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BeFree
Starting Member
United Kingdom
1 post
Joined: Sep, 2025
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 Posted - 2025/09/13 : 06:06:06
So how can SMD1 be the first happy hardcore tune when Elevation - Can You Feel It exists ? Is it because it goes too dark to be HH ?
Also, both Force Mass Motion - Panic, and Space Cube - Session existed early 1993.
Just curious, what am I missing ? I presume it has to be the continuous happy sound rather than going dark ? Although to me Panic fits that bill, although lack of piano perhaps for that one.
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htid_4_life
Senior Member
United Kingdom
325 posts
Joined: Jun, 2016
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Posted - 2025/10/07 : 19:02:28
I remember being eight years old when my mate’s brother played me a Helter Skelter tape of Vinylgroover mixing Elevation – Can You Feel It (Mutation Mix). I still go back to that mix and that track now and then, just to relive that moment.
When it comes to identifying the first true “Happy Hardcore” track, things get complicated. The early sounds were very close to standard rave and jungle, with so many producers using the Amen break and similar elements. Some might argue that Trip to Trumpton by Urban Hype (1992) fits the bill, as it had all the right ingredients: a remix of something cheesy, energetic drops, playful samples, the right BPM and kick patterns, and that unmistakable technical character. Others could make a case for Lenny De Ice – We Are I.E. from 1991.
It really depends on how you define “happy.” For me, the genuinely uplifting and euphoric sound came between 1994 to around 1998 or 1999, when everything felt brighter and more melodic. Some people say that began with JDS – Higher Love in 1995, but I think it started a little earlier. Tracks like The Time Frequency – The Hardcore Bounce from 1994 already carried that happy, upbeat energy.
If you go further back, the scene was more of a mix between jungle and hardcore. Some will tell you that the first hardcore tune was Meat Beat Manifesto – Radio Babylon from 1990, but for me, that particular sound goes back even further to Renegade Sound – The Phantom in 1989. The late 80s were difficult to define because so much of the music was still evolving out of acid house, which laid the foundations for hardcore. LD Jam Inc – Uptown Dub from 1989, for instance, sits right on that border between acid and the emerging hardcore sound. That’s what makes it so tricky to pinpoint, because everything was morphing from one scene into the next; acid to rave, then jungle and hardcore. For me, the first truly “happy” sound didn’t arrive until around 1994. Even the earlier tracks still carried traces of acid house, like Acen – Trip II the Moon.
As for the truly happy-sounding ones, that’s another challenge. When you listen to Rhythm Quest – Closer To All Your Dreams (Piano Mix) from 1992, it actually sounds far happier than many tracks that came out in 1995.
So my answer would be this: for hardcore, Meat Beat Manifesto – Radio Babylon; for happy, Rhythm Quest – Closer To All Your Dreams (Piano Mix); and for that distinctive mid-90s happy hardcore sound, The Time Frequency – The Hardcore Bounce. Still, there were plenty of 1993 releases that leaned toward that mid-90s sound, so it’s never really fixed. The truth is, the whole thing was constantly evolving and that’s exactly what made it so much fun. Thats why there was never a first. One track had elements of this, but another track before had elements of that, then another would have bits of this and others similar to that. It was just a huge evolution that happened.
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Edited by - htid_4_life on 2025/10/07 19:06:04 |
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