Various - The Story So Far (Labello Blanco Selection Box) - Labello Blanco Recordings - Hardcore

Information on the Hardcore Genre

The term Hardcore was coined back in the late 80's by breakbeat pioneers Shut Up and Dance who would create a harder version of their hip hop styled dance tracks on the B side of their records and named them "Hardcore Remix". As you would assume, people preferred the Hardcore version and these would be played in all the nightclubs by top name DJ's. This then caught on by other DJ's and producers and they all started using hardcore breaks in their own material and a new genre was born.

Breakbeat, the very first form of Hardcore Dance Music, came along and was a blend of hip hop breaks which where speeded up and the tracks used synth stabs to create what you would now call your classic rave riff's. The most popular breakbeat used was actually taken from a non-hip hop track called "Amen, Brother" by The Winstons (1969). Breakbeat became a huge hit with ravers in the early 90's, mainly in England and was played by some of the DJ's who are still in the scene today. The biggest name to emerge from the Breakbeat genre has to be The Prodigy. When Breakbeat was started it wasnt well known as breabeat, it was usually called either "Rave","Hardcore" or "Jungle Techno". It wasnt until the whole Happy Hardcore scene broke out that it was then referred to as Breakbeat or OldSkool Rave.

Artists/DJ's: The Prodigy, SL2, Altern 8, Dream Frequency, Liquid, Acen, Krome & Time, DJ Seduction, Micky Finn, Ellis Dee, DJ Phantasy, Slipmatt and Lime

Nice one, Top One, Sorted!


As hardcore continues to grow, each different type of hardcore (each subgenre) begins to attract a larger fan base and more support from producers. As new subgenres grow they can become extremely different than other subgenres that are also referred to as "Hardcore."

Hardcore has also spawned several subgenres and derivative styles including:

* New Beat - Unlike most of its hardcore brethren this music is generally slow (tracks range from 80 bpm to 120 bpm). This made the music sound harder and more sinister, essentially influencing electronic hardcore.
* Old-Skool aka Breakbeat hardcore - This retrospective term is usually reserved for tracks produced in the early 90's, a large period of growth for hardcore. Lots of piano rolls, bouncy basslines, breakbeats, plenty of female vocals and classic "rave" sounds are some of the defining characteristics of this subgenre.
* Happy hardcore is a form of dance music known for its very quick tempo (usually around 165-180 bpm), often coupled with male or female vocals and sentimental lyrics. Popular in the UK, Australia and Spain, amongst other countries. Generally has a large cult following known as "Candy ravers".
* Makina - Fast electronic dance music from Spain, fairly similar to happy hardcore.
* UK hardcore - Modern form of happy hardcore, less childish feel with supersaw leads.
* Freeform hardcore - Hardcore with strong influence of trance, mainly instrumental.
* Hardcore Breaks - Written in the style of old-skool rave music or breakbeat hardcore using modern technology and production techniques.
* Gabber - Most popular in The Netherlands, Germany, Italy and Belgium, characterized by heavy bass drum sound, usually created with distortion, generally 150-220 bpm.
* Doomcore aka Darkcore - Downtempo, characterized by reverb on detuned semi-distorted kicks on eerie synth pads.
* Noisecore aka Industrial hardcore - Hardcore influenced by industrial music, characterized by harsh beats.
* Digital Hardcore - Hardcore Punk influenced Hardcore and Breakcore.
* Breakcore - Uses distorted, fragmented breakbeats and sampling to create a hectic effect.
* Speedcore - With tracks that can range from 250 bpm up to 15000 bpm, often featuring heavy distortion. Not to be confused with Thrashcore or Speed metal. Also named splittercore, when the tempo is around 700 bpm, and extratone, when the tempo exceeds 1000 bpm.
* Terrorcore - refers to more extreme version of 'regular gabber', with a highly aggressive theme, modern tracks using same bass drum sound as nu-style gabber.
* Frenchcore - Originated in the French rave scene of the early 90's. Frenchcore achieved wider recognition in 1998 with the release of Micropoint's first album Neurophonie.
* J-Core - Originated in the mid/late 90's in Japan. Very influenced by Otaku culture and contains many anime samples in songs. Speed is often in excess of 160-180 BPM.