different names for the same thing

I used to go out with a classical musician who explained fugues to me, and to me good dance music is kind of like fugues - interweaving themes and stuff. I'd like to know more about how it works; there was a programme on radio one years ago about a certain chord structure (I think it was called desh? Or maybe I'm stupidly wrong there) that somehow creates a euphoric type feeling in most people, and it exists in a lot of classical music, and has been traslated into pop and dance records too.