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T O P I C R E V I E W
whittle1
As i approach the age of 26, i find myself still loving hardcore music, perhaps more than ever. However, I think back to 10 years ago when I was 16, and all my friends loved it too. Now, they've all moved on and are into other stuff, mainly house music or another genre of dance.
So I'm just wondered if anyone else has fallen out of love with the scene, and why?
wong
nope
Jacco
I'm turning 31 next week and can't see myself liking hardcore any less than 10 years ago. It's called HTID for a reason ;-)
Rawcous
Yeah I have. rarely listen to new stuff these days. Not sure when or why it happened, just kinda did.
_Jay_
Dean's 59 and he's still droppin' beans and cuttin' shapes every weekend.
djDMS
Hard2Get
Some people just like it more than others. Those that don't like it as much as you will 'grow out' of it.
Shades
hardcore is not the same as it once was, as it's always evolving, so there's always that aspect as well :)
Comrade_
If anyone here stopped listening to hardcore, I have a feeling they might move onto a different forum!
Alexbturbo
I admit that in the last 2 years I've started listening more to Drum & Bass than I do Hardcore. I mainly blame CDJay and HU for that after I started listening to a lot of their breakbeat stuff a couple of years ago and it spiralled from there :hehe:
I still grab some hardcore releases that take my fancy and have the occasional stock up on the CD's put out by the likes of HU, TMM, etc, as quite a lot of what they put out is well worth a listen :)
I'm 35 this year and have followed lots of different genres over the years since I was 13 years old and started listening to Tony De Vit, so house, Hard House, NRG, etc.
I still enjoy going back and listening to the stuff from my youth (makes me feel old lol) as much as listening to the current Hardcore, Drum & Bass, etc :) Basically if it's good music I'm happy :)
Vladel
I find i go through phases to be honest. I got into hardcore in 1996 mainly due to a combination of heart of gold and the airhead smd remix. I would say those two tunes were responsible primarily (i used to listen to metallica before that, strange hey) for my move across the genres. I really liked dougal and Force & styles in the early days before settling on seduction as my dj of choice. around 1999 i got into mainstream dance/trance and a bit of scouse house and didn't return to listening to hardcore until early 2004. I kinda had a new love affair with the music that lasted well up to 2008 before i started looking at rock and metal again. I stuck around though for the next few years and 2010/2011 were enjoyable years but 2012 and the rise of dubcore nearly ended it for me.
Thankfully HU got their fingers out their arses and combined with powerstomp i fell in love with the music again to the point where i would even consider last year as possibly one of the best years ever behind 96/97/06/07. I guess what i'm saying is that many things can effect your love for the music and ultimately it doesn't matter what anyone thinks.
Here's something that really puts it into perspective for me, the other day at work i showed some tracks to a mate who hadn't listened to hardcore since 1999, paranoia didn't go down well, but he loved every time by Brisk & darwin so maybe it's time or maybe style, who knows but loving the tunes is nothing to be ashamed of!
Guest
no, its what your gabber is for, you have alcoholic festival tents
you play the same tunes at both, just with a different style and more mixing skills
all be it, those mixes are abit crap, but you probably get the idea behind the mainstream stuff
wong
quote:Originally posted by Vladel:
i used to listen to metallica before that, strange hey
Not really, i was all linkin park n similar stuff before i discovered hardcore
Triquatra
quote:Originally posted by Hard2Get:
Those that never don't like it as much as you will 'grow out' of it.
quote of the year! :P
seriously though,
cliche but.....good music doesn't have a sell by date.
The music clearly either didn't go in the right direction for them, or didn't go in any direction at all for them and they got bored of hearing the same stuff. 10 years ago would put us around about 2005? makes sense really as it was around about 2006ish where I started to loose interest in the nu skool stuff.
of course there were still *outstanding* pieces coming through from different places, but the influx of chart rip-off-bootleg same synth touting same-same-core starting making it crazy hard to sift through to find enjoyable pieces.
whereas drum n bass started pooping out stuff from pendulum, matrix futurebound, dj fresh etc etc and had actually become exciting and new
djDMS
You mean drum & bass got commercial again ;-)
Hardcore has tried it, and no matter how 'accessible' it tries to be it still can't get that mainstream success. Not that I'm bothered, cos I like to be part of a small (ish) group.
