The History of House Music 002: What Came After “On & On”?

In our previous exploration of house music’s origins, we traced the story of Jesse Saunders’ “On & On” - the track most historians accept as the first house record you could actually walk into a store and buy in early 1984. But what happened next? What was the second house record, and how did this nascent Chicago sound evolve from a single groundbreaking 12-inch into a movement that would change dance music forever?

One of two: What House Music Track Was Second?

Ask any Chicago OG or house music historian about the second house record, and you’ll get one of two answers, depending on who’s talking: “Fantasy” by Saunders/Z Factor/Mitchbal or “Music Is the Key” by J.M. Silk with vocals by Keith Nunnally a founding vocalist of house music. Both tracks emerged in 1984, hot on the heels of “On & On,” and both helped cement the foundational sound that would define house music for years to come.

Farley Jackmaster Funk recalls the early Chicago scene: 'We started experimenting, playing with drum machines. Jesse Saunders was on board with me at the Playground at the time, and he was a musician. In the early days, the kick drum and the electric tom-toms of the 808 was enough to make people dance without even putting any music to it. So a lot of the stuff was just beat tracks in the beginning. Then we came to steal everybody's basslines. See, all we ever did was regurgitate disco again by just stealing everybody's music. Because all the original house stuff that came out was somebody else's bassline.' Hugely influenced by the Hot Mix 5 radio shows on WBMX, Z-Factor incorporated European synth-driven sounds that they'd heard on the radio with 808 rhythm tracks. This disco: the rhythms, the basslines, the spirit, made by amateurs was to become 'house'.

“Fantasy” by Saunders/Z Factor/Mitchbal

"Music Is the Key" by J.M. Silk

Both tracks emerged in 1984, hot on the heels of “On & On,” and both helped cement the foundational sound that would define house music for years to come.

The debate itself is telling. Unlike other genres where you can point to a clear timeline of development, house music exploded out of Chicago’s underground club scene with such raw energy that multiple producers were essentially inventing the wheel simultaneously. These tracks weren’t just following a blueprint; they were writing it in real-time, translating the energy of the Warehouse and the Music Box into grooves that could be pressed onto vinyl.

Enter D.J. International Records

While individual producers were crafting these early classics, house music still needed something crucial to truly take off: a proper label infrastructure. In 1985, that’s exactly what it got when Rocky Jones and Benji Espinoza launched D.J. International Records in Chicago.

D.J. International wasn’t just another record label; it became the institutional backbone of house music’s first wave. Jones and Espinoza understood what was happening in Chicago’s clubs, and more importantly, they knew how to capture that energy and get it into record stores, both locally and globally.

The label’s roster read like a who’s who of house music pioneers. They released deep house, hard house, soulful house, and, as the sound evolved, acid house and hip house. Most crucially, they didn’t just press records for Chicago; they built an international distribution network that would carry Chicago house to every corner of the globe.

The International Breakthrough

D.J. International’s reach extended far beyond Chicago’s city limits. The label licensed releases to Westside Records in the United Kingdom (along with London Records/FFRR and CBS), BCM Records in Germany, and Disques Dreyfus in France. Individual singles were licensed to various labels worldwide, creating a web of distribution that ensured Chicago house wasn’t just a local phenomenon; it was a global movement in the making.

The impact was immediate and undeniable. In 1987, Farley “Jackmaster” Funk’s “Love Can’t Turn Around” reached number one on the UK charts - a stunning achievement for a sound that had barely existed three years earlier. The track’s success proved that house music wasn’t just for Chicago clubs; it could dominate mainstream pop charts when it connected with the right audience.

Other D.J. International releases became equally legendary: J.M. Silk’s “Jack Your Body” (yes, the same J.M. Silk from that debate about the second house record) and Joe Smooth’s “Promised Land” both became anthems that transcended the genre, tracks that defined not just what house music was, but what it could be: - spiritual, uplifting, transcendent.

The Sound and the Vision

Behind the decks, Craig S. Loftis served as chief engineer in charge of production from 1988 to 1994, helping to shape the label’s sonic identity during its most prolific years. D.J. International operated out of 3 W. Golf Center in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, and built an empire of sublabels: DJ International Master Pieces, Fierce Records, Gangster Records, Jackin Records, Mutant Planet, Rhythm Beat, and Underground. Each sublabel carved out its own niche within the broader house sound, allowing the label to release everything from the deepest, most soulful tracks to the hardest, most experimental acid productions.

The label bore the code LC 8121, a number that would become synonymous with quality house music throughout the late '80s and early '90s. DJs worldwide knew that a D.J. International 12-inch meant something; it meant the real Chicago sound, pressed with care and distributed with purpose.

The End and the Legacy

All good things must end, and in 1995, D.J. International and all its sublabels closed their doors. The worldwide licensing and exploitation rights were granted to High Fashion Music B.V. in the Netherlands, ensuring that the catalog would remain accessible even as the label itself ceased operations.

In 2019, Universal Music Group acquired the label’s holdings. A testament to the enduring value and historical importance of D.J. International’s catalog. Sadly, Benji Espinoza passed away on October 24, 2020, but his legacy lives on in every track his label released.

As of 2021, all releases that the label controls have been licensed to Last Man Music, headed by none other than Rocky Jones himself - bringing things full circle, with one of the label’s original founders still stewarding the music that changed the world.

Why It Mattered

When we look back at D.J. International Records today, it’s easy to focus on the hits, the chart-toppers, and the house music anthems that still pack dancefloors. But the label’s real importance lies in what it represented: the institutionalisation of house music as a legitimate art form worthy of proper production, distribution, and preservation.

Before D.J. International, house was a loose collection of tracks pressed in small runs, distributed through informal networks, played in specific clubs for specific crowds. After D.J. International, house was a genre, a movement with infrastructure, with history, with a future.

Whether “Fantasy” or “Music Is the Key” was truly the second house record might never be definitively settled. But what’s certain is that without labels like D.J. International to champion those early tracks and all the ones that followed, we might still be having that debate in 1980s Chicago clubs, rather than documenting it for a global audience that now takes house music’s place in musical history for granted.

The first house record might have been “On & On,” but D.J. International made sure the music itself would go on and on and on, far beyond anything those early pioneers could have imagined when they first programmed those drum machines and pressed those records in 1984 and 1985.

This is the second article in our series on the history of house music. Stay tuned for more deep dives into the tracks, labels, and people who built the sound that changed dance music forever.