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toml123
New Member
United Kingdom
65 posts
Joined: Dec, 2011
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 Posted - 2015/04/13 : 17:49:53
Mine starts way back in 96 when i was 4/5 years old, My elder brother who i shared a room with would often play helter skelter tapes on his hifi, Fond memories of Vibes&Livelee,Force&Styles, Ratpack, And Sy run through my entire childhood until i became hooked myself, At the grand old age of 13 onwards i started using my pocket money to buy albums such as hardcore heaven, Clubland xtreme hardcore, And many others, Putting a true meaning to "born hardcore". What are Your earliest memories? Lets hear Your stories!
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arpz
Advanced Member
United Kingdom
1,267 posts
Joined: Aug, 2012
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 Posted - 2015/04/13 : 17:58:38
I think I might've posted this before in another thread but my introduction to hardcore came around when a friend came to my house and took a liking to a tango doll that was in my room
I think I might've been 13 or something and I'd gotten this doll by calling some number on the back of a bottle or whatever. Anyway, he asked me 'do you like that music that they play at the fair?', I said I did and he said that his brother had a pack of tapes which he would liberate for me in return for the tango doll. So I did it, the pack was Dreamscape 15v16 which was a couple of years old at the time and missing a couple of tapes but I was hooked. I went and bought Dreamscape 22 a few weekends later :)
Seriously has to be the best swap ever, I wouldn't change it for the world
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soundcloud - http://soundcloud.com/arpz // site -
http://arps.io
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Edited by - arpz on 2015/04/13 17:59:01 |
warped_candykid
Advanced Member
United States
3,934 posts
Joined: Jan, 2004
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Posted - 2015/04/18 : 15:33:19
It was 2001/02...I was with my aunt and her husband at Wal-Mart in Murphy, NC. I was walking down the CD aisle and saw these cute green smiley faces smiling at me. I picked up the CD and read,
"Happy2bHardcore: Chapter 4. 15 happy hardcore breakbeat techno anthems continuously mixed by Anabolic Frolic"
I was just becoming obsessed with edm and was like, "I'll give this a listen." So I scanned it on the CD sample things Wal-Mart use to have, and just felt this big burst energy hit my ears! Space Odyssey 2001 (Vinylgroover's Remix) was the first track, and then Love of Life was the next sample...I feel in love instantly! I was like..."THIS is my music!" And thus began my journey into the genre.
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SparkzMusic
Senior Member
Zimbabwe
334 posts
Joined: Apr, 2011
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Posted - 2015/04/18 : 16:31:45
My school bus back in 1997!!!!
I was only a year 7 but the year 11's on the bus were into happy core.
I had always been into the faster "pop" music so 1 day when 1 of the year 11's asked the bus driver if he could put a tape on via the main bus tape player and the driver said yes, I was amazed at how brilliant this music was. I asked 1 of the year 11's what tape it was and all I was told is that it's Dreamscape. 1 of the tapes was Slipmatt at dreamscape 24 yet I didn't find out the genre was Happy Hardcore until a year later.
I remember around that time I had to walk a bit of a distance from where the bus drops kids off to get home. This 1 house seemed to always play tape packs. I recall walking past a few times hearing techno wonderland and "This is the vibes and livelee show" blasting out of the window.
My first potential purchase was a year or 2 later. I had saved up some cash and went to woolworths to see what they had. I picked up a hardcore heaven CD album but as I was walking to the tills I saw a bargain basket of mega drive games.... I ended up buying Fifa 96 and a few other games instead. I did make a purchase of a different hard CD album 6 months later though.
As for actual raves... I have never had friends that like uk/happy hardcore. The first rave I went to was quite possibly seeing Stompy live when I was 14/15. A top night but my friends spent the entire night in the hip-hop room and I was raving alone.
Aside from that I have been to maybe 40 events between 2002 and 2006. Each time, I went on my own to support the scene as my friends either couldn't be bothered to go or hated the music. I was always the first in and last out but that meant I was sinking 12+ pints each time and embarrassing myself. I stopped raving in 2006 because I couldn't cope with embarrassing myself anymore.
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Edited by - SparkzMusic on 2015/04/18 16:44:59 |
Hard2Get
Advanced Member
United Kingdom
12,837 posts
Joined: Jun, 2001
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Posted - 2015/04/18 : 18:40:34
quote:
Originally posted by arpz:
I think I might've posted this before in another thread but my introduction to hardcore came around when a friend came to my house and took a liking to a tango doll that was in my room
I think I might've been 13 or something and I'd gotten this doll by calling some number on the back of a bottle or whatever. Anyway, he asked me 'do you like that music that they play at the fair?', I said I did and he said that his brother had a pack of tapes which he would liberate for me in return for the tango doll. So I did it, the pack was Dreamscape 15v16 which was a couple of years old at the time and missing a couple of tapes but I was hooked. I went and bought Dreamscape 22 a few weekends later :)
Seriously has to be the best swap ever, I wouldn't change it for the world
That doll looks like he's had a few too many disco biscuits.
