Marshall Jefferson – The House Music Anthem

The A1 version of the song has always sounded like pitch was skewed at very beginning. I bought my 2 copies the 1st day it showed up at Downstairs Records NYC back in 1986. The labels are black instead of red (They used the paper available). Trax is notorious for not the best quality pressing, loud though, its like it was rushed. All of Trax records had flaws as they flooded the DJ dance floor.

Did you know Marshall or Curtis has never been paid for this song? Marshall has asked for all donations to be given to Curtis, as he is going through a tough time at the moment. Please donate £1 if you able to. Thank you x https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/curtismoveyourbodymcclain

I love this song so much I listen to it everyday

FYI, this is the release with the piano intro; I bought the DJ International version first and was bummed as this was the one I was looking for

No Way Back, Dub Can't Turn Around & this right here changed my life. No question. Still does for me 28 years later what it did in 1986. So powerful, so intense, so wonderful, so exhilarating... Those feckin' hi hats coming at you like a ton of bricks.

The back story is fascinating, thank you Ian.

More info: This was meant to have been released on Marshall's own Other Side label, but at the last minute Larry Sherman scratched out the Other Side label number on the mothers and replaced it with a Trax number. If you own a release with a scratched out Other Side number you know it's an original release. Larry also didn't bother too re-master or re-cut it. Also the release was meant to be credited as On The House, as Curtis McClain, Thomas Carr & Rudy Forbes had helped write the tune. Larry just credited it to Marshall Jefferson, which caused a lot of friction between Marshall and the other people involved. They came around his house to confront him, Marshall telling them it was Larry's fault, which they didn't believe. They only believed him when they confronted Sherman, who told them to piss off. A friend of Curtis called Norman David got Marshall to sign an affadavit stating that they had sang the vocals on the record. They took this to Larry who claimed that he had given Marshall $150,000 and that he had put Marshall's name on the song as that was required in the contract. They went back to Marshall demanding their cut only for Marshall to tell them that he ad not received a penny from Sherman and had, in fact, paid HIM $1,500 to press up the release, which they didn't believe, even after he had showed them the receipt. They then said that Sherman had offered them a contract, which they were going to sign and get rich, a course of action which Jefferson tried to stop. They later had 2 releases, but got paid nothing from Sherman.

Marshall had this song in his head whilst working at the post office. He figured out all the parts , then got fellow PO workers and friends Curtis MCClain, Thomas Carr & Rudy Forbes to join him at Lito Manlucu's studio. They recorded a version, but his 3 friends thought that it sucked. That night he took the tune to the Sheba Baby club and played it to the DJs Mike Dunn, Tyree Cooper and Hugo Hutchinson. They loved it, but wouldn't play because of the piano, which they thought wasn't "House music". He then drove to the Music Box to play it to Ron Hardy. In his car he played it to K.Alexi Shelby who was also not impressed, also thinking that it wasn't House music.
In the club he gave it to Hardy, who played it straight away, then played it back-to-back 5 times. It became the biggest tune in Chicago and Hardy asked him not to give it to other DJs. Eventually Marshall couldn't stifle demand from other DJs anymore and he gave it to Frankie Knuckles to play. He also took it to Larry Sherman at Trax. He also hated it and said it wasn't House because of the piano. Marshall didn't care and paid Larry to press it up....which finally happened 13 months later. The version on DJ International came about because Marshall thought he could record a superior version in a bigger studio. He went to Paragon studios to record it.