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| Eurobeat | |
| Stylistic origins | 1985-1989: The UK version of "Italo Disco". 1987-current: Dance music with elements reminiscent to Italo Disco produced mostly for Japan. |
|---|---|
| Cultural origins | 1985-1989: UK 1985-Present, Italy and Japan |
| Typical instruments | Synthesizers, drum machines, electric guitars |
| Mainstream popularity | Original Eurobeat: popular in UK & Europe between 1985-1990. Few hits marketed "Hi-NRG" very popular in USA. Modern Eurobeat: Large following in Japan. Very popular throughout the 1990's and early 2000's. Sizable communities throughout Asia, niche in the United States. |
| Derivative forms | Italo Disco, Hi-NRG, Eurodisco, Spacesynth, J-Pop, Para Para |
| Regional scenes | |
| 80s:UK. Mid 80s to today: Japan, Hong Kong, cities in the United States with large Asian communities | |
Eurobeat, as the name implies, is a music genre from Europe. It is a sub-genre of 80s italo disco (a.k.a. 80s Eurodisco). In the USA, it was sometimes marketed as Hi-NRG and for a short while shared this term with the very early freestyle music hits.
"Eurobeat" is also directly related to the Japanese Para Para dance culture, but in a completely different way, explained later in this article.
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The first use of the term "eurobeat"
The term "eurobeat", was first used in the UK, when the Stock Aitken Waterman team, created a commercial music genre, labelled - at the time - "eurobeat". Those mid 80s hits (Dead or Alive, Bananarama, Jason Donovan, Sonia, Kylie Minogue, etc) were heavily based on how "Italo-disco" sounded to the Brits, during their holidays on popular 80s destinations (especially Greece, where Italo-disco was very popular). The same term also was used to describe the first hits from Pet Shop Boys and other UK-based dance electropop groups of the time. Those "eurobeat" hits (Dance Pop songs with a European-like beat), topped the UK charts, so they end up having some (underground) airplay on USA's radio stations helping from that stand on the evolution of New York's "Freestyle". MTV Europe also had a show called: "Braun European Top 20" at the time, that aired on MTV USA during summer 1987 to 1989, helping the spread of UK's Eurobeat sound. But after the summer of 1988 (UK's summer of love), UK's "eurobeat" music declined from popularity, with the exception of Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan. By the summer of '89 the term "eurobeat" replaced from various terms and the music changed to 90s european dance music and mostly eurohouse.
It must be noted, that the term "Eurobeat" also used only in the UK and during 1986-1988, for specific Italian 80s Euro Disco imports, especially those from Sabrina Salerno, Spagna and Baltimora.
The use of the term "Eurobeat" in Japan
Meanwhile, in 1985, the term "eurobeat" moved to Japan's music market, to describe all the European (non UK based) dance music imports. Those imports were "Italo-disco" hits, produced mostly in Italy and Germany. That sound became the soundtrack of the Para Para nightclub culture, that has existed, since the early 80's. Japan knew the "italo-disco" sound, through the success of the German group "Arabesque", which broke up in 1984. This did not prevent the release of 2 singles in 1985 and 1986, produced and mixed by Michael Cretu (of Enigma), that sounded very "italo-disco"-like. The later solo success of Sandra (lead singer or Arabesque) further assisted the introduction of this sound in Japan. That attracted the attention of many italo-disco producers (mostly Italians and Germans) and by the late 80's, they created a new sound especially for Japan, but virtually unknown in the rest of the world. This music styles end up being called Eurobeat in Japan or Super Eurobeat/Eurobeat Flash.
Despite being European in origin, this Eurobeat's main market has always been Japan, where its synthetic and emotionally upbeat stylings are popular. Even though many Europeans and Americans have heard of Eurodance, Eurodisco and Euro House, this flavor of Eurobeat is largely unknown in Europe and only recently became somewhat popular in the Western world. It has some popularity between open-minded "italo-disco" fans and some Euro-House fans.
The anime series Initial D, based on the manga by Shuichi Shigeno, uses Eurobeat music regularly in its episodes during racing scenes between the characters, and because of this it has come to the attention of some anime fans outside Japan.