I can feel myself slowly winding down. I'll always have an interest in the music and where it goes in the future but I'm definitely going to less events and getting less interested in the 'scene' as a whole.
Triquatra
quote:Originally posted by djDMS:
You mean drum & bass got commercial again ;-)
again?!
though on this I can feign ignorance; because I was in the states at the time and what goes on in the UK as to the US is much like the scenes of peril involving Jed and Octavious in Night At The Museum as shown in this really really really really really REALLY poor quality youtube video
Where the air out of the tire is DnB and Jed/Octavious repping UK and Europe - and the cut scene being the US.
long story short, yes. But until then it apart from the artcore/liquid stuff of the 90s, it generally hadn't really been very palatable.
warped_candykid
I still love my happy hardcore, and early UK Hardcore. My problem is, with the lack of regular CD releases, it just became too hard to follow the genre. Another factor that caused a problem is mp3 sites became too flooded with record labels. Too much sifting for gems. I know some labels have legit releases, but many are just...crap releases of pop song remakes.
With the absence of Hardcore CD releases, I've been collecting Eurobeat CDs.
Samination
quote:Originally posted by warped_candykid:
I still love my happy hardcore, and early UK Hardcore. My problem is, with the lack of regular CD releases, it just became too hard to follow the genre. Another factor that caused a problem is mp3 sites became too flooded with record labels. Too much sifting for gems. I know some labels have legit releases, but many are just...crap releases of pop song remakes.
I like it how people complain about sifting through mp3s, when sifting through records where no different, and you couldnt listen to samples (not all stores allowed that!) like on a digital store :P
quote:Originally posted by warped_candykid:
I still love my happy hardcore, and early UK Hardcore. My problem is, with the lack of regular CD releases, it just became too hard to follow the genre. Another factor that caused a problem is mp3 sites became too flooded with record labels. Too much sifting for gems. I know some labels have legit releases, but many are just...crap releases of pop song remakes.
With the absence of Hardcore CD releases, I've been collecting Eurobeat CDs.
following a scene is what radio shows and podcasts are for, by dj`s who make the tunes or regular playing at main events
Ken Masters
quote:Originally posted by Samination:
quote:Originally posted by warped_candykid:
I still love my happy hardcore, and early UK Hardcore. My problem is, with the lack of regular CD releases, it just became too hard to follow the genre. Another factor that caused a problem is mp3 sites became too flooded with record labels. Too much sifting for gems. I know some labels have legit releases, but many are just...crap releases of pop song remakes.
I like it how people complain about sifting through mp3s, when sifting through records where no different, and you couldnt listen to samples (not all stores allowed that!) like on a digital store :P
Yes but there was always some kind of quality control involved with vinyl releases. The label had to have more faith in it & the track had to have some kind of lasting appeal to warrant a vinyl release investment.
Hell! I could fart down the mic & have it up for sale quicker than it takes to pull my trousers back up!
Which brings me to anther point. Always remove trousers when recording farts, otherwise the acoustics are all wrong.
Triquatra
quote:Originally posted by Samination:
when sifting through records where no different
Disagree completely, but not for the reasons you might think!
it's not because they are Mp3s, or because it was vinyl - it's down to the fact that relatively speaking the amount of people actually making music and having it released on vinyl is so far removed from the amount today.
if the amount of people making music and releasing it was the same as back when we used to sift through vinyl in a shop there wouldn't be an issue
but my kid could randomly mash his face against the keyboard whilst his brother throws the mouse against the wall and the 1 hour 15 minute result could be cut up into 5 minute chunks and released on several pop-up labels under different names. :D
after doing that 239 times and whitewashing the entire genre with it no wonder people are just saying "**** it" :P
Hard2Get
quote:Originally posted by Triquatra:
quote:Originally posted by Hard2Get:
Those that never don't like it as much as you will 'grow out' of it.
quote of the year! :P
seriously though,
Oops. Edited. Hopefully that caused some confusion.