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Triquatra
Moderator
United Kingdom
12,635 posts
Joined: Nov, 2003
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Posted - 2015/04/18 : 19:55:06
So my story is a little jagged and gap-filled.
1996, 12 years old, I lived on an island off england. No internet back then and few visits to mainland england left you with basically whatever Radio One were playing. Despite the isolation, I was heavily into Dance music (thank you Dave Pearce/Pete Tong/Danny Rampling). But one evening I turned on the radio and a crazy fast piece of music was playing that had samples from The Mask in it - loved it. Managed to get a recording of it on cassette tape and over played it, never got bored. Eventually that same radio show played another fast piece of music featuring Firework samples (thank you John Peel)
GL2 and Selecta - Incognito and Force and Styles - Fireworks (Original Mix).
No idea what genre they were at the time, but loved them, didn't hear anything like it again.
1997, Until a holiday to mainland England later, when I bought "Dance Zone Level 5"...Mark Oh - Tears Don't Lie was on it. Again, there's this fast music I can't place my finger on. We stop at a campsite called Skelwith Fold in the lake district and some kid I make friends (James) with is listening to a cassette player "Can I have a listen" - turns out it's this same fast music. Of Course I ask him where the hell I get this so called "Hardcore Heaven" cassette tape. Now I know I'm looking for something called "Happy Hardcore".
I go home to the island, and hear nothing about it for another year or so.
1998, new kid starts at school who came from Scotland, knows about it. Tells me I'm supposed to look out for a magazine called "M8", but that you can only really get it in Scotland and it's hard to find in England. As luck would have it, the family holiday off the island was to Scotland that year. I pick up a copy of M8 from a Scottish Car Service station and right on the front is a CD "Off Yer Nut Vol 2 Sampler, Mixed By Fury".
Inside were big adverts for a CD series called "Bonkers" and a mail order service from a company called "Stage One".
Signed up to Stage One mail order and recived an offer in the post for "10CDs for 10GBP"
I remember the box arriving, very excited as 10 (happy hardcore) Compilations for a tenner was an absolute bargain back then.
When they arrived they had shoved even more than 10 in there, I was over the moon.
Whenever Dad went over to the mainland he'd always bring me back a Bonkers, until I had all 6.
Every other year we used to take trips to Holland, where, as luck would have it, they were basically throwing away all their happy hardcore CDs and I came back with huge bags full of Hakkeh/real hardcore and other Arcade nonsense.
Then I moved to mainland UK for college when I was 16 in 2000/1. Disappointed as nobody seemed to be selling hardcore compilations.
Plus I lived in Cornwall, which was never (and still isn't) big on happy hardcore. I saw Bonkers 8 in the shops but never bought it as I was a student and was basically spilling all my money into Vinyl and Food. No new happy hardcore vinyl was being stocked in our record store so it was all Hard House and Trance...plus every time I picked it up I saw it had a "Best of" cd on it, and basically assumed it was just a "classics" cd. 17GBP would buy me 4 or 5 slabs of vinyl so I kept opting for the vinyl.
2003 (ish) 18 years old, I was bumming around in college came across this site called...erm...Phusion Records? Who had an mp3 sample of Scott Brown Vs Brisk - Do Not Attempt. Ordered it straight away......From America.
Seriously. For some reason I was unable to find anywhere else stocking it. My wife at the time had gotten into DJing and happy hardcore, I told her there was a Bonkers 8 out but that I hadn't bought it. SHE then informed me that there had been even more released and she went off and bought Bonkers 8, 9 and 10. By this time I had moved to the USA and I didn't hear them till I got there. Amazed. Loved it.
Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiilariously I had managed to move from England where Hardcore was about to take off again, to the USA, where it would still be another 6 or 7 years till even dance music would get to the point in the US which it reached in the UK around about 1988.
As soon as Dance music became recognised as "a thing" in the US, I had moved back to the UK - Just as happy hardcore was starting to take a back seat again.
SO what, now I wait another 11 years for the musical rotation?!?! :D I'm bored. You get a novel.
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http://www.hardcoreunderground.co.uk/ - http://CLSM.net -
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Edited by - Triquatra on 2015/04/18 19:55:56 |
Captain Triceps
Advanced Member
United Kingdom
2,184 posts
Joined: Dec, 2011
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Posted - 2015/04/18 : 20:33:48
Fuck off back to the States. It could do with picking up here.
Cheers.