Eurobeat's sound (in the Japanese market) is its main link to its italo disco origins, where it was just one of many different experiments in pure-electronic dance. There are certain synth instruments that recur across the entire genre: a sequenced octave bass, Characteristic are the energetic (sometimes wild) and heavy use of synths, distinctive brass and harp sounds, and tight, predictable percussion in the background. These sounds are layered with vocals and natural instruments (guitar and piano are common) into complex, ever-shifting melodies that, at their best, burst with energy.
In 1998, KONAMI a video game company made a hit video dance machine, Dance Dance Revolution. The game acquired eurobeat songs from the record label Dancemania from Toshiba-emi, at the press time, DDR has featured Eurobeat songs on-and-off in recent games; however, their number has dwindled due to efforts to make DDR more marketable to US markets. KONAMI's Japan-only music game series Beatmania, however, enjoys a large number of Eurobeat songs and they also released a Para Para game; Para Para Paradise.
The Sega AM2-developed arcade fighting game, Sonic the Fighters (Sonic Championship in the US) uses a eurobeat influenced soundtrack.
Explanation of the Eurobeat genre from the Japanese point of view
Eurobeat can create a number of different genres, while still keeping its own originality intact. In the late 1970s and early 1980s there were many new genres emerging from the creation of electronic music. Hi NRG Disco, 70s Eurodisco, Space Disco, Canadian Disco and Italo Disco (a.k.a. 80s Eurodisco) are some of them. When disco music became unpopular in North America (because of the Disco Sucks events took place in 1979), it remained in the limelight in Europe for many more years. In USA, the early 80s, disco linked with P-Funk artists like George Clinton, disco funk artists like Earth, Wind & Fire and the Hi-NRGdisco music scene.
What follows in the article, is the description of "Eurobeat" (a.k.a. Super Eurobeat) as formed during the late 80s and 90s in Japan.
While modern music is often recognized by its lyrics, Eurobeat is recognized not primarily by its lyrics, but by its synthesized chorus known as the Sabi (short for Sabishigaru, not to be mistaken for the Japanese Wabi-sabi), which means "to remember someone or something" in Japanese. This of course refers to the generally acknowledged fact that you mostly remember the Sabi as opposed to the stanzas of the Eurobeat song. This broad genre can create a great number of different "sub-genres" within it because of this combination of harmony and rhythm. Sometimes it can still sound like the old disco music we know, sometimes it can be very "fast and happy" like Happy Hardcore or Speed Music, and occasionally it even uses guitars as a method of Saiba.
One peculiar thing about Eurobeat is the fact that each artist is often credited with a variety of different aliases (See "Popular Eurobeat Artists" below for details). Artists usually adopt different stage names according to the mood of each song, or depending on who wrote their lyrics. For instance, Ennio Zanini has stated on the SCP Music website that he goes by the name of "Fastway" on songs which are more upbeat and sprinkled with high-pitched female backing vocals, and goes by "Dusty" on his more "serious" tracks. Also a popular theory is that Eurobeat artists such as Clara Moroni and Giancarlo Pasquini manufacture the same acts under many different names in order to "compete with themselves". (Compare to legendary House producer Thomas Bangalter, who is infamous for the same practice).
Eurobeat also has notoriety for name recognition, lifting titles from popular songs and using them as the names of Eurobeat tracks. Examples are "Like a Virgin", "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", and "Station to Station." The Eurobeat songs that reuse song titles typically have nothing to do with the song it lifted its title from (i.e., not a cover).
The Eurobeat formula (for the Japanese market)
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Like most musical genres, (modern) Eurobeat has a fairly specific formula to it:
intro → riff (musical synth) → a melo(verse) → a melo2(bridge) → a sabi (chorus) → riff (musical synth) → outro
The intro is the introduction into the song, the riff is the musical part without voices. The a melo, or a-melody is the first verse in the song, the a melo2 (a-melody 2) is the bridge of the song, and the sabi is the chorus of the song. The outro is the ending. There will also be a c melo (the second a melo) after the first sabi, as well as another a/b melo variant after the second sabi.
Eurobeat is notorious for its complex rhythm, always attempting to throw the listener in another direction, but the flow is usually a one way ticket. After the synth, the song usually repeats the verse, bridge, and chorus (although with different lyrics most the time) and then goes into a "breakdown" where there can be a variety of new parts to the song including a guitar solo, the dropping and adding of percussion, or a plain instrumental version of the track. Typically though, this only encompasses the verse and bridge; the chorus is usually sung once again, and then the synth and extro play. The extro can either be the synth played again, or something reminiscent of the intro. Another thing to note is that the intro is somewhat like an instrumental rendition of the verse, bridge, and chorus, while the synth is a lot like a synthesized version of the chorus. They don't have to sound completely similar, but they do in fact fit on top of each other most of the time.
