Happy hardcore

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Happy Hardcore (HHC for short) is, in contrast to normal Hardcore Techno, a "happy" style, which nonetheless has a high speed (usually 160 to 180  BPM ). Fast piano choruses , breakbeat elements and female vocals are typical of many happy hardcore tracks . The latter are transposed in some older titles and often come from well-known pop songs . The stylistic devices used in Happy Hardcore vary, however, and are heavily dependent on when and where a title was produced. Happy breakbeat tracks and, irritatingly, often also happy tracks that do not contain hardcore techno beats are referred to as happy hardcore.

history

"Happy Hardcore" has its origins in Great Britain. There emerged in the early 1990s years Hardcore , a music style that equally by techno , reggae and hip-hop influenced. Around 1993 this music split into different styles: u. a. Jungle (which later became Drum and Bass ) and Happy Hardcore. British happy hardcore was originally very similar to its relative jungle: polyrhythmic percussion samples ( breakbeat ), very deep glissanding bass, usually no beat through . In addition, however, it contained “happy” style elements that were missing in the jungle: syncopating electric pianos , pads, pitched vocal samples . One label known for this kind of happy hardcore is Luna-C's Kniteforce Records.

While this style of music was particularly popular in England, heavier music was preferred in Scotland. So it came about that the music producer Scott Brown “imported” Dutch hardcore techno to Great Britain and enriched it with the already mentioned stylistic devices of happy hardcore: Bouncy techno (a term that is not widely used in the scene) was born. Due to Scott Brown's presence in the Dutch scene, this music became popular there too. Numerous Dutch music producers such as Paul Elstak or The Prophet produced not only regular hardcore techno but also happy hardcore. In a further development stage, this music became a chart-suitable style, which completely lacked many of the harder stylistic devices of hardcore techno: In continental Europe there was now a music style called "happy hardcore".

Scott Brown's music also had a strong impact on the British happy hardcore scene: the breakbeats disappeared and gave way to beats in 4/4 time (also called "four to the floor") and the distorted hardcore music popular in Holland Bass drum dominated many tracks from then on. The result is a style of music that is very similar to the continental European happy hardcore and whose roots in hardcore are barely noticeable. So the two currents have practically united.

Germany played a special role at this time. Happy Hardcore was never a scene movement there, instead this music was consistently produced commercially. Acts like Scooter and Blümchen produced several happy hardcore chart hits. Most of the time, however, such tracks did not contain a typical hardcore techno beat. Other representatives of the "softer" happy hardcore were Dune , Dolls United , Das Modul , DJ Paul Elstak , Party Animals , Gabber Piet and Hakkûhbar . From 1995 to 1997 there was a real happy hardcore boom in large parts of Europe. In this context, the collective term rave was also used.

While happy hardcore quickly disappeared from the scene in continental Europe since 1997, the music style remained popular in Great Britain, developed further underground and formed further sub-genres such as freeform . However, the term “happy hardcore”, which many perceived as childish, has been replaced by “UK hardcore” since the turn of the millennium.

Typical tracks

Well-known artists

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See Reynolds, Energy Flash, p. 266
  2. ↑ See Reynolds, Energy Flash, p. 262 ff.
  3. ↑ Charly Lownoise Pres. Starsplash - Wonderful Days (Video HQ) on YouTube
  4. ↑ Stingray and Sonicdriver - As Cold As Ice El Bruto Mix on YouTube
  5. ↑ The Prophet - Big Boys Don't Cry on YouTube
  6. ↑ 3 Step Ahead - Drop it on YouTube
  7. ↑ Bass-D & King Matthew - Overdose on YouTube
  8. ↑ DJ Stompy - I Believe on YouTube
  9. ↑ Dougal & Mickey Skeedale - Life Is Like A Dance on YouTube
  10. ↑ DJ Justice - My Love on YouTube
  11. ↑ DJ Vinylgroover - So Good on YouTube
  12. ↑ DJ Sharpnel - Torinouta on YouTube
  13. ^ Dougal & Gammer - Guitar Hero on YouTube
  14. ↑ Dj Paul Elstak - Luv U More on YouTube
  15. ↑ Technohead - I Wanna Be A Hippy on YouTube
  16. ↑ 2 Brothers On The 4th Floor - Fairytales on YouTube