Otsdarva
Hardcore in the 00's decade was my favorite era, back when Bonkers was still being released and I liked the style of the mainstream back then. That's when I first got into the music and there were so many great tracks and artists and a lot of good memories attached to them for me. In 2011 when a lot of the big artists were changing styles and doing dubcore stuff I lost a lot of interest for a while and started listening only to older hardcore and getting more into Japanese hardcore and less into the UK stuff due to the direction it was going. I still haven't fully gotten back into the new scene but I still love all the old stuff. And as far as I've seen, there's some artists who have remained consistently top-tier throughout time like DJ Darwin. I'll go through phases where I stop listening to hardcore but then I always seem to come back to it later. I've mainly been listening to j-core and other genres for a while now but I still like popping into the UK scene to listen to Hardcore Underground releases
Mansy
Never.... HTID HTiD HTID HTID
Future_Shock
I wouldn't say i've "grown out" of it... I still listen to the older stuff from 2000-2005. I just don't enjoy much of the newer stuff... not sure why.
Ken Masters
quote:Originally posted by Triquatra:
quote:Originally posted by Samination:
when sifting through records where no different
but my kid could randomly mash his face against the keyboard whilst his brother throws the mouse against the wall and the 1 hour 15 minute result could be cut up into 5 minute chunks and released on several pop-up labels under different names. :D
after doing that 239 times and whitewashing the entire genre with it no wonder people are just saying "**** it" :P
Which brings us to another, somewhat controversial question. Has the digital era done more damage than good? All genres included here. In this day & age of flat pack production, you find many people involved in music (& doing well) that may not necessarily have any right to be there.
I'm not complaining, the digital age has offered me many opportunities, & having had a taste of both worlds I feel able to bring something different to the table.
In comparison to the analogue era, should I be able to release albums? Possibly. Should I be able to charge for them? Certainly not. You have to set your own boundaries & respect your knowledge. I aim, & am confident that one day I will be in a position to release music on a commercial level, but for now I'm studying, learning & respecting the craft & in turn, the people that earned their right to lay the foundations.
Triquatra
I don't think it's damaged it really,
going through 50 tracks randomly online and enjoying 5 of them is just depressing. it's just made it a bit of a ball ache looking for good stuff - to the the point where some of us don't even bother anymore and just buy HU albums :P
on a more personal note and being straight with you chaps and keeping it real (yo) - sometimes I don't listen to new music simply because it puts me off writing music myself - some of the stuff out there is *incredibly* well done.
so yeah, either depressed because too much shit, and then when you do come across great stuff is just depressing because you didn't make it. :P
</keepingitreal>
DJ Reevzy
Nope...still luving it. Having started listening to hardcore in '96 my main problem with a lot of new stuff is that it just sounds a bit boring...can't get my head around some of the crap being produced by some of the so called big guns.
Even though some of it is tedious, I gota say the whole powerstomp thing has given the scene a bit of a boost...at least the beats are bouncy and energetic...bit like hixxy...well minus the energetic bit :)
Ken Masters
quote:Originally posted by Triquatra:
I don't think it's damaged it really
Damaged may be too strong a word. Lowered the bar?
I honestly believe that a lot of the people pushing tracks these days just don't have the musical talent to be expecting payment for it. Or maybe aren't at the sort of level to be expecting payment quite yet.
Thats not to say there isn't an incredible amount of mind blowing music out there. The past couple of years have been the strongest in a long time.
For arguments sake, the flip side of having such a wide variety of music on the market can make for some new & inventive ideas. No restrictions of wether a label likes it or not. Start your own & have a go by all means, try some new ideas & have some fun, but charging for it. I'm not so sure.
CDJay
This is pretty much why I still think the HU main series comps are vital; if it can do what it must then it's a snapshot of much that is worthwhile across the board. Yay, pressure. *folds*
CDJay
warped_candykid
quote:Originally posted by Samination:
I like it how people complain about sifting through mp3s, when sifting through records where no different, and you couldnt listen to samples (not all stores allowed that!) like on a digital store :P
And don't forget, there were numerous CD outlets that featured the tracks either already on Vinyl or upcoming, so there was some advertisement for a label. There may have been fewer labels back then, but the effort put into the tracks was much more imaginative, creative, and energetic. I was fine with mp3 releases up til around 2012-ish when download sites exploded with random labels just releasing whatever. I miss how SeriousSounds had all the labels organized! All you had to do was click "Hardcore", and bam! There were all the labels and all you had to do was click.
CDJay
Okay, but last year you could just wander into our website and nab DJ Tools, HHU, etc and do fairly well. You're bemoaning a lack of UK Hardcore CDs but we released more albums last year than the previous four combined?
