Breakbeat hardcore is a music genre that spawned from the UK rave scene during the early 1990s. It combines four-on-the-floor rhythms with breakbeats usually sampled from hip hop. In addition to the inclusion of breakbeats, the genre also features shuffled drum machine patterns, hoover, and other noises originating from new beat and Belgian techno, sounds from acid house and bleep techno, and often upbeat house piano riffs and vocals.
A rave is a dance party at a warehouse, club, or other public or private venue, typically featuring performances by DJs playing electronic dance music. The style is most associated with the early 1990s dance music scene when DJs played at illegal events in musical styles dominated by electronic dance music from a wide range of sub-genres, including drum and bass, dubstep, trap, break, happy hardcore, trance, techno, hardcore, house, and alternative dance. Occasionally live musicians have been known to perform at raves, in addition to other types of performance artists such as go-go dancers and fire dancers. The music is amplified with a large, powerful sound reinforcement system, typically with large subwoofers to produce a deep bass sound. The music is often accompanied by laser light shows, projected coloured images, visual effects and fog machines.
The Netherlands has multiple musical traditions. Contemporary Dutch popular music is heavily influenced by music styles that emerged in the 1950s, in the United Kingdom and United States. The style is sung in both Dutch and English. Some of the latter exponents, such as Golden Earring and Shocking Blue, have attained worldwide fame.
Happy hardcore, also known as 4-beat or happycore, is a subgenre of hardcore dance music or "hard dance". It emerged both from the UK breakbeat hardcore rave scene, and Belgian, German and Dutch hardcore techno scenes in the early 1990s. The thing that makes happy hardcore stand apart from Gabber, is that happy hardcore tends to have breakbeats running alongside the 4/4 kick drum.
Hardcore is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany in the early 1990s. It is distinguished by faster tempos and a distorted sawtooth kick, the intensity of the kicks and the synthesized bass, the rhythm and the atmosphere of the themes, the usage of saturation and experimentation close to that of industrial dance music. It would spawn subgenres such as gabber.
Bouncy techno is a hardcore dance music rave style that developed in the early 1990s from Scotland and Northern England. Described as an accessible gabber-like form, it was popularised by Scottish DJ and music producer Scott Brown under numerous aliases.
Charly Lownoise & Mental Theo were a DJ duo from the Netherlands. They are best known for their successful happy hardcore songs, but have also produced gabber & eurodance records.
2 Brothers on the 4th Floor is a Dutch musical group created in 1990 by brothers Martin and Bobby Boer. The group has had success in many countries including the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Greece, Czech Republic, Norway, Finland, South Africa, Argentina, Chile, Israel, Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. The most recent members of 2 Brothers on the 4th Floor are Martin and Bobby Boer, Dutch singer Desray, and rapper D-Rock.
Mark Summers is the English CEO, sound engineer and music producer of Scorccio, a music production company founded in the UK in 1996. A London DJ since 1979, he is a guest lecturer and masterclass presenter on sample replay production, sound engineering, DJ culture, sampling and the music industry. His productions have been featured on hits for Nicki Minaj, Diplo, Sam Smith, the Prodigy, Pitbull, Fatboy Slim, David Penn, Jess Glynne, Disclosure, Steve Aoki, CamelPhat, Swedish House Mafia, the Shapeshifters and many other notable music artists. He is related to Herbie Flowers, one of the UK's best-known session bass players.
The Bonkers series was one of the leading happy hardcore compilation series in the UK. The first release was in 1996 on the record label React. It was available on 2xCD and 2xTC formats. DJs Sharkey and Hixxy were signed by React, and they released "Bonkers", the first in a series of albums that has become the best-selling hardcore compilation series of all time. As of 11 May 2009, the series had reached its nineteenth release, titled Bonkers: The Original Hardcore.
"Let Me Be Your Fantasy" is a song by British musical group Baby D. It was written and produced by band member Floyd Dyce and the vocals were sung by Dorothy Fearon. It was originally released by Production House Records in October 1992, when it reached No. 76 on the UK Singles Chart. In November 1994, London Records subsidiary Systematic re-released the song, and it subsequently became a UK No. 1 hit for two weeks. A partially black-and-white music video was produced to promote the single.
