Hi-NRG

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Hi-NRG (High Energy) is a type of electronic dance music which emerged then became popular in nightclubs in the early 1980s and continues to be popular today.

Contents

[edit] Description

The name "Hi-NRG" comes from the Evelyn Thomas's hit, "High Energy" (1984), produced by Ian Levine in London. Hi-NRG is typified by an energetic staccato sequenced synthesizer sound where the bass often takes the place of the hi-hat (alternating a more resonant note with a dampened note to signify the tempo of the record). There is often heavy use of the clap sound found on drum machines. DJ/Producer, Patrick Cowley first made Hi-NRG music popular at the The EndUp in San Francisco in 1982. During 1984 the music began to crossover into the mainstream pop charts in the United Kingdom and the United States, largely due to the success of the Record Shack record label.

The label Record Shack also enjoyed chart success with tracks by Break Machine, Miquel Brown and an unlikely comeback single by Eartha Kitt ("Where Is My Man", 1984) which proved to be a massive hit on both sides of the Atlantic. Stock Aitken Waterman were Hi-NRG producers at the start of their career, working with Divine and Hazell Dean, and producing the most successful Hi-NRG track, Dead or Alive's "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)", which reached number one on the UK Singles chart and the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S.. Hi-NRG was largely superseded by House music by 1990, but still enjoys an underground following, usually in the form of Hi-NRG versions of mainstream pop hits. The second generation of Hi-NRG that emerged during the 1990s is a major force in the Club/Dance music world thanks to mainly two essential Hi-NRG artists, Kristine W and Abigail. Its basic production has remained nearly the same. However, the rhythms and synths used sound different as it is usually edgier. As with most Hi-NRG, it still emphisizes vocal personality. Next to no Hi-NRG songs are intrumental.

Many of the Hi-NRG tracks produced in Europe at the time qualify doubly as examples of Italo disco (i.e., Taffy, Magazine 60, , Roni Griffith, etc.) and discofox (i.e. Linda Jo Rizzo, Lian Ross, Modern Talking, Fancy, Lift Up, Blue System, Bad Boys Blue.)

[edit] Artists

[edit] Records

All of these records reached the Hi-NRG charts in the 1980s:

  • Bianca - Midnight Lover
  • Bodyheat - No! Mr Boom Boom (Diamond Records
  • Miquel Brown - He's a Saint He's a Sinner (Record Shack Records)
  • Miquel Brown - To Many Men To Little Time (Record Shack Records)
  • Crystal In The Pink - Back To You
  • Celena Duncan - Questions And Answers (Nightmare Records)
  • Barbara Doust - If You Love Somebody
  • Sisley Ferre - For You (Hotsound Records)
  • Fun Fun - Give Me Your Love
  • Fun Fun - Color My Love
  • Samantha Gilles - Stop
  • Havana - Satisfy My Desire (Wow Records)
  • Carol Jiani - Turning My Back And Walking Away (Nightmare Records)
  • Lanei - Love Bites (Opium Records)
  • Lime - Gold Digger (TSR Records)
  • Lisa - Rocket to Your Heart (Moby Dick Records)
  • M&H Band - Popcorn
  • Marsha Raven - I Like Plastic
  • Man To Man - Hard Hitting Love (Nightmare Records)
  • Midnight Sunrise - This Is A Haunted House (Nightmare Records)
  • Modern Rocketry - I Feel Love Coming (Megatone Records)
  • Off - Electrica Salsa (Ton Son Ton Records)
  • Linda Jo Rizzo - Perfect Love
  • Shooting Party - Safe In The Arms Of Love
  • Sandra - Everlasting Love (PWL remix) (Virgin Records)
  • Helena Springs - Paper Money (Atlantic Records)
  • Scherrie Payne- I'm Not In Love (Megatone)
  • Scherrie Payne - One Night Only (ALtair)
  • Scherrie Payne - Chasing Me Into Somebody Else's Arms (Nightmare Gold)
  • Scott Stryker - Science Fiction
  • T-Arc - Undercover Lover (ZYX Records)
  • Linda Taylor - Every Waking Hour (Nightmare Records)
  • Tuillio De Piscopo - Stop Bajon (Primavera) (Greyhound Records)
  • Vivien Vee - Heartbest (X-Energy Records)
  • XS-S - I Need More (VCN Records)
  • Laura Branigan - Shattered Glass (Atlantic Records)

[edit] Number Ones

These records reached Number One in the Hi-NRG charts compiled by James Hamilton and Alan Jones in Record Mirror

[edit] Cover Versions in the Hi-NRG style

[edit] Record Labels

Record labels that most frequently appeared in Record Mirror's Hi-NRG chart are as follows:

  • Bolts Records
  • Flea Records - Italy
  • Hi Tension Records - Belgium
  • Macho Records - Italy
  • Megatone Records
  • Nightmare Records
  • Passion Records
  • Record Shack Records
  • Time Records - Italy
  • X-Energy Records - Italy
  • MRK Records - NYC
  • ZYX Records - Germany

[edit] Other Hi-NRG Record Labels

[edit] Source

  • Jones, Alan and Kantonen, Jussi (1999) Saturday Night Forever: The Story of Disco. Chicago, Illinois: A Cappella Books. ISBN 1-55652-411-0.

[edit] External links

Disco
Bright disco - Dance-punk - Disco polo - Euro disco - Hi-NRG - House - Italo disco - Spacesynth
Artists - Discothèque - Nightclub - Orchestration - Other electronic music genres
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