Who's heard of Happy Hardcroe ?

Mr_Lee_PHDMr_Lee_PHD 2,042 Posts
edited February 2006 in Strut Central
Did Happy Hardcore ever hit the US or anywhere else?Listen to this audio stream [/b]to get an idea of the schitt I mean.For a while between 96 and 99, I was into Fantazia, Dreamscape & Helter Skelter - big-ass dance events held in venues where 10,000 ecstacy dropping, rainbow whistle and horn blowing ravers wearing white gloves could come together and dance their asses off non-stop to 165-180 BPM for 12 hours.It was some crazy schitt. 20 thousand people all in one place. Huge amounts of drugs blatantly being dealt to everyone in hours of queues waiting to get into the venue.You'd have each DJ do a one hour set and an MC who didn't really have a lyrical flow as such - usually just stood there giving shouts to various crews from all over the UK (as per in the clip), hyping up the crowd saying whatever came into their head - normally giving respect to the whistle crew and the horns massif.It was weird though. Not that many people were into it, but it was the biggest small following (??) there was within the uk music scene, which is what made it so great to be a part of.Anyway, did Happy Hardcroe ever land in the US or anywhere else?B/w Did any UK heads attend any?
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  • calling PLUR

  • 20 thousand people all in one place.

    It was weird though. Not that many people were into it

  • 20 thousand people all in one place.

    It was weird though. Not that many people were into it

    It hit down here pretty hard. Still going on out in the suburbs. Big events.
    I'm amazed they haven't run out of glow sticks & teddy bear packpacks yet.

    Mostly little kids who like day-glo outfits & horrendous music... Not something i'd be proud of posting up a thread on...

    Better that than Dutch Gabba I suppose.. omg!!!

  • 20 thousand people all in one place.

    It was weird though. Not that many people were into it

    You know what I meeeeaaan... Within the context of the whole of the UK or whatever - it was like nobody knew about it, but you'd get there and there were shitloads of people from all over the place. The average joe wouldn't have heard of it though.

    I'm not saying the music was that great. It was definitely a phase never to be repeated. In much the same way as looking back on say, hip house.

    Even so, putting the wackness aside - being at one of them among thousands of people off their tits on ecstasy was definitely an experience, put it that way.



  • Better that than Dutch Gabba I suppose.. omg!!!

    This was massive in the northen UK and Scotland ! A lot of people made and lost large amounts of money on these events...

  • Oh yeah, Hardcore in all it's forms hit the US. It was much bigger during the rave heydays back in the early to mid 90s. Since it's been my lot in life to be the token hip hop guy at every record store job I've had, I got a lot of exposure to this stuff when I was in LA.

    Ron D. Core
    Omar Santana
    R.A.W.
    Dr. Freeclouds

    these were some of the bigger hardcore DJs in LA at the time. R.A.W. is kinda interesting, because he's actually a jungle DJ with hip hop roots, but because fools were willing to pay him $4K for a 2 hour set, he got a bigger rep at the time doing hardcore.

  • When i was on collage radio Dude who was on after me played what he called happy
    Hardcore. Said it was any music over 180 bpm's or some crazy shit like that...

    Can't say I ever liked it, but then again it is the kind of music that can only be
    truely appreciated in the club...

  • PLURPLUR 28 Posts
    Did Happy Hardcore ever hit the US or anywhere else?

    Listen to this audio stream [/b]to get an idea of the schitt I mean.

    For a while between 96 and 99, I was into Fantazia, Dreamscape & Helter Skelter - big-ass dance events held in venues where 10,000 ecstacy dropping, rainbow whistle and horn blowing ravers wearing white gloves could come together and dance their asses off non-stop to 165-180 BPM for 12 hours.

    It was some crazy schitt. 20 thousand people all in one place. Huge amounts of drugs blatantly being dealt to everyone in hours of queues waiting to get into the venue.

    You'd have each DJ do a one hour set and an MC who didn't really have a lyrical flow as such - usually just stood there giving shouts to various crews from all over the UK (as per in the clip), hyping up the crowd saying whatever came into their head - normally giving respect to the whistle crew and the horns massif.