There's a particular style of formula when it comes to the different "labels" of the Eurobeat world:
A Beat C: Information: A-Beat C is probably the most well known label, due to the fact that nowadays, they have the biggest portion of every SEB album for themselves, Super Eurobeat 9 was the dawn of the new beginning for A-Beat C, as that was when the recordlabel was introduced to Super Eurobeat. Many of the labels producers and artists have worked with eurobeat and italo disco even before A-Beat C was created, so don't be surprised to hear familiar voices or see familiar titles on older italo disco labels. What is pretty easily recognizable in A-Beat C works is the "Rodgers' touch" that you can surely recognize after you've been around the eurobeat scene for some time. He has given the label a unique kind of sound to their songs and it of course has both positive and negative effects, depending on how you look at it. A-Beat C productions are generally pretty mature and the label supports a lot of duets between their male and female vocalists. The biggest names from A-Beat C are Dave Rodgers, Matt Land, Domino, Lolita, Go Go Girls, Norma Sheffield and King & Queen. A-Beat C has gotten many strong competitors in the past few years, when the younger generation labels gained notoriety. A Bteat C is considered to be the most "mainstream" label, taking a little bit of everything and adding it to their own style. A Beat C also has more artists than any other Eurobeat label.
Notable A-Beat C songs:
"Try Me" by Lolita
"Space Boy" by Dave Rodgers
"Sunday" by Nuage
"Hurricane" by Karen
"Fever the Night" by Matt Land
Recent Notable tracks:
"Magical" by Matt Land
"Speedy Runner" by King & Queen
"A Neverending Night" by Mickey B.
Boom Boom Beat: Boom Boom Beat is one of the minority labels on eurobeat. They actually came along in the early part of eurobeat history around 1994 but their songs haven't been on many of the eurobeat records. BBB is a label that has multiple sub-labels. It's under Saifam for starters, but the EPs that BBB releases have artists from various Saifam labels like Asia Records, Interdance and Technodisco. But successful BBB tracks have also appeared on Euromach and Eurobeat Flash albums for example. Some of the known BBB artists are Mark Farina, Spencer, Sarah, Alvin, Milk & Coffea, The Flippers and Ken Martin. If you are familiar to other eurobeat compilations such as EuroPanic you might also remember Laurie. What is common for BBB is that the songs are extra hyper, and there's a huge dose of positivity in the songs. Saifam took off from Avex for a few years but on Super Eurobeat 161 the label is introduced to the series for the first time! Before this the label had only apepared on the shorter series. During the past few years, small scale VIP-compilations that have non-stop edits from the BBB songs is most of what has been released. This label resembles house music to a degree. They typically use the formula of adding a new section of percussion, bass, and synth after every 4th measure. After the last synth (sometimes after the chorus is goes straight to the following) there is typically a percussion drop until there are only 4 measures of a "kick" or "hat" left. As with Vibration, BBB can be somewhat unpredictable in musical structure.
Boom Boom Beat songs
"Sexy Sexy Sexy" by Ken Martin
"Little Don" by The Factory Team
"Simon Samurai" by Tipsy & Tipsy
"Boom Boom Dollars" by King Kong & D. Jungle Girls
Recent Tracks from Boom Boom Beat
"Love at First Sight" by Asya
"Black UFO" by Lupin
"Kong" by Mark Foster
Delta: Delta is one of the older generation labels that has been around for quite some time now, the label was created in the year 1995 as producer A. Leonardi from A-Beat C, L. Newfield and C. Moroni from Time joined forces with new eurobeat names and put Delta up. The first Super Eurobeat album with Delta on it was 64, where the old format of 13 songs changed to 18 songs per album. On the same album, Super Eurobeat 64, Delta also got their very first big hit, which was Marko Polo's Money Go! So little by little the label got more and more success and now when you look back to the SEB history you can locate a huge number of great delta songs. The label has known names like Marko Polo, Niko, Vicky Vale, Cherry, Pizza Girl, Suzy Lazy and Dr. Love. Delta's style is pretty much like A-Beat C, but this label offers a bit more of variety if you ask me. Delta has succeeded in creating various hits that have a really unique sound to them and there isn't really a special beat or sound that would be repeated in the labels songs over and over. Usually drops percussion during the breakdown while the singer sings the first verse and bridge again. Synths are typically very "harsh"-sounding, and bass is relatively low depending on the producer of each track.