CDJay
silver
I'm still paying the bills for this site 16 years later :)
dj switchback
Nearly 32 and it's still my passion in life.
stompaholic
Been into hardcore since very early days of me being around 11 years old! (22 years ago) but started growing out of it around 2009ish now listen to gabber, I do still listen to hardcore every now and again though I haven't completely disowned it! Also like a bit of hard house too, but hardcore was my 1st love :)
whispering
TBH more like hardcore has grown out of me. Still like the older stuff.
Some of the new stuff is good, but increasingly harder to find from the stuff i don't like. To the point i don't actively follow the "scene" anymore, apart from this site of course.
Guest
quote:Originally posted by stompaholic:
Been into hardcore since very early days of me being around 11 years old! (22 years ago) but started growing out of it around 2009ish now listen to gabber, I do still listen to hardcore every now and again though I haven't completely disowned it! Also like a bit of hard house too, but hardcore was my 1st love :)
uk/happy hardcore is generally good for a chill out room at events
trippnface
quote:Originally posted by silver:
I'm still paying the bills for this site 16 years later :)
ty. what a boss. and you run the happy hardcore page on fb. your presence is like an omnipotent hardcore angel ;)
i haven't been groovin to hardcore since 99 or anything; but i still get the same stupid grin on my face when i hear a hardcore track and can't help but move and be filled with the holy hardcore spirit; and i can't/ don't see that going anywhere; anytime soon :) . an integral part of maintaining a day to day positive outlook and a great physical release. i love dnb & psytrance as well along with other genres; but nothing will ever hit like uk hardcore for me. when i go into a room full of people who all feel the same; it is seriously like a dream. that energy simply cannot be beat. i don't think you can grow out of loving that. my body will grow out of it long before my mind ;p
warped_candykid
quote:Originally posted by CDJay:
Okay, but last year you could just wander into our website and nab DJ Tools, HHU, etc and do fairly well. You're bemoaning a lack of UK Hardcore CDs but we released more albums last year than the previous four combined?
CDJay
That's why HU is one of my fav. labels! I was just meaning that back in the 90s/early-mid 2000s, there was just a more abundance of series: United Dance, Bonkers, Absolute Hardcore, Hardcore Heaven, Original Hardcore, Hardcore Nation, HU, etc. It was meant towards the comment that you couldn't sample vinyl in every store, but that there were still ways labels got their tracks out to the public via CDs.
Triquatra
All the stores I went in that sold vinyl had turntables so you could listen to them.
Ken Masters
quote:Originally posted by Triquatra:
All the stores I went in that sold vinyl had turntables so you could listen to them.
I really miss that :(
Guest
quote:Originally posted by Ken Masters:
quote:Originally posted by Triquatra:
All the stores I went in that sold vinyl had turntables so you could listen to them.
I really miss that :(
websites have the play button, and you can sit on your ass with a few tinnies and go through 20 pages of the back catalog in a hour
Hard2Get
You're right. The old way is better. Lol
Guest
and you can still wake up and wonder WTF`ing trash you brought
Samination
quote:Originally posted by Guest:
and you can still wake up and wonder WTF`ing trash you brought
"But the sample sounded so good" or "It sounded so good live"
Guest
quote:Originally posted by Samination:
quote:Originally posted by Guest:
and you can still wake up and wonder WTF`ing trash you brought
"But the sample sounded so good" or "It sounded so good live"
it sounded boss last night, i tell ye
Elipton
I hate to say it, but I've massively grown out of it, and I can detail quite easily when I enjoyed it and what era appealed to me the most. Hardcore thrilled me around 2007, 2008, 2009 when I was a college student. In the years after that, I produced with the ethos to recreate tracks of that style and do for others what that music did for me.
I'm not really sure what the ethos behind my productions are now. I suppose make every track an anthem and never ever make a track purposely designed to be a 'set-filler'.
Elliott
quote:Originally posted by Elipton:
I hate to say it, but I've massively grown out of it, and I can detail quite easily when I enjoyed it and what era appealed to me the most. Hardcore thrilled me around 2007, 2008, 2009 when I was a college student. In the years after that, I produced with the ethos to recreate tracks of that style and do for others what that music did for me.
I'm not really sure what the ethos behind my productions are now. I suppose make every track an anthem and never ever make a track purposely designed to be a 'set-filler'.
This is exactly me as well. Except I would prefer to say that the music changed rather than me. If tracks in the style of that era were still being made, I could see myself being into it. It was only in recent years that the style completely left me behind.
dungeonseeker
LMAO hell no i haven't, if anything my love of everything hardcore has gotten worse as i got older.
