We picked out 20 of our favorite diva house records, both known and unknown, in the list below. Without the divas or their handbags, house music would simply not exist (or perhaps just be relentlessly bland). Diva house, as we prefer to call it, is the unapologetically feel good sound that soundtracks the fight for equal rights in the gay community and continues to lift our spirits higher and higher. The Encyclopedia of Contemporary British Culture defines handbag house as having "prominent female vocals, breakdowns, a proliferation of piano 'stabs', and four on the floor rhythms." By this definition, handbag house is the genre of iconic club music pioneers like Inner City, CeCe Peniston, Crystal Waters, David Morales, Barbara Tucker, Robert Owens, Larry Heard and Frankie Knuckles. It refers to the notion of a group of female revelers dancing around a pile of their handbags on the dancefloor and was used in a derogatory and misogynistic fashion by underground purists who took a disliking to the genre's mainstream influences. The term handbag house, however, was born out of a broad disdain for the genre. The North End at 3733 N Halsted Street (between Bradley Pl & Grace St) would be another great option to try out. Popularized during the mainstreaming of gay culture in the 1990s, the subgenre was, according to dance music historian Bill Brewster, instrumental in turning clubbing into a "mainstream leisure activity." You may check out Sidetrack.This gay bar is located at 3349 N Halsted Street (between Buckingham Pl & Roscoe St) in Chicago’s Lakeview area. Bringing themes of love, acceptance and power to the dancefloor, diva house is a bombastic clash of four-four beats that greets the uplifting forces of funk and disco.
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Anthemic, loud and brimming with soul, diva house - also known as handbag house - is a genre that takes on the task of preaching the warm and accepting gospel of our universal clubland ethos.