Notable Delta songs:
"Night Of Fire" by Niko
"Yesterday" by Cherry
"Speedway" by Niko
"Running In the 90's" by Max Coveri
Recent Notable tracks
"Full Metal Cars" by Daniel
"Burning Up The Night (Total Fire)" by 2 Fast
"Set Me Free" by Cherry
Hi-NRG Attack: HI-NRG Attack, founded in 1994, has a very divided following. This label has a very upbeat and cheerful sound, with generally nonsensical lyrics. Hi-NRG Attack's style is reminiscent of European bubblegum pop, with some apparent influences from rave. HI-NRG Attack offers a wide variety of different styles. Some of the known names from this label are Jee Bee, Claudia Vip, Franz Tornado, Bazooka Girl, Nikita Jr., Baby Gold and Dolly Pop. As with Delta, percussion usually drops during the transitions in many songs. This label is notable for its relatively "quirky" lyrics and rhythm, with lyrical subjects such as cows, Russia, getting drunk, and bazookas. Synths are known to be very wild, sometimes playing a different note at every 1/4 beat.
Notable Hi-NRG Attack songs:
"Velfarre 2000" by Bazooka Girl
"Bandolero Comanchero" by Franz Tornado
"Caballero With Sombrero" by Franz Tornado & Bazooka Girl
"Ike Ike" by Tri-Star
Recent Notable Hi-NRG Attack songs:
"Ride On My Speedy Car" by Garçon
"Bomba" by Frank Tornado & The Bombardier Girls
"SEF Deluxe" by Tri-Star
Time: Time is one of the oldest eurobeat labels and has been around since the very early days. Time actually joined on the SEBs on Super Eurobeat 17. The label has a huge list of big names and famous songs. Many of the younger eurober labels have been created by producers who've left Time to create new labels (for example Vibration and HI-NRG Attack) The label is probably the most 'mature' one of all of the labels, with a very notable "classic" feel to their songs. Some of the biggest names in eurobeat history come from this label so you might recognize some of the latter names: Vanessa, Lisa Johnson, Lou Grant, Rose, Jilly, Sophie, Chester, Maio & Co. and Mike Hammer.
A unique quality about Time is that most of the label's music includes a very long Intro and typically ends with a fade-out of the synth instead of an outro. The outro of the song usually ends with a "fade-out" of the synth. Time was fired in 2008 by Avex for having a second publishing label called "Time SPA" for other Para Para and eurobeat compilations other than Super Eurobeat.
Notable Time songs:
"Dark In The Night" by Maio & Co.
"Melodies of Love" by Helena
"Always on My Mind" by Lou Grant
Recent Notable Time songs:
"Planet Love" by Magika
"A Perfect Hero" by Chris Stanton
"Love And Passion 2008" by Vanessa
Eurogrooves: Time's successor, founded by M.Dollora to replace Time of the Super Eurobeat compilations. Every alias from the label was transferred and new ones were added. Only two tracks have been released under this label.
Notable songs
"Euronight" by Eurogroove
"Hey Boy" by Apple
The songs listed above from Eurogrooves are the only ones released yet.
Dima: Dima was founded by Davide Di Marcantonio. The name of the label comes from his last name. Most songs appeared on non-Avex Eurobeat compilations as Love Para2 released by the label FARM. Recently, they signed with Avex to have some songs released on the Super Eurobeat series.
Notable songs
"1 Week" by Krystal Feat. David Dima
"Tsundere Night" by David Dima
"Help Me" by David Dima
Vibration: This label has a somewhat unpredictable style. Some songs have simple percussion drop during transitions, and sometimes there is a very intense guitar solo or even new lyrics. Also known as "LED Records" and "Eurobeat Masters", depending on to whom they are licensing.
