Ron Hardy

RIP Ron Hardy, 1958 – 1992

Ron Hardy was a legendary Chicago DJ and a pioneer of house music. He is best known for his influential residency at the Music Box in Chicago from 1982 to 1986. Ron Hardy's influential residency at the Music Box pushed the boundaries of early house music.

Origins

Ron hardy began DJing in 1974 at Chicago’s Den One. He left to work in Los Angeles before returning to Chicago.

The Music Box

When Frankie Knuckles left The Warehouse to form the Power Plant, The Warehouse was renamed to Music Box, and Ron Hardy became his replacement. The Warehouse former location was the first Music Box. It then moved to 326 N. Michigan Ave. location.

The crowd at The Music Box was distinct from other Chicago clubs due to being a melting pot of diverse Chicago house scenes. Ron Hardy's high-energy, unpredictable DJ style attracted several previously segregated Chicago "tribes". Unlike more polished or exclusive clubs, The Music Box had an inclusive atmosphere. with Ron Hardy's deejaying as a Magnet.

The Gay Scene

Some of the gay community from The Warehouse carried over to The Music Box. This was a continuation of the The Warehouse's roots.

The Teen Scene

Many of the young straight black inner city house fans from The Playground and the teen scene were also attending the Music Box.

House Radio Fans

WBMX "Hot Mix 5" listeners found their way to the Music Box. These were often younger house music fans who weren't from the previous Chicago house scene.

Producers

Young producers were experimenting with new styles of house music, including Playground-style minimalism, acid house and deep house. Ron Hardy liked to showcase new tracks from the young producer scene. This made Ron Hardy and the Music Box an engine of the new producer scene that emerged in 1984.

Dancers

Ron Hardy's fast tempo was appealing to people who wanted to dance instead of pose.

Pushing The Tempo

Ron Hardy's DJ style was known to be reckless and high-energy. He used reel-to-reel tape edits, an 808, backward playback and other experimental techniques. In some ways this was a a continuation of the extended mixes that Frankie Knuckles did, and the drum tracks that Jesse Saunders and Farley "Jackmaster" Funk did, but Ron Hardy pushed this experimental deejaying further. His DJ sets blended Philly disco, Italo disco, self-edited records and early acid house.

Ron Hardy liked to use the pitch control of the record deck to push the tempo of tracks and increase the energy levels. This is something that became the norm only a few years later. This trend eventually stopped at about 180 bpm (with hardcore and drum and bass). He often played unreleased tracks, and is credited with breaking acid house via DJ Pierre's Phuture Acid Trax.

There are several surviving DJ sets from Ron Hardy at the Music Box.

There are several online archives where you can find more mixes by Ron Hardy from the 1980s.

Manny'z Tapez

Manny Cuevas (a.k.a. DJ M-TRAXXX, a.k.a. DJ Manny) has online profiles where he shares his collection of historic mixes. He uses the tag Manny'z Tapez on Mixcloud for his archive tape collection.

For all of his uploads, including his own mixes, you can check out his individual profile on Mixcloud.

His Soundcloud page is a mixture of newer and older mixes because Soundcloud doesn't have a simple way to group the archive mixes in a URL.

However, Manny Cuevas does use the text Manny'z Tapez as part of the title on Soundcloud, and if you search for this you will find all of his archive tapes uploaded to Soundcloud.

Gridface

Gridface is an excellent archive of classic house mixes. They have a page with a collection of links to Ron Hardy mixes. Each listing includes track lists for the mix.

Mixes D.B.

Mixes DB is a massive archive of historic mixes. There's a category on there for Ron Hardy mixes.

Other Archive Profiles On Mixcloud

Marcus Chapman has upload many historic archive mixes on Mixcloud.

The user R_co on Mixcloud uploads historic mixes, and has uploaded Ron Hardy mixes.

The Shongo Effect has uploaded some archive Ron Hardy mixes on Mixcloud.

A Platform For New Chicago Producers

Ron Hardy's most important contribution to Chicago house music was to platform the producer community. He broke many new tracks by early Chicago house producers, including DJ Pierre, Chip E, Larry Heard and Marshall Jefferson. Without this exposure for new producers, house music may have remained a scene instead of becoming a genre.

Gone Too Soon

Ron Hardy died in 1992 at age 34 when house music was still in its infancy. His techniques and musical direction continue to shape house music and DJ culture today. Despite his short life, his influence will always live on.