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Some of my remixes, original tracks and mixes here:
https://soundcloud.com/bradders-tracks-and-remix
https://soundcloud.com/bradders1982
https://soundcloud.com/paulbradley1982
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Triquatra
Moderator
United Kingdom
12,635 posts
Joined: Nov, 2003
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Posted - 2015/04/18 : 20:37:59
Lol!!!
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http://www.hardcoreunderground.co.uk/ - http://CLSM.net -
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johnnygomental
Average Member
United Kingdom
192 posts
Joined: Feb, 2012
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Posted - 2015/04/19 : 06:55:21
Not as in depth as Triqs autobiography 😝 but one of my 1st tapepacks (my first actual HH comp was off yer nut 2x cassette) was Helter skelter anthology and I bought it from a mate when I was 14 for a whole ?1!!! Still cherish it now and im 29. Probably best pack ive got
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djDMS
Advanced Member
United Kingdom
10,304 posts
Joined: Feb, 2003
572 hardcore releases
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Posted - 2015/04/19 : 08:36:20
Think I preferred it when Rowan didn't have Internet...
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Taking my time to perfect the beat
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wong
Advanced Member
United Kingdom
2,991 posts
Joined: Feb, 2006
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Posted - 2015/04/19 : 09:01:08
house party in 2003 i 1st heard it, was off my tits on illicit substances and fell in love with it instantly. might of been bonkers 10 that was put on? cant remember, but loved it and went out and spent shitloads on all the bonkers cd's and hardcore heaven cd's etc ....
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intensify the treatment
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Hard2Get
Advanced Member
United Kingdom
12,837 posts
Joined: Jun, 2001
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Posted - 2015/04/19 : 09:08:30
That sounds like a great way to discover Hardcore. Or any music really
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Captain Triceps
Advanced Member
United Kingdom
2,184 posts
Joined: Dec, 2011
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Posted - 2015/04/19 : 09:41:09
Go on, I'll write my essay now.
I first became aware of the music because my uncle was a raver, used to go to Kinetic every weekend, had a million tapes and was always talking about DJ Vibes.
I didn't like hardcore music at first, because at my school you had to be bit of a twat, the geekier ones (ie, me) weren't meant to be into that type of stuff. We used to laugh at the ridiculous speed, high pitched vocals, just seemed like joke music. This was about 1995.
A mate came into school with a CD (for his DiscMan!), it was The Sound Of Happycore 97. I was disappointed in him at first, why was he listening to music those arseholes were into?
Then I had a proper listen. I borrowed the album and recorded it to tape. I'd never heard anything like it, I imagined it was all du-du-du-du-du*chipmunk vocal* du du du du and nothing else. I'd also never been away of 'mixing', and to this day I maintain this is one of the best mixes I've ever heard by anyone. It's from this point I decided I wanted to be a DJ.
I wasn't quite aware that vinyl was still being used, so how the tunes were actually mixed like that, I just assumed was done in some studio with high tech machinery. I didn't really believe my mates at first when they were talking about 'turntables'.
My first attempts at mixing involved two portable stereos next to each other, sat close to another hifi and the record button pressed. As well as awful quality music, there was lots of clicking and opening noises, and the occasional fade out from one track to another. I was furious any time someone would walk into my room and ruin everything.
I used to buy tapes off a lad at school, a complete prick he was but he used to sell me tapes for about a quid each. A lot of them were fucked, which is probably why he sold them but some of them were huge influences and I still have them now.
My parents (especially my mum) didn't approve of this rave music, banned me from going to any raves because of my uncle being a pilled up nutter (I was 14 and wouldn't have gone anyway). They thought (thankfully) that it was a phase, and bought me a few albums on my birthday and Christmas. One was Bonkers 3, the other was an album called The Best of Happy Hardcore.
I was well disappointed with Best of Happy Hardcore, it just sounded like jungle, no banging stuff like I knew about. It's one of the best value albums ever, 40 unmixed tracks from 1993-1995 and I didn't fully appreciate it for a couple of years.
The first tape pack I ever bought was Hardcore Heaven - Independance Day from 1998. Every tape was awesome, and the Hixxy set still gets some caning even now.
Every tape pack I ever bought I always made a point of listening to Vibes' tape first (if he was on).
The first vinyl record I bought was Triple J - Follow The Sun (Force & Styles and Hixxy & Sunset Regime remixes). I nicked my grandma's old hi-fi for the record player and now thought I was a DJ.
The first mixing system I had was an all in one twin CD & mixer - no pitch control on the CD players, horrid big clicky plastic buttons that took about half a second to react. I spent bloody ages working out which tunes (from the limited amount available on CD) actually went together, which was nearly none. My parents bought me turntables when I was 17. A year or so later I got a shitty Homemix CD mixer, better then the one I had but still crap.