Notable Vibration songs:
"Harmony" by Regina
"Poison" by Elisa
"Million Dollars" by Max Ducati
"Hot Limit" by John Desire
SCP Music: SCP is also known as Stefano Castagna Productions, known as Double for some years until the title was changed to SCP. SCP is also the youngest of all of the eurobeat labels. Stefano has worked behind many other labels before this one. Some more well known artists from this label are Fastway (a.k.a. Dusty), Kiki & Kika, Ace, Christine and from the newer names such as Lisa Lion has made an impact with her first release. A great label that has a high standard for their own releases. SCP almost always follows A Beat C's formula. Rarely is there ever a percussion drop, but instead you can find a guitar solo or "ad-libbing" of lyrics or synthesizers.
Notable SCP songs:
"Not For Sale" by Go 2
"Big on Emotion" by Lisa Lion
"Easy Busy" by Kiki & Kika
"Super Striker" by Go 2
"Once Upon A Time" by Pamsy
Recent notable tracks
"Queen Of Mean" by The Snake
"Wait For You (Dancefloor Night Mix)" by Ace, an Elliott Yamin cover.
"Love Is A Pretender" by Pamsy
"Food Fighter" by Irene
Sinclaire Style: A former producer with Delta, Bratt Sinclaire uses more 'airy' synths that had been seen his Delta productions. Sinclaire also produces Hyper-Techno hits for the series We Love Techpara. Some of his older techno tracks appeared on Super Dance Freak compilation in the 1990s.
Notable Sinclaire Style songs
"Let's Go Wild" by Niko
"Looking For Lovers" by Ducky Chix
"Move On Now Baby" by Megan
Go Go's Music: Go Go's Music was founded by Alessandra Mirka Gatti (a.k.a. Domino) in 2007. A few artists from A-Beat-C followed her like Manuel and Lolita to the new label under new aliases. In the beginning, Super Eurobeat rarely featured songs from this label, but more recently has been featured more often. Go Go's Music and SCP have collabrated on a couple of songs in the past few years such as Fuku Wa Uchi and Tora Tora Tora 2006.
Notable Go Go's Music songs
"Secret Destination" by Mari-san
"Hurry Up Hurry Up" by Lolita
"Gas Gas Gas" by Manuel
"Para Girl" by Domino
Akyr Music: One of the current producers of Delta, Laurent Newfield, created a side label called Akyr music in 2005. Akyr produces not only eurobeat, but trance and hyper techno as well. The songs were featured on the Farm compilation, Love Para2, and other albums such as Parapara Hyper Best. In Winter 2008, Newfield released an intenet-only album, Super Euro Freaks, with remixes by Diskowarp and other fans of the Eurobeat community.
Notable Akyr songs
"Electric Love" by Lisa Versach (Eurobeat)
"Bitch is a Bitch" by DJ Hope ft Stefy (Hyper Techno)
"You Got It" by Techno Venus (Trance)
Popular Eurobeat artists
Eurobeat compilations
There are many Eurobeat compilations series, the most famous (and longest running) are Super Eurobeat and the various "Super Eurobeat presents..." compilations by Avex Trax. Other notable compilations include:
- Aerobeat Eurobeat
- EuroPanic!
- Eurobeat Disney
- Eurobeat Flash
- Gazen ParaPara!!
- LovePara²
- Maharaja Night
- ParaPara Paradise
- Super Euro Best
- Super Euro Christmas
- That's Eurobeat
- The Early Days of SEB
- Tokio Hot Nights
- VIP Mega Euro Star
Eurobeat labels
- A-Beat C / Rodgers Music
- Akyrmusic (Defunct label Run by Laurent Newfield and includes Vocal Trance projects such as nR Element from California.)
- Delta
- Dima Music
- Farm Records
- GoGo's Music
- Hi NRG Attack
- LED Records (Includes Vibration, Eurobeat Masters)
- The S.A.I.F.A.M. Group (Includes Boom Boom Beat, Asia Records, etc.)
- SCP Music
- Sinclaire Style
- Time Records
External links
- Avex Japan Eurobeat - Official web site for Super Eurobeat.
- Eurobeat Prime - Extensive Eurobeat information and database.
- NRG Express - Eurobeat information from Japan.
- Eurobeat Evolution - Outdated Eurobeat website.
- ParaParaStage.com ParaPara/Eurobeat Forums
- Eurobeat.se - Some Eurobeat and Eurodance samples.
- Eurobeat-Italia - Italian Eurobeat Website with its own Forum.
- Eurobeat.cl - Chilean web site for Eurobeat and Eurodance.
- [1] - Lento Violento site
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