Theodorus Josephus Jan Nabuurs, better known by his stage name Mental Theo is a Dutch record producer and DJ. He has recorded two studio albums: Back Once Again (2005) and Jumpstyle Madness (2007). He also performs in duo with Charly Lownoise.
"Dreams (Will Come Alive)" is a song by Dutch Eurodance group 2 Brothers on the 4th Floor featuring D-Rock and Des'Ray. It was released by Lowland Records in June 1994 as the fourth single from the group's debut album, Dreams (1994), and is their most commercially successful single. Peaking at number-one in the Netherlands, the song was also used in the Dutch movies Flodder 3 and New Kids Nitro and in the Italian film Happy as Lazzaro.
W&W is a Dutch DJ and record production duo composed of Willem van Hanegem Jr. and Wardt van der Harst. They began their careers by producing trance music, before venturing into big room house and other forms of EDM.
Gabber is a style of electronic dance music and a subgenre of hardcore techno, as well as the surrounding subculture. The music is more commonly referred to as hardcore, which is characterised by fast beats, distorted and heavy kickdrums, with dark themes and samples. This style was developed in Rotterdam and Amsterdam in the 1990s by producers like Marc Acardipane, Paul Elstak, DJ Rob, and The Prophet, forming record labels such as Rotterdam Records, Mokum Records, Pengo Records and Industrial Strength Records.
"Never Alone" is a song by Dutch Eurodance group 2 Brothers on the 4th Floor. It was released in November 1993 as the third single from their debut album, Dreams (1994). Produced by brothers Martin and Bobby Boer, the song was their first single featuring rapper D-Rock and singer Des'Ray. It was a number-one hit in Brazil, Israel and South Africa. In the group's native Netherlands, the single peaked at number two. In 2014, new remixes of the song by JoeySuki and Jonathan Pitch were released. Its music video sees the duo performing on a beach in Mexico.
"Let Me Be Free" is a song by Dutch Eurodance group 2 Brothers on the 4th Floor featuring rapper D-Rock and singer Des'Ray. It was released in 1994 as the fifth and last single from their debut album, Dreams (1994). The single achieved moderate success, reaching number three in Israel, number five in Italy, number six in the Netherlands, number eleven in Belgium and number twelve in Denmark. On the Eurochart Hot 100, it peaked at number 42 in December 1994.
"Come Take My Hand" is a song by Dutch Eurodance group 2 Brothers on the 4th Floor featuring rapper D-Rock and singer Des'Ray. It was released in 1995 by Lowland Records, CNR Music and Central Station as the second single from the group's second album, 2 (1996). Enjoying success in Europe, the song was a top 10 hit in Belgium (9) and the Netherlands (4), and a top 20 hit in Italy (14) and Norway (12). On the Eurochart Hot 100, "Come Take My Hand" peaked at number 47 in October 1995. Outside Europe, it peaked at number-one in Israel. In 2015, the song was released in the Netherlands in a new remix by The Viper.
"Fly (Through the Starry Night)" is a song by Dutch Eurodance group 2 Brothers on the 4th Floor featuring rapper D-Rock and singer Des'Ray. It was released in 1995 by Lowland Records and CNR Music as the first single from the group's second album, 2 (1996). In Europe, the song peaked at number six in the Netherlands and number 19 in Belgium. On the Eurochart Hot 100, it peaked at number 70, while reaching number 21 on the European Dance Radio Chart. Outside Europe, it was a number one hit in Israel for two weeks. In 2014, "Fly (Through the Starry Night)" was released in the Netherlands in a new remix by Jaz Von D (a.k.a. Jasper Kuijper).
"Mirror of Love" is a song by Dutch Eurodance group 2 Brothers on the 4th Floor featuring rapper D-Rock and singer Des'Ray. It was released in 1996 as the fourth single from their second album, 2 (1996), peaking at number six in the Netherlands, number 19 in Finland, number 22 in Belgium and number 44 in Sweden. On the Eurochart Hot 100, the song reached number 90 in August 1996.