    It was weird though. Not that many people were into it, but it was the biggest small following (??) there was within the uk music scene, which is what made it so great to be a part of.

    Anyway, did Happy Hardcroe ever land in the US or anywhere else?

    B/w

    Did any UK heads attend any?




    BREAKZ in tha house!!! Reprezent for tha Happ-E Hardkore sound yallz!!!!!

    I ramember at Space Innersteller Jam 5 in 1996 i waz in the Happ-E Hardkore rooom with my frend Bill and hhiis frend Butterflie. THE BREAKZ were awesum!!! Some1 had some K, u no, Ketazine, trankwilizers for cats and was soooooooo f'ed up GUYZ, I mean todally! Sumhow i got my elaphant pants stuk in tha smoke machine wile i was likwid dansing and i todally caut on fire guyz! I mean 4 reel! it took me a miinut 2 notice the flamez and i started having bigg bigg flamez on my jnco pantz and as i was twirling around my pantz hit Bills pantz and he waz on fire 2!!! pretty soon all the BREAKZ headz were up in flamez!!! The fire department had 2 hose us down and the hole rave got shut down. Craz-e thingz can happen wen the breakz starrt pumping guyz!! Happ-E Hardcore for life. Soulstrut alwayz reppresenting 4 that breakz!


  • mylatencymylatency 10,475 Posts
    "K-hole" = = not a fun place to be?

    haha, connections being made on the daily in this forum

  • LamontLamont 1,089 Posts
    I'm sure the northern soul scene had their share of nutty ravers back in the heydays.


    And I'm all for expanding your mind with illegal chemicals but once you see someone racking up the biggest line of coke ever in front of 35000 people and security... Makes you wanna pull the plug on the planet. And work very focused the day after.



    Btw UK hardcore was the basis for jungle in the early nineties, right ? I wanna hear some of dat schitt.

  • all my knowledge of happy hardcore comes from hangin out with aZn'ed-out chicks in their fixed-up and dropped down acura integras who blasted some insanely hyper-ass beats accompanied by chipmunk-esque vocals (san gabriel valley headz know the deal). the cd cases were usually labeld "happy hardcore mix 23" or something to that effect, so i assumed thats exactly what it was. is that what most of it is like? because never in my wildest dreams did i imagine that any other demographic (aZn rice rocket ladies) listened to that genre. i'm not hating, its just the image i have locked in my mind when i hear those sounds...

  • canonicalcanonical 2,100 Posts
    All I remember from Happy Hardcore was that it was fucking horrible. Objectively[/b].

  • I'm sure the northern soul scene had their share of nutty ravers back in the heydays.

    Blatantly.

    Happy Hardcore was complete shit - Fact. Thats why we spent 90% of the night in the drum and bass warehouse. Hands down the better of the two.

    Music aside - In terms of the experience, it probably wasn't much unlike what those cats were doing at Wigan Casino & Blackpool Mecca.

    You're not going to experience something like that in many places.




  • Btw UK hardcore was the basis for jungle in the early nineties, right ? I wanna hear some of dat schitt.

    werd. I can't really get behind happy hardcore as a genra. But early 'ardcore you know the score, mos def. Hip hop/funk purists will snicker (or set up fake alias) but I have a nice lil' crate of ravey joints and always looking for more. Its not for everybody, but the shit is retarded. People were making records to be played on very large soundsystems for very large crowds on very large amounts of drugs. Combine all those elements and you will definitely find some fucked up records out there. I wasn't really up on this back in the day but I grab OGs/reiss's when I see 'em. A few faves:

    2 Bad Mice 'Bombscare'
    Remarc and Lew Cifer 'Da Vibes'
    Doc Scott 'Surgery'
    Smart E's 'Seseme Treats'

    $??

  • I used to sell weed to this major looking hippie kid way back in the day. He was pretty young. Maybe 17 or so. Long hair, 'stach, hemp clothes, etc. So he tells me about a show and I agree to drive him there. Didn't have anything else going that night so I agree without asking many questions. I pull up to his house that night to pick him up and he walks up dressed up with glow sticks, razer baggy pants, etc. I was bugged out. Never pictured this kid like this. We start driving and about a mile later the rear-end in my car blows up.