During my teens i used to listen to hardcore exclusively (be it hardcore techno, happy hardcore or gabba/technoie stuff) but as i got to 16/17 House and Trance began to emerge and i moved away from hardcore in around 99 (not entirley, i did still dip in and out from time to time) but by 2005 i was totally bored of the bland and generic horsecrap the House & Trance scene had become so I began to go back to my roots and moved back to hardcore again.
Fast forward to 2015 and I am 33 and going out to Raves at the rate of one or two a quarter, it helps that Core Blimey opened up in Crewe (which is a 10 min train ride from me) but honestly i am worse now than I ever used to be. 4 Break and old skool, happy hardcore (old skool), happy hardcore (nu skool), hardcore techno, techno, hardcore, gabba, frenchcore, schranz, hard techno, hard house, hard trance, pretty much anything thats above 140bpm with a heavy/hard/bouncy bassline and i'm a pig in shit.
For instance right now i have been awake since 5am, have to go back into work in 20 mins for the afternoon shift and am pumping out some frenchcore while this morning I was drivving into work at 5:45 with Vibes & Livelee pumping out of my stereo.
Gazcore
Hardcore Underground & Lethal theory/Powerstomp have kept my attention hardcore.
I've always liked the music but it used to be on a par with hard dance/house and trance. Now its my fave and I'm enjoying it more than ever.
I've always liked the bouncy hardcore and miss Seduction & Stormtrooper but LT have continued that sound and those cd's I look forward to the most.
I enjoy the other albums as well but tracks by artists like F&D are mixed for me, some are great but others I don't enjoy. I like Al storm, fear, klubfiller, modulate, unknown and upcoming artists like Yorkshire ripper.
Look forward to HU7 although I was slightly disappointed in the end with HU6, especially Scott Brown's mix. (HU2013 was far better IMO) - also I HATE gabber!!
Smoogie
You don't really grow out of it but tastes do change. Some tunes I was 'digging' ten years ago don't appeal to me so much now because I heard them thousands of times but its always great hearing old favourites after a long break and there are always new favourites to add to the list of music to enjoy.
I still like the same concept though, hard kicks as always and never really strayed from real Hardcore, never got into the whole Dubstep thing when it came about and still never got why 'UK Hardcore' was so popular in the first place
Hard2Get
quote:'UK Hardcore' was so popular in the first place
Given that the name change was established around 2002, you listen to a lot of it!
ponder
Essentially, yes, in the sense that I don't really follow the modern scene any more, and only have a fleeting interest in a number of artists and labels. Yet despite that, and probably due to being quite heavily invested in Hardcore throughout my teens and twenties, I still have a passion for it. I still want it to succeed and see the right people do well.
'Growing out' of it is not necessarily the right term though. If I listen to old Impact Records or Kniteforce, or early Freeform, I still get a huge buzz. I guess if anything, I've grown out of the evolution of Hardcore. Keeping up to date with the goings on combined with the politics, fall-outs and narcissism of many just wore me down and it was easier to disassociate and get back to enjoying writing and DJing as a hobby, which has eventually lead to the rebirth of the Elation events - albeit primarily focusing on classic Hardcore. Staying involved at a healthy distance is enjoyable :)
Captain Triceps
quote:Originally posted by ponder:
Essentially, yes, in the sense that I don't really follow the modern scene any more, and only have a fleeting interest in a number of artists and labels. Yet despite that, and probably due to being quite heavily invested in Hardcore throughout my teens and twenties, I still have a passion for it. I still want it to succeed and see the right people do well.
'Growing out' of it is not necessarily the right term though. If I listen to old Impact Records or Kniteforce, or early Freeform, I still get a huge buzz. I guess if anything, I've grown out of the evolution of Hardcore. Keeping up to date with the goings on combined with the politics, fall-outs and narcissism of many just wore me down and it was easier to disassociate and get back to enjoying writing and DJing as a hobby, which has eventually lead to the rebirth of the Elation events - albeit primarily focusing on classic Hardcore. Staying involved at a healthy distance is enjoyable :)
Will Elation be releasing music again too?
ponder
If we do it'll be for free.
Captain Triceps
quote:Originally posted by ponder:
If we do it'll be for free.
Belting, here's hoping!
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