Breakbeat hardcore (also referred to as hardcore rave, oldskool hardcore or simply hardcore) is a

music genre A music genre is a conventional category that identifies some pieces of music as belonging to a shared tradition or set of conventions. Genre is to be distinguished from musical form and musical style, although in practice these terms are sometim ...

that spawned from the UK

rave A rave (from the verb: '' to 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 mus ...

scene during the early 1990s. It combines four-on-the-floor rhythms with

breakbeat Breakbeat is a broad type of electronic music that uses drum breaks, often sampled from early recordings of funk, jazz, and R&B. Breakbeats have been used in styles such as Florida breaks, hip-hop, jungle, drum and bass, big beat, breakbeat ...

s usually

sampled Sample or samples may refer to: * Sample (graphics), an intersection of a color channel and a pixel * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of something * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample ...

from

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

. In addition to the inclusion of breakbeats, the genre also features shuffled

drum machine A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument that creates percussion sounds, drum beats, and patterns. Drum machines may imitate drum kits or other percussion instruments, or produce unique sounds, such as synthesized electronic tones. A d ...

patterns, hoover, and other noises originating from

new beat New beat is a Belgian electronic dance music genre that fuses elements of new wave, hi-NRG,Simon Reynolds: ''Generation Ecstasy: Into the World of Techno and Rave Culture.'' Routledge 1999, , p. 124. EBM and hip hop (e.g. scratching).Timor ...

and Belgian techno, sounds from

acid house Acid house (also simply known as just " acid") is a subgenre of house music developed around the mid-1980s by DJs from Chicago. The style is defined primarily by the squelching sounds and basslines of the Roland TB-303 electronic bass synt ...

and

bleep techno Bleep techno (or simply bleep) is a regional subgenre of techno which developed in the late 1980s in Northern England, particularly Yorkshire. Named after its minimalistic synthesizer sounds, bleep techno combined influences from American ...

, and often upbeat

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air c ...

piano riffs and vocals.

History

Early 1990s: origins

The

scene expanded rapidly in the very early

1990s File:1990s decade montage.png, From top left, clockwise: The Hubble Space Telescope orbits the Earth after it was launched in 1990; American jets fly over burning oil fields in the 1991 Gulf War; the Oslo Accords on 13 September 1993; the World ...

, both at

clubs Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Club (magazine), ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands a ...

up and down the country including Labrynth, Shelley's Laserdome, The Eclipse, and Sanctuary Music Arena, and large raves in

Warehouse A warehouse is a building for storing goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial parks on the rural–urban fringe, out ...

s and in the open air attracting 20–50,000 whether put on legally from promoters such as Fantazia and Raindance, or unlicensed by

free party A free party is a party "free" from the restrictions of the legal club scene, similar to the Free festival, free festival movement. It typically involves a Sound system (DJ)#Free party, sound system playing electronic dance music from late at ...

sound systems Sound system may refer to: Technology media * Sound reinforcement system, a system for amplifying audio for an audience * High fidelity, a sound system intended for accurate reproduction of music in the home * Public address system, an institution ...

such as

Spiral Tribe Spiral Tribe is an arts collective and free party Sound system (DJ), sound system formed in 1990. It organised free party, free parties, festivals and raves in the UK and later Europe in the 1990s. Spiral Tribe was involved in the Castlemorton ...

. Breakbeat hardcore drew its melting pot of sound from a vast array of influences – from

and Belgian techno that had for a short period been prominent in the UK

scene, to

and

, and furthermore drawing on

and

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

culture. Amongst the influences from within the rave scene itself upon which this strain of hardcore drew were such acts as Manix, The Hypnotist, CJ Bolland with his "Ravesignal" series, and T99. The huge increase in producers was also driven by the increasing availability of cheap home computer-based studio setups, particularly

Cubase Cubase is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed by Steinberg for music and MIDI recording, arranging and editing. The first version, which was originally only a MIDI sequencer and ran on the Atari ST computer, was released in 1989. Cut-do ...

for the

Atari ST Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the company's Atari 8-bit computers, 8-bit computers. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985, and was widely available i ...

Mid-1990s: fragmentation

By late 1992, breakbeat hardcore started to fragment into a number of subsequent

genres Genre () is any style or form of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other form ...

darkcore Darkcore (also referred to as darkside hardcore) is a music genre, music subgenre of breakbeat hardcore in the UK rave scene, that emerged from late 1992. It is recognised as being one of the direct precursors of the genre now known as drum and ...

(piano rolls giving way to dark-themed samples and stabs), hardcore jungle (where reggae basslines and samples became prominent), and

happy hardcore 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 ...

(retaining piano rolls and more uplifting vocals).