  • BigSpliffBigSpliff 3,266 Posts


    Btw UK hardcore was the basis for jungle in the early nineties, right ? I wanna hear some of dat schitt.

    werd. I can't really get behind happy hardcore as a genra. But early 'ardcore you know the score, mos def. Hip hop/funk purists will snicker (or set up fake alias) but I have a nice lil' crate of ravey joints and always looking for more. Its not for everybody, but the shit is retarded. People were making records to be played on very large soundsystems for very large crowds on very large amounts of drugs. Combine all those elements and you will definitely find some fucked up records out there. I wasn't really up on this back in the day but I grab OGs/reiss's when I see 'em. A few faves:

    2 Bad Mice 'Bombscare' 2 Bad Mice
    Remarc and Lew Cifer 'Da Vibes' Ju-Ju - Happy Dance
    Doc Scott 'Surgery' Ragga Twins - Hooligan 69
    Smart E's 'Seseme Treats' Rum n Black - Tablet Man

    $??


  • SPlDEYSPlDEY Vegas 3,375 Posts
    Calling 8-bit. The best damn Elizabethtown loving happy hardcore dj in las vegas.

    - spidey



  • 2 Bad Mice 'Bombscare' 2 Bad Mice
    Remarc and Lew Cifer 'Da Vibes' Ju-Ju - Happy Dance
    Doc Scott 'Surgery' Ragga Twins - Hooligan 69
    Smart E's 'Seseme Treats' Rum n Black - Tablet Man

    $??


    Hey now, PLUR out man...

    Ragga Twins have some dope shit. Also check Rebel MC. Later he was the main dude behind Congo Natty, and put out some quality ragga jungle in the mid-late 90's, but his early 90s braekbeat shit is tight.

    $??

  • BigSpliffBigSpliff 3,266 Posts


    2 Bad Mice 'Bombscare' 2 Bad Mice
    Remarc and Lew Cifer 'Da Vibes' Ju-Ju - Happy Dance
    Doc Scott 'Surgery' Ragga Twins - Hooligan 69
    Smart E's 'Seseme Treats' Rum n Black - Tablet Man

    $??


    Hey now, PLUR out man...

    Ragga Twins have some dope shit. Also check Rebel MC. Later he was the main dude behind Congo Natty, and put out some quality ragga jungle in the mid-late 90's, but his early 90s braekbeat shit is tight.

    $??

    mmyeah, I have the Rebel MC w/ Tenor Fly and the Barrington Levi - Under Mi Sensi and they didn't age half as well as most of the Ragga Twins and Shut Up & Dance output.

    Who's got a Blapps Posse (1990 press) they wanna trade me?

  • DJBombjackDJBombjack Miami 1,665 Posts
    I got into some of that stuff around 90-91. Real early shit like Shut Up & Dance, Pete The Bouncer, The Prodigy, 2 Bad Mice, the first few XL recordings etc. Hardcore was born out of the fast-tempo hip hop scene in the UK, then became Jungle which then became Drum & Bass.

    Shut Up & Dance were pretty much responsible for the birth of it all though (well, in my opinion).

    Listen here

  • JuniorJunior 4,853 Posts
    All I remember from Happy Hardcore was that it was fucking horrible. Objectively[/b].

    Cosign. I remember going to some Hardcore event and about half way through they started playing Happy Hardcore. My instant reaction was "this is shit, I'm done with this music", walked out the club and never looked back.

  • BsidesBsides 4,244 Posts
    You guys are talking about techno right?

  • FlomotionFlomotion 2,390 Posts
    All I remember from Happy Hardcore was that it was fucking horrible. Objectively[/b].

    Cosign. I remember going to some Hardcore event and about half way through they started playing Happy Hardcore. My instant reaction was "this is shit, I'm done with this music", walked out the club and never looked back.

