Eurodance
Parent categories: European music - dance music
Subgenres: Euro-disco - Italo disco - French house music -
Bands: ABBA
Computer World (1981) - Kraftwerk [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Definition
Eurodance (sometimes called "europop") is a style of dance music that was popular in Europe, Oceania and South America between 1992 and 2000, but was between 1993-1995 that original genre was considered a mainstream phenomenon being diversified and mixed with another electronic music genres until today.
It is characterized by female vocals, with simple chorus, male rap parts and a strong beat from 110 to 150 BPM with synthesizer riffs. One important cliche in eurodance was sung parts that consisted of meaningless lyrics (such as "Um-bap-paa-ea-ea Um-bap-paa-oo" in Daze's hit single Superhero or "Da Ba Dee Da Ba Die" in Eiffel 65's hit Blue (Da Ba Dee)) [See Scat singing ].
Eurodance is named from the fact that it was mainly popular in Europe and produced mostly in Germany, Sweden, Netherlands, Belgium and Italy. In addition to the most popular groups, there were hundreds of Eurodance projects.
Eurodance is very much commercial music. It can be even seen as a some kind of culmination of commerciality in music business. Some producers, like Swedish Max Martin or Italian Larry Pignagnoli, were behind dozens of bands. If band members became too demanding, they could be fired and replaced by others. Only few bands survived more than one or two records. The most successful groups are arguably the Dutch group 2 Unlimited, Italian groups Cappella and Eiffel 65, and German groups Snap! and Scooter (although Scooter contains strong rave elements in their music and they are not at the heart of eurodance).
It has been suggested that many female vocalists were selected for their looks more than for talent. Live performances were mostly playbacks, sometimes different female singers performing in studio recordings than on stage. Many acts, like Captain Jack and Jonny Jakobsen (Dr. Bombay) had a carefully planned humoristic image. A group called E-rotic received attention with its erotic lyrics and music videos.
Some artists, like Aqua, Daze or Hit'n'Hide are not usually considered eurodance, but fall into the bubblegum pop category. These are, examples included, for some reason mainly Danish.
Other in between cases are Blümchen and Scooter, approaching the happy hardcore genre. Although sometimes considered eurodance, projects such as Sash!, ATB or Antiloop were mostly progressive house and trance groups.
Eurodance aroused hostility similar to that associated with disco music in the 1970s. And like the disco era, critics considered it to be shoddy, repetitive and overtly commercial.
Eurodance reached its commercial peak in the United States in 1995/1996 with the Top 40 radio success of artists such as La Bouche ("Be My Lover"), Real McCoy ("Another Night"), 2 Unlimited ("Get Ready For This") and Corona ("Rhythm Of The Night") among others. Sales in the hundreds of thousands of the first eurodance CD compilation series, DMA Dance: Eurodance, released on U.S. independent label Interhit (formed by Jeff Johnson and Chris Cox of Thunderpuss) in conjunction with Dance Music Authority magazine, provided further evidence of the popularity of the eurodance sound in the USA.
Later into the 90s trance was starting to influence eurodance which rebirthed into euro-trance, which also incorporated some elements from progressive house. Artists like Scooter, Charly Lownoise and Mental Theo and E-Type began the trend which lead to the birth of hundreds of projects in this subgenre.
Recently, a Moldovan band called O-Zone has been popularised because of a video based on their single, Dragostea din Tei. See Numa Numa. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurodance [Jan 2006]
Dragostea din Tei (2003) - O-Zone
Dragostea din Tei (2003) - O-Zone [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
O-Zone were a pop group made up of Dan B?lan, Radu Sârbu, and Arsenie Todera?. Originally from Moldova, the band launched in Romania. They mainly play eurodance music and are famous for the single "Dragostea din Tei", a notable summer hit which reached Number 1 in the singles charts of many countries during 2003 and 2004, and Number 3 in the United Kingdom. The follow-up single "Despre Tine" had similar success across Europe.
Despite its multi-platinum status in Europe, O-Zone never even scraped the bottom of the charts in America.--http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O-Zone [Jan 2006]
One night in Bangkok (1984) - Murray Head
Clicking the image will play part 1 of Louise's debut video One Night In Bangkok, link found via Exploitation Retrospect, video's source here.
THE AMERICAN:
Bangkok, Oriental setting
And the city don't know what the city is getting
The creme de la creme of the chess world in a
Show with everything but Yul Brynner
Time flies -- doesn't seem a minute
Since the Tirolean spa had the chess boys in it
All change -- don't you know that when you
Play at this level there's no ordinary venue
It's Iceland -- or the Philippines -- or Hastings -- or --
or this place!
COMPANY:
One night in Bangkok and the world's your oyster
The bars are temples but the pearls ain't free
You'll find a god in every golden cloister
And if you're lucky then the god's a she
I can feel an angel sliding up to me
THE AMERICAN:
One town's very like another
When your head's down over your pieces, brother
COMPANY:
It's a drag, it's a bore, it's really such a pity
To be looking at the board, not looking at the city
THE AMERICAN:
Whaddya mean? Ya seen one crowded, polluted, stinking town --
COMPANY:
Tea, girls, warm, sweet
Some are set up in the Somerset Maugham suite
THE AMERICAN:
Get Thai'd! You're talking to a tourist
Whose every move's among the purest
I get my kicks above the waistline, sunshine
COMPANY:
One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble
Not much between despair and ecstasy
One night in Bangkok and the tough guys tumble
Can't be too careful with your company
I can feel the devil walking next to me
THE AMERICAN:
Siam's gonna be the witness
To the ultimate test of cerebral fitness
This grips me more than would a
Muddy old river or reclining Buddha
And thank God I'm only watching the game -- controlling it --
I don't see you guys rating
The kind of mate I'm contemplating
I'd let you watch, I would invite you
But the queens we use would not excite you
So you better go back to your bars, your temples, your massage
parlours --
COMPANY:
One night in Bangkok and the world's your oyster
The bars are temples but the pearls ain't free
You'll find a god in every golden cloister
A little flesh, a little history
I can feel an angel sliding up to me
One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble
Not much between despair and ecstasy
One night in Bangkok and the tough guys tumble
Can't be too careful with your company
I can feel the devil walking next to me
--http://www.80smusiclyrics.com/artists/murrayhead.htm [Jun 2005]
See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murray_Head [Jun 2005]
See also: popular music - 1984