Pearsall presents There & Back 012: December, Early Happy Hardcore 1993-1995
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Recorded in Berlin, December 2024
100% Vinyl
(59:31, 140 MB, 320 KBPS MP3)
Direct link to the mix:
https://sonicrampage.org/mixes/thereandback/Pearsall-ThereAndBack012_December_EarlyHappyHardcore1993-1995.mp3
Tracklisting:
- Naughty Naughty – Rich in Paradise [Naughty Naughty]
- DJ Mixmatt – R.P.T. (Rushin’ Piano Track) [Man from UNCLE]
- 2 Croozin – Life [Remix Records]
- Heartless – Right Now [Heartless]
- DJ Ham – And Higher [Kniteforce]
- Higher Level – I Need You Now [Zodiac]
- Smith & Brown – Do It Now [Homegrown]
- DJ Force & The Evolution – Escape the Feeling [Kniteforce]
- Happy Tunes – Pounding Beats [Happy Tunes]
- Kriston – Got to Get Up [Just 4 U]
- DJ Seduction – So In Love (Vibes & Wishdokta Remix) [Impact]
- SMD – SMD1 (A) [SMD]
- Naughty Naughty – Never Felt This Way [Naughty Naughty]
- DJ Red Alert & Mike Slammer – Feel So Real [Slammin Vinyl]
- Seduction & Dougal – It’s Not Over [Impact]
- Billy ‘Daniel’ Bunter & JDS – Let It Lift You (Vibes & Wishdokta Remix) [Just Another Label]
- Jimmy J & Cru-L-T – Take Me Away (Slipmatt Remix) [Remix / Kniteforce]
- Oaysis – Incredible Bass (Slipmatt Remix) [Formation]
- Crowd Pleasers – Volume Three (Side B) [Crowd Pleasers]
- Billy ‘Daniel’ Bunter & D-Zyne – Ride Like the Wind ft Gem [Universal]
For the last mix in the There & Back series I wanted to have some fun. Like, serious fun!
So I chose to go back to the early days of happy hardcore and put together a mix of some seriously great, yet cheesy, tunes.
Happy hardcore is a funny one – a byword for the cheesiest dance music known to man, with the tackiest aesthetic. Whistles, white gloves, glowsticks. Saucer-shaped eyes, rictus grins, pumping fists. Hi-vis vests, cycling masks full of Vicks vapo-rub, tracksuits. As hardcore split into jungle and happy hardcore, and jungle went on to become drum n’ bass to critical plaudits, happy hardcore continued on its defiant path, not cool in the slightest and happier for that.
Happy hardcore was a truly (white) working-class British music scene, one that offered its fans the promise of an escape from their everyday lives. Happy hardcore raves (and I didn’t go to too many) were characterised by extreme bonhomie and good feeling, people chatting, sharing water, heartfelt declarations between strangers – at the time I was more into jungle, but jungle raves were completely different, better music but a colder vibe.
I only really started listening to happy hardcore from about 1996 or so onwards, after the Bonkers series came out, so I missed out on the earlier side that is featured on this mix. By 1996 the pattern of happy hardcore had been set – very fast kickdrums that sounded like a plastic hammer being whacked over and over, chunky rave stabs, emotional female vocals, the occasional breakbeat, and pianos … pianos as far as the eye could see. It was a formula precisely engineered to be the perfect accompaniment to taking ecstasy, but if you weren’t on ecstasy it could get old pretty fast.
This wasn’t helped by the fact that at the big raves the audience was there to hear the big anthems, and weren’t interested in going on a journey or anything like that. They were there to get off their faces and go mental, not get educated!
I remember going to a Slammin Vinyl rave at Bagleys Warehouse in King’s Cross in February 1998 and it seemed like literally every time I walked through the hardcore room the dj was playing ‘Shooting Star’ by Bang. I mean, I know it was a big anthem, but come on, show some imagination!
So yeah, it was frankly pretty cheesy, even terrible at times (what the hell was that ‘Hey Jude‘ bootleg about anyways?!?), and I only listened to it when I was in the mood for just unashamedly cheesy music – most of the time I was listening to drum n’ bass or hard trance. It wasn’t until I was older that I learned that its first stirrings as a scene were actually a bit more to my taste.
What do I mean by that?
Well, you can compare the tracks on this mix to some of the later big anthems, like ‘Toytown’ or ‘Heart of Gold’ or ‘Eye Opener’. What differences do you hear? The earlier stuff features breakbeats more prominently, the basslines are a bit funkier, and the sound is more connected to the early 90’s breakbeat sound, whereas once you get a few years down the line, the 4/4 kick drum has become the dominant element and the general sound is more akin to hyper-speed pop music melded with Dutch gabba than the original rave sound. Unsurprisingly, some of those happy hardcore anthems of this late 90’s era would complete their journey to pop status by being slowed down, covered, and remade as dance-pop chart hits, for example ‘Pretty Green Eyes’ by Force & Styles, which was later remade by Ultrabeat.
Although I did kind of like that stuff at the time, I’m not really a fan any more … just too cheesy! On the other hand, the earlier stuff still sounds really amazing. Hence this mix! These tracks are so good, so much fun, and they just lift my mood whenever I slap on this mix (which is a lot in the last month since I made this). Instant sunshine.
I hope you enjoy it too!
That wraps up the There & Back series … I hope you enjoyed it! I certainly had fun making it.
For this new year I have a new project: 21st Century Music. Since we’re now 25 years into the century (eep!), I thought for this year I would (mostly) focus on music released in the 21st century. There’s so much to choose from! I’ve got tons of ideas, and I’m looking forward to exploring my collection further, and I hope you join me for this journey.