    Yup. My one and only Fantazia party was a big, big summer bash summer in 1992 and I can only describe it as a 12 hour nightmare of beefed-up europop, bad techno and 2nd rate speeded up house music, despite my heroic drug consumption. I think that scene was always about being commercial, not underground - huge amounts of money being made off the drugs and ticket prices. You would never listen to that music outside a party environment when you're not ripped to the tits and I don't think that any of those tunes have stood the test of time.

    BREAKZ in tha house!!! Reprezent for tha Happ-E Hardkore sound yallz!!!!!

    I ramember at Space Innersteller Jam 5 in 1996 i waz in the Happ-E Hardkore rooom with my frend Bill and hhiis frend Butterflie. THE BREAKZ were awesum!!! Some1 had some K, u no, Ketazine, trankwilizers for cats and was soooooooo f'ed up GUYZ, I mean todally! Sumhow i got my elaphant pants stuk in tha smoke machine wile i was likwid dansing and i todally caut on fire guyz! I mean 4 reel! it took me a miinut 2 notice the flamez and i started having bigg bigg flamez on my jnco pantz and as i was twirling around my pantz hit Bills pantz and he waz on fire 2!!! pretty soon all the BREAKZ headz were up in flamez!!! The fire department had 2 hose us down and the hole rave got shut down. Craz-e thingz can happen wen the breakz starrt pumping guyz!! Happ-E Hardcore for life. Soulstrut alwayz reppresenting 4 that breakz!




  • You would never listen to that music outside a party environment when you're not ripped to the tits and I don't think that any of those tunes have stood the test of time.

    Very true.

    I remember at the Sanctuary I put some money in Ribena machine (enough for one) and about 12 came out, so I was giving them out to people and then there was this speed freak stood lookin at me like ....



    ... so I was like 'Here have one of these mang', and the dude was so grateful that he just stood there pointing at the box and shaking like feck.

    Then he fainted and the music was stopped for him to be stretchered out.


  • FlomotionFlomotion 2,390 Posts
    You would never listen to that music outside a party environment when you're not ripped to the tits and I don't think that any of those tunes have stood the test of time.

    Very true.

    I remember at the Sanctuary I put some money in Ribena machine (enough for one) and about 12 came out, so I was giving them out to people and then there was this speed freak stood lookin at me like ....



    ... so I was like 'Here have one of these mang', and the dude was so grateful that he just stood there pointing at the box and shaking like feck.

    Then he fainted and the music was stopped for him to be stretchered out.



  • AserAser 2,351 Posts
    I'm not saying the music was that great. It was definitely a phase never to be repeated. In much the same way as looking back on say, hip house.

    I am cringing at the disservice this statement is to hip house.

    augh, just cringe worthy.

    for reasons unexplainable to me, a local dj from Toronto by the name of Anabolic Frolic is most responsible for happy hardcore's niche market in N. America. His series of mix cd's on the now defunct Moonshine Music (recall their lavish ad campaigns in Urb circa mid to late 90's) are their best selling titles ever. I still can't figure this one out because they managed to release mixes by some of the biggest club/rave circuit dj's during that time (carl cox/dj dan) yet some relatively local from Toronto outsells them all. Fans of the genre can be rabid to say the least, which also aptly describes the frantic dancing involved.

    the music is plain godawful, right up there w/ rotterdam techno. Yuck.......

  • I'm not saying the music was that great. It was definitely a phase never to be repeated. In much the same way as looking back on say, hip house.

    I am cringing at the disservice this statement is to hip house.

    augh, just cringe worthy.

    You want a hip house revival ?

    BAN !!

  • BsidesBsides 4,244 Posts
    I'm not saying the music was that great. It was definitely a phase never to be repeated. In much the same way as looking back on say, hip house.

    I am cringing at the disservice this statement is to hip house.

    augh, just cringe worthy.

    You want a hip house revival ?

    BAN !!



    hip house is probably better than whatever it is your talking about.

    Hell, the epmd song at the end of strictly buisiness is probably better than the music you are talking about.

    At least less manskirts were involved!


  • AserAser 2,351 Posts
    Already happened hommie, you are disconnected from the mixtape streets.




  • hip house is probably better than whatever it is your talking about.

    True.
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