I've been listening a lot to this great '98 house track by a guy called Aaron Hall called "Down". It's more lewd than you'd guess. A guy who I presume to be Aaron whispers seductively over a brutal bass backing track, "I want to go down on you if it's the last thing that I do... I want to drive your body crazy, make you scream just like a lady. We cannot make babies, but we can have FUN." With its crushing beat and dred bass riffs, it's like one of Armand Van Helden's harder moments, only the type of hardness being evoked here is one Armand would shy right away from.
It's always great to find house tracks like these, because they're a powerful reminder of what so often distinguishes the best dance music: that hint of danger and corruption. The first big house tracks from 86-87 (eg. "Love Can't Turn Around") all encapsulated the seedy pleasure of the black gay subculture that treasured them - joyous, religious, but also impossibly dirty and profane. When acid house took over, and especially when it broke in the UK, the danger being evoked was a more general feeling of energy-overload induced panic - the siren-like acid burbles and especially the ominous intoned vocals, used to best effect on Bam Bam's "Where's Your Child": "Curfew! Curfew!... No-one likes to be alone."
The danger element has been captured at various moments throughout dance music's subsequent history: darkcore's woozy fear; jungle's unstable paranoia; the doomladen basslines of early speed garage; the dark rush that characterises the best big beat. It's far from being the only quality within dance music, or even the main one, but it certainly keeps me coming back for more.
Incidentally, "Down" can be found on Richard Fearless's mix for the Live At The Social Volume III compilation, which also includes tasty dives into techno, electro and deep house. For a great summation of acid house, check out Hardfloor's X-Mix compilation, Jack The Box.