Introduction
Old Skool
The Scene Splits
Techno
Millennium
Trancecore

Introduction

Hardcore music developed in the UK as a result of the massive, illegal rave scene at the time. The house scene exploded in Britain in 1987, and although some clubs started to play house, many house DJs chose to play to thousands of people at large, often illegal, open air events. These became called "raves" - and this was the birth of the rave scene. As the house music in clubs gradually became more vocal and sophisticated, the music in raves started to sound different to cater for the different audience. By 1990, this different was becoming noticable, with the faster, harder side of house being played at raves; however it wasn't until 1991 that the true "hardcore" sound began to emerge.

The Old Skool Sound

By 1991, three separate things arguably came together to help the rise of hardcore. Firstly, sampling technology was becoming cheap enough for DJs to make their own music. Secondly, hip-hop music and mixing had made a major impact on UK popular culture. Thirdly, people were taking large amounts of the drug ecstasy at outdoor rave events, which were at their most popular. This meant that DJs playing out to huge raves could make their own records to cater for the ecstasy induced audience, who demanded strange, euphoric sounds and a faster tempo. Following in the hip-hop technique of sampling and looping beats, some rave DJ producers started to speed up recorded loops of real drumming (breakbeats) instead of computerised house beats.

Dance producers with samplers also discovered that they could use them to sample any instrument and play it back at a different pitch, making it a cheap (though not terribly realistic) way of emulating any existing instrument. Piano sounds were popular at this time, possibly because the piano, as a keyboard instrument, was one of the most realistic instruments that could be played using a sampler. Rave producers used sampling techniques to great effect as a way of creating euphoric sounds to whip the crowd into a frenzy, by sampling short epic orchestral "stabs" and creating a tune with them. The "hoover" sound also emerged at this time, originally developed on the Roland Juno synth by techno pioneer Joey Beltram around 1990. This sound was heavily sampled by rave producers. Rap records could also be sampled, although the limited recording time available on early samplers meant that usually only one or two lines were used. As the music sped up, so did the vocals, and this created an unusual helium style vocal effect.

Despite being one of the most popular styles of dance music, "old skool" hardcore was actually one of the most short lived; it emerged in 1991 and by the middle of 1993, hardly anyone was producing it any more. The problem was that this music was so easy to produce that, by the end of 1991, chancers had picked it up as a quick way to make money from a popular new dance style, and rave records started to saturate the market. Early tracks to hit the charts were usually genuinely innovative, such as those by the Prodigy (yes, the same Prodigy who later went on to make "Firestarter"!) and SL2.

Unfortunately, by 1992, the commercial material was starting to sound a tired and cheap, with those wishing to make money from the music just copying, rather than enhancing or experimenting with, the hardcore sound. Ironically, one of the records accused by many of damaging the scene, "Sesame's Treat" by Smart E's, was actually produced by a true rave artist, Luna C, and released on a true underground label, Suburban Base (later a jungle pioneer).

The Scene Splits

In 1992, some DJs (such as Grooverider) started to rebel against the commercial rave scene by playing a much darker form of music. This started to take off, and by the beginning of 1993, the majority of credible hardcore DJs were no longer playing tracks with sped up vocals, euphoric stabs and sampled piano. Instead, stripped down bass-heavy breakbeats ("dark" hardcore) were played, often at a much faster tempo. Indeed, in the space of a year and a half between early 1992 and the middle of 1993, the pace of rave music had increased from around 135bpm to around 155bpm. Until 1992, music above 140bpm was pretty much unheard of in dance circles, so this in itself was an interesting move.

The history of the happy hardcore scene starts in 1993 when the dark hardcore had almost competely replaced the old skool hardcore rave music. A lot of ravers didn't like this music, which led to some producers bringing back the simplest happier elements at the faster 160bpm tempo, over the breakbeats and sub-bass. At this time some of the DJ's, such as Slipmatt and Seduction, were playing a mixture of dark and happy music, avoiding the cheesiest tracks and playing the first "proper" happy hardcore tunes alongside the dark breakbeat music.

Tunes such as "SMD #1" by SMD and "Crowd Control" from Ramos & Supreme took the cheesiest elements away from the music leaving the breakbeats and the happy elements, and introducing once again the kick drum which had become left out of dark hardcore music. This built the way for the happy scene to develop during 1994. The problem at this stage was, whilst Slipmatt, Seduction, Dougal et al. were playing innovative tunes and remixes, there were still a lot of producers creating tracks just by sampling old skool tunes and speeding them up to the faster tempo, which gave the happy scene a bad reputation. As well as this, it got a reputation for a very young, ecstasy induced audience which prevented many older people from going along even if they liked the music.

By 1994 the scene had almost completely split, with the dark hardcore music developing into jungle and drum & bass. Dark DJs began incorporating reggae and ragga influences into their tracks, and jungle (along with 160+bpm breakbeats) first hit the UK Top 40 in summer 1994. While the media were excited about this music, they were uninterested in happy hardcore.

Meanwhile, 1994 also saw the passing of the Criminal Justice Act, which effectively put an end to large, illegal outdoor raves. By this time, hardcore had started to appear in clubs and the raves that were put on were huge, well organised affairs that usually featured the same selection of top DJs. This was great for the ravers, but not so good for the up and coming DJs who found it hard to get on the playlist.

The Techno Influence

In late 1994 and early 1995, some happy DJ's began playing Dutch gabba tracks in their sets and Ramos & Supreme produced the tune "Life Force Generator" which was arguably the first 4-beat track. This new style combined rave stabs and kick drums in a stompy, techno fashion, which took the emphasis completely off the breakbeat and added a different, fresh feel to the music. During 1995 the music became more techno influenced, with less breakbeats and more rave stabs; the new 4 beat style came to the forefront of the scene. As Slipmatt said in his interview with DJ magazine (November 1995), "You don't get a hardcore tune without a kick drum in now, if you do, nobody plays it". In the summer of 1995 Hixxy & Sharkey came into prominence with their stormer "Toytown" - the epitome of the new 4-beat style. This is when the music was arguably at its most popular at the big raves. This music was a lot harder than the earlier music, which probably gave it some much needed credibility at the time.

The Millennium Backlash

1996 was a peak year for hardcore, with the techno stuff really taking off and the first 100% hardcore events taking place, courtesy of DJ Seduction's Hardcore Heaven promotions. Despite the huge difference in the music, prior to 1996 raves had usually combined hardcore and drum & bass DJs; a throwback to the days when the music was all one style. By 1996, full vocals had also been introduced into tracks instead of samples, e.g. "Here I Am" by Demo, Ham and Justin Time. Unfortunately for hardcore, the good days were not to last too much longer. By the middle of 1997, the music had become slightly more mainstream with softer kick drums and a more melodic feel. Instead of writing their own vocals, hardcore producers decided to do cover versions of old pop songs. To be fair, quite a few of these were well done, but it didn't help the credibility issue with the music. Other hard dance styles were beginning to emerge, and ecstasy was no longer the fashionable drug of choice for Britain's youth.

As dance music became even more popular, towards the turn of the millennium, it moved to synthesizers rather than samplers, and house beats rather than breakbeats. Hardcore was no longer new, it was no longer innovative and it lost popularity. The darkest days for the music were between 1999 and 2001, when the scene lost some of its greatest producers and DJs. Some converted to hard house, early tracks of which often sampled hardcore records. Some DJs, such as Hixxy, stuck with it and their patience was eventually rewarded.

Trancecore

In late 1996 and through 1997, some producers, including Billy "Daniel" Bunter and Sharkey, experimented by mixing trance and house sounds with hardcore beats at the hardcore tempo (which, by this time, was around 170bpm). This sound became known as trancecore. Although it was created when hardcore was at its peak, like other styles of hardcore it took a dive in popularity towards the millennium.

Those who stuck with hardcore, however, pursued this sound; as it turned out, this was a good thing because while hardcore declined in popularity, trance music was at its peak. In 2002, hardcore started to emerge back into the limelight, with producers such as Hixxy, Ham, Breeze, Styles and Dougal still producing the big tracks along with some new names. By this time, the trance elements were a major feature of the sound, and had replaced the rave stabs and cheesy vocals. Trancecore had combined with the original happy hardcore to create a new style; trance sounds, but playing uplifting, major key melodies. This sound wasn't sped-up trance, it was something different.

One of modern hardcore's defining features is that it is openly melodic; to produce a good hardcore track today, you need to be able to write music - not just string together a few samples. This has probably led to its lasting popularity, and certainly helped with its revival. Hardcore has actually benefitted from the general dance music decline of 2003 onwards; as other styles of dance music are no longer "the latest thing", it is now more important that a dance track has an infectious groove or interesting musical content, and a lot of contemporary hardcore has both

In continental Europe, producers have developed their own style of hardcore, known as Makina. This is characterised by a less obvious kick drum than the UK sound.

© John Dalling, 2006

While every attempt is made to ensure the information on this page is correct, the author cannot accept responsibility for the accuracy of the information provided.