Dance music history is dotted with iconic nightclubs like Haçienda, Studio 54, Paradise Garage and Ministry of Sound. Perhaps lesser known, but no less formative, was The Music Institute, a Black-owned club in the heart of downtown Detroit that burned bright for just 18 months in the late 1980s. While short-lived, the club served as a vital platform for the city’s nascent house and techno talent, with an influence that still resonates today.
For the first time ever, two of club’s founders and resident DJs Chez Damier and Alton Miller are touring together in celebration of The Music Institute. At Sydney Festival’s no-seats dance takeover of City Recital Hall, the DJs will reach deep into their encyclopaedic collections to curate a night worthy of their former home. Before you limber up, read on for a whirlwind history lesson.
The vision
In the 1980s, Detroit was a city of contrasts. Known worldwide as the home of Motown, it was also grappling with the decline of its once-thriving auto industry, leading to urban decay and widening economic gaps. Amid these challenges, three visionaries – Motor City locals George Baker and Alton Miller, alongside Chicago transplant Anthony Pearson, aka Chez Damier – wanted to bring the spirit of clubs like New York’s Paradise Garage and Chicago’s Music Box to Detroit. Their vision came to life in The Music Institute, which opened in May 1988 at a time when downtown Detroit was considered by many as a no-go zone at night.
In a wide-ranging 2017 feature on the club for Red Bull Music Academy, journalist Ray Philp spoke to the key players behind the club. George Baker described the space they found at 1315 Broadway as “so rudimentary”, and they kept its raw appeal with a single strobe light and a good-enough sound system. Operating as an after-hours club from midnight until past dawn, The Music Institute had a juice and soft drink bar, but no alcohol. With a scrappy team winging it behind the scenes, the focus was resolutely on the music.
The music
The Music Institute offered two distinct club nights. On Fridays, The Next Generation showcased the emerging Detroit techno sound, led by preternaturally talented DJ and producer Derrick May. Saturday nights, called Back To Basics, centred house and disco in the mould of Paradise Garage, and fostered a loyal gay following. As Chez Damier put it to Red Bull Music Academy, “We wanted to create something that would have given us the same spirit as New York and Chicago, where it combined many kinds of people.”
The Music Institute became a testing ground for house and techno records that went on to become classics – many of them played by Chez Damier and Alton Miller. However, just as quickly as it arrived, the club was forced to close due to rising costs – but not before a final party in November 1989 to honour, in the immortal words of the flyer, “this after-hours, strobe-lit, juice bar, stank-box.”
The legacy
Just as The Music Institute was closing its doors, Detroit techno and house and its Black creators were finding an audience overseas – from the chart success of Inner City’s “Good Life” to the underground resonance of May’s “Strings of Life” under his Rhythim Is Rhythim alias.
In the decades since, Chez Damier has become a beloved name on the international DJ circuit (including regular sets at Berlin’s hallowed Panoramabar), while Alton Miller launched a Music Institute label in 2019 to keep the club’s spirit alive on the 30th anniversary of its closing. You don’t want to miss this chance to see two Detroit originals tell their era-defining story from the first track to the last. Just like a night at The Music Institute, it’ll be an education.
Detroit's Music Institute: Chez Damier & Alton Miller
When: Friday 10 January
Where: City Recital Hall
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