Didn't put me off though, and by this time hardcore as seen as a joke, barely any releases, the DJs only playing anthems from yesterday, any new albums were just anthem bashing. All my mates used to take the piss, and couldn't appreciate my excitement at things like Energy 2001 and Bonkers 8. I remember the buzz on USH.net, after a couple of years of, well, nothing, suddenly it was full of enthusiasm.
By now I was working, and still living at home, and hadn't really embraced other music yet - so all my spare money went into buying hardcore. I even got a credit card for the sole purpose of buying records from IMO. There is a shop here that used to sell second hand hardcore vinyl, and stocked any new tape packs, so every Friday or Saturday I was there. They also sold other rave stuff and clothes. I never did drugs so it was odd being around all these bongs and grinders and snorting things, all I was interested in was music and couldn't grasp why a record store would sell this stuff. (Naive kid!)
Because I had no real mates into the music at the time, I missed out on going to most big events. First one I did go to was in the mid 2000s, can't quite remember what the even was called but it was local and Vibes and Livelee were booked (replaced at the last minute by Stu Allan, which I was gutted about but he did play mostly happy hardcore for us). I seem to remember Breeze & Styles did a 2 hour back to back set with Storm. There was a lass trying her hardest to touch Storm, he was walking along the stage shaking hands and tagging everyone, except this one girl, he kept missing her (perhaps intentionally?). Anyway she got into a huff and elbowed me right in the mouth. Where I had my whistle. Which then broke, and my lip and gums were bleeding for a while. Which I weren't over the moon about.
No girlfriend I've ever had has appreciated the music, although one ex did tag along to a rave once. Always been a bit disappointed by their lack of enthusiasm, but I hardly felt the same about their music (chart R&B, anyone??)
I've not been to an event in a few years as I now have kids, so naturally money and time are tight but if it were very local then probably I'd go. I'm also badly asthmatic (which has only got worse over the years) so I'd likely spend the night as a wheezing wreck! I mostly attend ska & reggae events now anyway, if anything.
I still play hardcore most days and still buy records when I can. I don't buy MP3s to the extent I used to but still buy several a month.
My favourite DJ was always Vibes, and I was close to heartbroken when I realised he was rarely being booked for the main room at big events.
Probably my favourite set is Vibes & Livelee at Dreamscape 22.
My favourite tune from the happy hardcore era was always DJ Demo - You're Mine (Slipmatt remix).
When I first got into the music, I didn't know so many of them were rip-offs or remixes. I genuinely believed, when I heard the original of something for the first time, that they nicked it from hardcore.
I once had intercourse with my ex to the entirety of Sharkeys Bonkers 3 mix pitched up on a CD deck. Don't know which of us was more fuced.
I don't care what anyone says about USH, it was the best hardcore forum (perhaps not at the end) and just from the waffle board alone and it's wide range of regular users, I learnt so much about all sorts, and had great laughs, I'd possibly even be a different person without it. Facebook just doesn't do it.
If it weren't for getting into this music, I might not have been DJing now. It's not the same, but I was a mobile DJ for about 10 years, used to play clubs around town, and I still play on a weekly basis at my local pub (much prefer this - decent people, proper music, not chart piss). I had a radio show on Preston FM (community radio) for a good few years, where hardcore got a fair bit of play on my show. Wouldn't mind doing radio again actually.
I know this is more of a life story then 'memories', and I've probably missed several important bits. but well, there you have it.
__________________________________
Some of my remixes, original tracks and mixes here:
https://soundcloud.com/bradders-tracks-and-remix
https://soundcloud.com/bradders1982
https://soundcloud.com/paulbradley1982
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Triquatra
Moderator
United Kingdom
12,635 posts
Joined: Nov, 2003
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Posted - 2015/04/19 : 10:49:26
quote:
Originally posted by djDMS:
Think I preferred it when Rowan didn't have Internet...
Haha! I don't, I'm wasting precious mhz on a 3g dongle here...once my allowance is reached I'm buggered until BT puts a line into our house.
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Triquatra/Bee Trax/Cuttlefish
http://www.hardcoreunderground.co.uk/ - http://CLSM.net -
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djDMS
Advanced Member
United Kingdom
10,304 posts
Joined: Feb, 2003
572 hardcore releases
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Posted - 2015/04/19 : 11:15:47
It's pretty shocking how long it takes to get Internet set up after a move or change of providers.
Of course, there was none of this in the early 90's when I first started listening to Hardcore....
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Taking my time to perfect the beat
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Triquatra
Moderator
United Kingdom
12,635 posts
Joined: Nov, 2003
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Posted - 2015/04/19 : 12:19:12
:D
it's a brand new house is the problem, only completed about a week before we moved in. There are no phone lines anywhere here!
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Triquatra/Bee Trax/Cuttlefish
http://www.hardcoreunderground.co.uk/ - http://CLSM.net -
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