoot of traditional Chicago House known as Acid or Acid House. The first Acid tracks emerged in Chicago, but it was soon discovered by British producers, DJs, artists and audiences. Acid became the soundtrack for 1988's British Summer Of Love and the primary Dance music genre heading into the 1990's.
According to the best information available, DJ Pierre of the group Phuture discovered the deep squelchy sound that emanates from an overloaded Roland TB-303 synthbass. He passed on Dance tracks utilizing the unmistakable sound to DJ Ron Hardy of the Music Box in Chicago. After some adjustment, dancers were turned on to the new sound, and soon Phuture was recording the seminal Acid Trax.
The new Acid sound slowly made its way across the Atlantic. In a remarkably synergistic turn of events, UK DJs Paul Oakenfold, Danny Rampling and Nicky Holloway traveled to the Spanish island of Ibiza in 1987 to experience the emerging scene centered on the club Amnesia. They would return home to spread the Acid House sound they heard in Ibiza and add to Ibiza's legendary status among European Dance aficionados.
The notion that Acid House is irrevocably linked to drug culture is a controversial issue in the Dance community. Along with the popularity of the music, use of the drug Ecstasy blossomed as well. Trying to determine that the music is a fellow traveler with the drug culture or the drugs happen to occur with the party culture of the music is immaterial. The link is too complex.
After returning to the UK with the heavy beats and squelchy bass of Acid heading towards domination of their DJ sets, Oakenfold, Rampling and Holloway opened the seminal Acid House clubs Spectrum, Shoom, and the Trip. The Hacienda in Manchester also became a key venue for spreading the spirit of Acid House. The movement of this Dance culture through the youth of the UK has been likened to a virus. Helped by pirate radio in addition to the exploding club scene, Acid House became so ubiquitous that the summer of 1988 is now referred to as England's 'Summer Of Love,' in deliberate reference to the 1967 psychedelic 'Summer Of Love' in the U.S.
By 1989, the music was dominant in clubs in the U.K. and was spreading back across the Atlantic to the U.S. Key tracks utilizing the Acid style included A Guy Called Gerald's Voodoo Ray, D-Mob's anthemic We Call It Acieed, and Baby Ford's Oochy Koochy and Children Of the Revolution. House had experienced one of its first major re-inventions that left it with the strength to be the primary Dance genre as clubs looked forward to the 1990's.