2000s: revival

In the 2000s, the style experienced a revival as part of the nu-rave scene. Hardcore breaks is a style of breakbeat hardcore that appeared in early-to-mid 2000s as part of growing

nu-rave New rave (also typeset as nu-rave, nu rave or neu rave) is a genre of music described by ''The Guardian'' as "an in-yer-face, DIY disco riposte to the sensitive indie rock touted by bands like Bloc Party." It is most commonly applied to a Britis ...

scene. The style is inspired by the sound and characteristics of old school breakbeat, while being fused with modern production techniques that distinguish the genre from the classic hardcore breakbeat sound. The music is composed of looped, edited and processed breakbeat samples, intense bassline sounds, melodic piano lines, staccato synthesizer riffs, and various vocal samples (mostly taken from old house records). The speed of this genre typically fell between the range of 145–155 bpm, while the speed may variate on live sets. Originally being produced by a small group of artists with the vision of carrying on where oldskool hardcore left off before the

jungle jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past century. Etymology The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''jaṅgala'' ...

and

split using new production techniques and technology, its appeal has now expanded to include artists from the original breakbeat hardcore scene creating new productions. By the late 2000s, hardcore breaks tend to be produced and played at a bit faster tempos, often between 160–180 bpm. Therefore, it is often played at

UK hardcore 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 ...

, freeform hardcore and

drum and bass Drum and bass (commonly abbreviated as DnB, D&B, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterised by fast Break (music)#Breakbeat (element of music), breakbeats (typically 165–185 Tempo, beats per minute) with heavy Bass (music) ...

events.

Notable releases

Notable releases include: * " A Trip to Trumpton" – Urban Hype (Faze 2, 1992) * "Baptised by Dub" – The Criminal Minds (White House, 1992) * "Be Free" / "Breakage #4" - Noise Factory (Ibiza, 1992) * " Charly" / "

Everybody in the Place "Everybody in the Place" is the second official single released by the British electronic dance band the Prodigy from their debut album, ''Experience'' (1992). It was released on 23 December 1991 through XL Recordings in the UK. The single ...

" –

The Prodigy The Prodigy are an English electronic music band formed in Braintree, Essex, in 1990 by producer, keyboardist, and songwriter Liam Howlett. The original line-up also featured Rapping, MC and vocalist Maxim (musician), Maxim, dancer and occasi ...

(

XL Recordings XL Recordings is a British independent record label founded in 1989 by Tim Palmer and Nick Halkes. It has been run and co-owned by Richard Russell since 1996. It forms part of the Beggars Group. It releases an average of six albums a year. T ...

, 1991) * "Close Your Eyes" / " Trip II the Moon" – Acen ( Production House Records, 1992) * "Cookin Up Yah Brain" – 4hero ( Reinforced Records, 1992) * "Dancehall Dangerous" - Hackney Hardcore (Strictly Underground, 1992) * "DJ's Take Control" / " On a Ragga Tip" – SL2 (XL Recordings, 1992) * "Far Out" – Sonz of a Loop Da Loop Era ( Suburban Base, 1991) * "Frequency" / "Infiltrate 202" – Altern-8 ( Network Records, 1991) * "Homicide" / "Exorcist" / "Frequency" – Shades of Rhythm (

ZTT Records ZTT Records is a British record label founded in 1983 by the record producer Trevor Horn, the businesswoman Jill Sinclair and the ''NME'' journalist Paul Morley. They released music by acts including Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Grace Jones, the ...

, 1991) * "Hurt You So" – Jonny L (Yoyo, 1992) * "

I Feel Love "I Feel Love" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Donna Summer. Produced and co-written by Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte, it was recorded for Summer's fifth studio album, '' I Remember Yesterday'' (1977). The album concept was to ha ...

" –

Messiah In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; , ; , ; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of '' mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach ...

(Kickin Records, 1992) * I Want You (Forever) -

Carl Cox Carl Andrew Cox (born 29 July 1962) is a British house and techno club DJ, radio DJ, motorsport team owner and record producer. He is based in Frankston, Victoria, Australia. Cox has won and been nominated for numerous awards. He has perfor ...

( Perfecto Records, 1991) * " Let Me Be Your Fantasy" – Baby D (Production House, 1992) * "Loves Got to Be Free" - Noise Factory (XL Recordings/Ibiza, 1992) * "Mohamed's Mind" - 2 Kilos (Radioactive Lamb, 1990) * "Music Takes You" -

Blame Blame is the act of censuring, holding responsible, or making negative statements about an individual or group that their actions or inaction are socially or morally irresponsible, the opposite of praise. When someone is morally responsible fo ...

( Moving Shadow, 1991) * "NHS (Disco Remix)" – Doc Scott (Absolute 2, 1992) * " Sesame's Treet" – Smart E's (Suburban Base/Atlantic, 1992) * "Some Justice" – Urban Shakedown (Urban Shakedown, 1992) * "Spliffhead" / "Hooligan 69" – Ragga Twins (SUAD Records, 1991) * " Sweet Harmony" –

Liquid Liquid is a state of matter with a definite volume but no fixed shape. Liquids adapt to the shape of their container and are nearly incompressible, maintaining their volume even under pressure. The density of a liquid is usually close to th ...

(XL Recordings, 1992) * "Teach Me to Fly" - DJ Trace & LTJ Bukem (Out of Orbit, 1992) * " The Bouncer" – Kicks Like a Mule (Tribal Base, 1992) * "The Green Man" / " Raving I'm Raving" – Shut Up and Dance (SUAD Records, 1992) * "The Wickedest Sound" – Rebel MC (Desire, 1991) * "Waremouse" / " Bombscare" – 2 Bad Mice (Moving Shadow, 1992) * " We Are I.E." – Lennie De Ice (Reel 2 Reel, 1991)

References

Citations

Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * *