Generally speaking, dance music has experienced 3 distinct stages of breakbeat...

THE MUSIC
First of all we had Breakbeat House from 1989-1991. This style was basically acid house stripped of it's four by four and 303, with a breakbeat in the 4-to-the-floor's place, and synth stabs and piano lines in place of the 303 - good examples being Zero B's 'Lock Up', Moby's 'Go', and SL2's 'DJs Take Control'.

After breakbeat was truly embedded within Rave culture, the UK (England specifically) gave it it's own slant, and along came Hardcore Breakbeat which dominated the scene from 91-93 - good examples of the sound being Johnny L's 'Hurt You So', Top Buzz's 'Living In Darkness', and NRG's 'I Need Your Love'.

1994 in the UK saw the scene split in to two distinct categories - Jungle and Happy Hardcore.

Jungle took all the edge and sinister atmospherics from Techno-tinged breakbeat (ie. 'DJs Take Control') and combined them with Dub basslines, Reggae melodies, and Ragga vocals - good examples are Q-Project's 'Champion Sound', Sound Of The Future's 'Lighter', and Prizna's 'Fire'.

Happy Hardcore on the other hand lifted the piano lines and diva vocals from the earlier House-tinged breakbeat (ie. 'Lock-Up'), to create a more uplifting friendly vibe than it's darker cousin - good examples being Luna C's 'Piano Progression', Fat Controller's 'In Complete Darkness', and Force and Evolutions 'Perfect Dreams'.

THE SCENE
The early Rave years from 1988 to around 1991 saw most of the parties taking place illegaly in abandoned warehouse, fields in the middle of the countryside, and some small low-key legal venues. Good examples of these early pioneering ventures are - Genesis, Biology, Amnesia, and Energy. I can only guess as to what the vibe was like back in the day as I was far too young to go these events back then (I was 11 in 1988!). From what people tell me it was a very exciting time, the scene was very closeknit, and most parties got advertised by word of mouth. The old timers insist that vibe-wise, these years were the best in Rave's short history.

When Hardcore came on to the scene mid 1991 the masses seemed to really tune in. This may have been helped along by breakthrough commercial cross-over tracks like The Prodigy's 'Charly', SL2's 'On A Ragga Tip, and Urban Shakedown's 'Some Justice'. Anyway whatever the cause, this is when the majority of youth in the UK at the time sat up and took notice (myself included!). As Rave's popularity grew so did the size of the parties. The promoters held huge legal events catering for up to 40000 people at a time - good examples of promoters doing this were Fantazia, Raindance, and Universe. The atmoshpere at the majority of the raves I went to was absolutely phenomenal. To a lot of people Raving wasn't something you did, but something you lived, and it had and attitude and etho's all of it's own, the much talked about, but now cliched 'PLUR' (Peace, Love, Unity and Respect).

Some say it was the worst thing that the scene has ever witnessed, because after the scene split in early 94, a lot of the ethos and culture surrounding Rave died off. Jungle, although still being played at Raves, took the music to a more mature and 'club' based audience, while Happy Hardcore remained solely in the Raves, and was seen as "Kids Fairground Music" by a lot of old ravers and Junglists. It was during 1994 that Raves such as Dreamscape and Helter Skelter became really popular - they usually provided 3 rooms or arena's, one for each of the main styles of Rave - Jungle, Happy Hardcore, and Hard Techno. The PLUR ethos kinda died away a bit with the mixing of the happier style of music with the dark, and a lot of long time ravers dropped out of the scene around this time. However, there were plenty of tracks that bridged the gap between the Happy and Dark sounds - Rap and Aston's 'Spiritual Aura', DJ Zinc's 'Super Sharp Shooter', and LTJ Bukem's 'Music' amongst others. This period of the music lasted until about mid 1997 before things really broke up.

As we zoom into the 21st Century, the current 'Rave' (if it can be called that) scene is that we have one or two large (as in those that hold 2000-5000 capacity events, not the days of the old 40000 capacity events) promoters left - Dreamscape, etc. One of the last true 'Rave' promoters Helter Skelter had their last Rave ever on New Years Eve 1999/2000, and have now called it quits.

Addition - I have now been reliably informed that Helter Skelter are returning very shortly with some more big Raves. An indication that the Rave scene is starting to pick up again?

It's a real shame - although Happy Hardcore is far from the good old early days of Luna C, Force and Evolution, Citadel of Kaos, etc, it IS the only true form of 'Rave' music left in the world IMO, and it will breathe it's last with all the big events dying off. The only real form of Breakbeat left is Drum and Bass, which is really a 'club' music now - it's moved far from it's roots, IMO it's now bland, emotionless, and formulaic having abandoned the things that made it special in the first place.

The only places really left to hear the original sound are the many old-school parties happening throughout the UK, especially in London. A few of the original Rave promoters such as Raindance are now back in action putting on montly events for a few thousand people. And it seems like the vibe is back too - smiles are back on peoples faces, and it's proper music lovers that are going to these events... not fashion trendies jumping on the 'Jungle' bandwagon, or young kids coming along to take a skin full of drugs (although there's nothing wrong with that ;-)).

Many involved in the current old-school scene know that it can't last forever on nostalgia alone, and are now actively producing Nu-Skool Old-School - basically new tunes, directly influenced by the old-school sound, but brought bang up-to-date with fresh ideas, production techniques and new sounds.

Let's hope that the new millenium will see the new music filtering into the old-school events, and a whole new breed of 'Raver' emerging!

"Hardcore will NEVER die!"
tWiSt y2k+1

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