"The Whistle Song," Frankie Knuckles (1991)

Frankie Knuckles and Larry Levan, maybe most important DJs to expanding 1970s disco era experience into '80s House music and dance club music beyond. I read somewhere they used to hang out together in the classic disco era at David Mancuso's Loft parties, enthralled but also able to share a joke about the hippie vibe on the Loft's dance floor. In light of such gossip let's call "The Whistle" Frankie's LGBTQ+ hippie loving ode to the Loft. It's like a perfect Quiet Storm easy listening jazz flute fantasia, sandwiched between some hooligan-friendly men's whistling choir, and on the bottom an undeniably skipping and softly booming House music smooth dance club tempo. "The Whistle Song" feels like a perfect gay disco homage to the Loft. Even if Frankie had no such intentions, Mancuso had to hear the sincere compliment. First ballot 20th Century Dance Music Hall of Fame. 

"Triangle of Love," Kreem (1986)

Early edition Belleville Three: Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson, and Derrick May. Detroit techno produced Chicago House. Ja'nine Barker vocal is ghostly, gothic, even pitiful, overwhelmed by the galloping electro pump and a swirling, strobing chatter of hypnotizing beat accents. Echoes of New Order's "Blue Monday" morph into Kraftwerk Afrofuturism. TGIDF. 

"Blue Monday" (1983)

And--who knew?-- doing this to Blue Monday is a viral thing on TikTok right now or maybe yesterday, semi-recently anyway: 

"Big Fun," Inner City (1988)

Two inner city club cultures getting together, Chicago and Detroit, incubating new electronic dance music. Inner City was vocalist Paris Grey, from Chicago, where Frankie Knuckles was creating a Queer friendly dance music scene so popular regulars called it House music or just House. And "Big Fun" composer Kevin Saunderson, as part of the Belleville Three (w Juan Atkins and Derrick May), created a Detroit Techno sound combining icy Kraftwerk inspired Black Futurist tempos w heated soul vamping. Early peak.