Two years back I discovered this vibrant and fast-paced genre of music referred to as “Hardcore.” It originates from the mid-’90s underground rave scene in Europe. At first it sounded like some sort of crazy concoction of a kick drum and samples from all sorts of places. I went back and explored the hardcore timeline by just listening to how this genre evolved. The first tracks labeled as hardcore sounded like caveman music in comparison to what it is today. Some songs like “Love of my Life” by Doctor Who and “Now is the Time” by Scott Brown demonstrate how only basic sound was needed to create an atmosphere worth raving out to. The tempo of the whole genre ranged from 170 bpm to 190 bpm, and different variations of hardcore emerged as well. There is happy hardcore, which is faster and brighter in atmosphere from mainstream hardcore. UK hardcore lies in between the two in this balance where the kick drum isn’t heavily distorted like mainstream hardcore, and the tune isn’t as fast as happy hardcore.

Nowadays, online, a whole spectrum of hardcore can be found. You can find videos of the high-octane raves, songs from all places in the genre and sub-genres, the great artists/producers who make this type of music, and they DJs that play it. One of these DJs/producers named Jole Hughes – aka S3RL – contributed to the sub-genre of happy hardcore starting back in 2006. He released a track called “Pretty Rave Girl” which sounded just like any other happy hardcore song, but it proved his talent. He started deejaying in 2010 at the Bam! Festival in Ivory’s Rock, in southeast Queensland, Australia. My personal favorites from him are “Birds and Bees,” “Rave Forever,” and “Fantasyland” – all of which have female vocalists, which was a trend at the time within the sub-genre. I can only imagine the euphoric feeling that those ravers felt when S3RL got up and started spinning the tunes.

You may hear some say that hardcore will never die, and it won’t – especially when newer generations take time to explore this fascinating genre. Over the past six months I have been playing around with beats and melodies. My friends say that what I produce sounds good, and one of them even said I’ll be the DJ at my first rave. It’s my main hobby to produce happy hardcore beats in hopes of maybe one day becoming a top hardcore producer like S3RL, Scott Brown, DJ Styles, Breeze, and Force. Those guys are true inspirations. Until then, I can dream a dream to one day make it a reality.