Dutch people and electronic music...

[Os Cangaceiros]

It seems like a disproportinate amount of electronic music DJ's come from the Netherlands. Especially trance music DJ's.

I wonder why this is.

[Ostrinski]

Man there's a lot of electronica artists in Barcelona

[Os Cangaceiros]

Yeah, I'd imagine so, although I'm pretty sure that Ibiza is the electronic music capital of Spain. I listen to a lot of electronic music on a radio station that plays nothing but, and a lot of the DJ's are all like, "oh yaaaah I played Ibiza a couple days ago, the club vas hot and steamy!"

etc etc etc

[Sasha]

Have no clue, why do the best kickboxers from the world come from here?
Guess it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy, being the best creates infrastructure, revenue and more demand who guarantee you will be the best again etc etc.
Plus any artist here is from day one internationally focussed, local marker is to small in general...

[Lanky Wanker]

Electronic music is for crazy people who do a lot of drugs.

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I rest my case.

[Total]

Well maybe this can explain some..

After house originated in the US, it travveled to holland pretty fast, when a company called ID&T started organising huge events they opened it up to a large public. It was kinda something new, huge partys in stadium instead of clubs, it created some kind of indoor festivals.

Back in the early nineties a subcuture called 'gabbers' emerged in Rotterdam and soon took the country. They listened to 'hardcore(house)' (fast, 180/220 bpm, dark noises, samples from rap and horror movies), had a dress code (shaven heads, certain sports wear, specific sneakers, bomberjacks etc) and all sorts of stuff that makes a subculture stand out from the mainstream. Hardcore became immensly popular among the youth, but it wouldn't be played on any of the radio stations, clubs didn't play it and for the most wouldn't let gabbers in anyway (often because they had the reputation of being racist, agressive and junkies, bouncers called it 'dresscode'). So if they wanted to enjoy their music, the huge raves where pretty much it. And to meet the demand the supply rose..

Only after the gabber culture was a moneymaker they started playing it on radio's but that was a commercialised version they called 'happy hardcore', then the whole thing turned into a big joke when commercial parties started pouring out shit, childrens songs with louzy beats and so, making a mokkery of the culture. Gabbers didn't want anything to do with it and turned underground again and the hype died down.

But there was money to be made with big raves, that's when trance came up big time. It's similar to hardcore but slower and with more 'smooth' sounds, and it's trance that was the new rave sound. And because it wasn't as raw as hardcore found its way into mainstream real easy..

Basicly, holland had raves verry early one and was familiar with it when trance came about. And then all the stuff psycho said apply's.

Kickboksing is the same in that matter, when it came about the dutch where verry soon participating. and it just kept building on experience gained at an early stage.

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

Only after the gabber culture was a moneymaker they started playing it on radio's but that was a commercialised version they called 'happy hardcore', then the whole thing turned into a big joke when commercial parties started pouring out shit, childrens songs with louzy beats and so, making a mokkery of the culture. Gabbers didn't want anything to do with it and turned underground again and the hype died down.

When was this? I don't really recall a period when any kind of hardcore dance music was really big in a commercial manner. Perhaps you're confusing "commercial" with "cheesy and twee"?

[Sasha]

No, gabber really was the dominant music for a few years in the 90's here. It topped all the charts, it was the dominant subculture for the white workingclass, millions where made.. it was quite bizarre..

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

No, gabber really was the dominant music for a few years in the 90's here. It topped all the charts, it was the dominant subculture for the white workingclass, millions where made.. it was quite bizarre..

Total was talking about happy hardcore, which although related to gabber, I don't really see as the same thing. Compare this:

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With this:

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Unless I'm mistaken?

[Total]

well actually there where kinda 2 forms both called happy at some time

you had stuff like..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcG7lnctnhI&feature=relmfu (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIGkAVX9zEI)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tFO4FRu42s&feature=related

you could find this at the second smaller dancefloors at big partys
this was done by the 'original' gabber producers and was commercial but not always bad. This was frowned upon by hardliners but mostly they got away with it. This is what became the 'real happy hardcore' and is now a cult classic. Yes you can still find this shit, mostly underground, even at squats.. And i must admit it is fun to hear now and again

Then there came this..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qz4HfJHxMk4

this was done by some commedian and even made it to the number one in the charts I believe. The melody is from an old childrens tv show, the lyrics all about the massive drug use, outfits and how nobody understands them. Some sort of parody. As you can see, the gabbers in the back are like 14 15 years old. And after that first 'succes' came other shit with the same recipe, old tune, change lyrics to gabbers eating xtc etc, beat, done..

This is how mainstream it had become, there where even raves for kids..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ca7lCeZ8YUY

soon after this it died down, if parents let their kids go to these partys, then the rebel thing is gone and a lot of gabbers actually feeled ashamed of that period. That also when the look changed. Instead of traditional sportswear they adopted a more skinhead like look, boots, polo's etc. But the 'classic' look is still around at the big parties.

but your right, gabber and happy are not the same, neither is happy and that other bullshit

edit: seems i can't get the vids here somehow

[Total]

When was this? I don't really recall a period when any kind of hardcore dance music was really big in a commercial manner. Perhaps you're confusing "commercial" with "cheesy and twee"?

Actually ID&T grew into one of the largest rave organisers worldwide, basicly because the were the first and one of the few to provide ' concerts' to the genre. And that was really HARDcore, like the neophyte you linked and more like it. When the first happy came about there were allready multiple stages at outside festivals with tens of thousends of people. At the peak you could do a major rave every week, sometimes two and gabbers had to, they weren't allowed anywhere else it seemed.

At the top they had magazines, energy drinks, clothing, merch, jewelry etc.. and that was mostly for the diehards, except the magazine

[Conscript]

Total was talking about happy hardcore, which although related to gabber, I don't really see as the same thing. Compare this:


With this:



Unless I'm mistaken?

Early thunderdome raves played happy hardcore and some of their DJs dabbled in it. Pretty much all the tapes i ever downloaded up to like 97 had happy hardcore playing at some point.

For example:

Bass-d & king matthew - like a dream
Bass-d & king matthew - heartbeat
Charly lownoise & mental theo - wonderful Days

Also dune is german, not dutch. The latter has their own kind of happy hardcore, as does the UK, which was more about breakbeats, for example. Dutch happy hardcore is probably best captured in the 'happy rave' or 'happy hakkuh' albums. In fact right now im listening to 'kale nero' by hoedje & de blaasvis and it pretty much sums up the dutch happy sound.

3 steps ahead isn't really happy hardcore but his tunes have a happier element to it than the contemporary tunes, and compared to today's gabber it is happy hardcore, lol. Neophyte is the 'new' kind of hardcore that came around 98. It was slower and 'deeper'.