| Eurobeat | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins | 1985-1989: The UK version of "Italo Disco". 1987-current: Dance/Eurodisco/House/Hi-NRG music with elements reminiscent to Italo Disco produced mostly in Italy almost exclusively for Japan. |
| Cultural origins | 1985-1989: UK 1987-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 1990s and early 2000s. |
| Derivative forms | J-pop, Eurodance, Italodance |
| Regional scenes | |
| Mid-to-late 1980s: United Kingdom Mid-1980s to today: Japan (Late 1990's to today Super Eurobeat) |
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| Other topics | |
| Para Para Initial D, Dance Dance Revolution |
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Eurobeat is a form of Eurodisco/Italo-disco/House/Hi-NRG music that developed in the late 1980s.
In the United States, Eurobeat 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 term "eurobeat" was first used in the UK when Ian levin'es Eastbound Expressway released their single "You're A Beat" in recognition to the slower tempo of Hi-NRG/italo disco music emerging from Europe. The majority of Hi-NRG releases tended to be from 124bpm - 138bpm where as the European tended to be 108 - 120 bpm. Many European acts managed to break through under this new recognition namely the likes of Modern Talking, Bad Boys Blue, Taffy and Spagna. It was used commercially to describe the Stock Aitken Waterman produced hits by Dead or Alive, Bananarama, Jason Donovan, Sonia, and Kylie Minogue which were heavily based on the British experience with italo-disco during holidays in Greece and elsewhere. "Eurobeat" was also applied to the first hits from Pet Shop Boys and other UK-based dance music and electropop groups of the time. Those "eurobeat" hits had a European beat, topped the UK charts, and, in the USA, received radio airplay and contributed to the evolution of New York's Freestyle genre. "Braun European Top 20" on MTV Europe also aired on MTV USA during summer 1987 to 1989, spreading the UK's Eurobeat sound. But after the summer of 1988 (UK's summer of love), the style lost popularity, with the exception of Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan. By the summer of '89 the term "eurobeat" was replaced by other labels and the music changed to 90s eurodance and mostly euro house. The term "Eurobeat" was 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.
Meanwhile, in Japan, in 1985, the term "eurobeat" was applied to all continental-European dance music imports. These were mainly Italian- and German-produced italo-disco. That sound became the soundtrack of the Para Para nightclub culture, that has existed since the early '80s. Japan experienced italo Disco through the success of the German group "Arabesque", which broke up in 1984. This did not prevent the release of 2 italo Disco-sounding singles in 1985 and 1986, produced and mixed by Michael Cretu (of Enigma). The later solo success of Arabesque's lead singer Sandra further introduced this sound to Japan. That attracted the attention of many italo-disco producers (mostly Italians and Germans) and by the late '80s while the Germans faded out of the outdated italo-disco scene and went for other newly-rising popular scenes, mainly trance, the Italians created a new sound especially for Japan, but virtually unknown in the rest of the world. In Japan, this music is called "eurobeat", "super eurobeat", and "eurobeat flash".
In the early 1990s when eurobeat's popularity was gradually decreasing in Japan, two Japanese men, the owner and a managing director of Avex, a small import-record shop at the time, decided to release a compilation CD. They went to Italy and met Giancarlo Pasquini later known as Dave Rodgers, then a member of the italo disco band Aleph, and eventually released the compilation CD, the first Super Eurobeat, which proved an instant success and re-sparked eurobeat's popularity in Japan.
Despite its European origins, this eurobeat style's main market has always been Japan, where its synthetic and emotionally upbeat stylings are popular. Even though many European people and American people 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 appeals to 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, Bemani a branch of the video game company Konami made a hit video dance machine, Dance Dance Revolution. The game acquired eurobeat songs from the Dancemania compilation series from Toshiba EMI. Over time, DDR has featured eurobeat songs on-and-off in their songlists. However, their number has dwindled due to efforts to make DDR more marketable to North American markets. Currently, there has been a push to add more eurobeat into DDR, most recently with the addition of Super Eurobeat tracks in the latest arcade release, Dance Dance Revolution X2. Other music games in Konami's lineup feature a large number of Eurobeat tracks, including Beatmania, Beatmania IIDX, and jubeat. The popularity of the genre also led Konami to create a Para Para game; ParaParaParadise.
The Sega AM2-developed arcade fighting game, Sonic the Fighters (Sonic Championship in the US) uses a eurobeat influenced soundtrack.
Eurobeat evolved into different genres, while preserving its essence. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Hi-NRG, 70s eurodisco, space disco, Canadian Disco, and italo Disco (a.k.a. 80s eurodisco) emerged from Electronic Music. Although disco music became unpopular in North America, it remained in the limelight in Europe for many more years. In the USA, in the early 80s, disco linked with George Clinton, Earth, Wind & Fire, and the Hi-NRG 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. Very much like bubblegum eurodance, it usually has extremely silly or utterly meaningless lyrics. Eurobeat is primarily recognized 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", "What is Love", 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).
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 |
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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 one and only eurobeat synth, the song usually repeats the verse, bridge, and chorus (although with different lyrics most the time. Often these lyrics are extremely original and feature intricate vocals, such as the sole use of clever words such as fire and desire) 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 is probably the most well known label. The label was founded in 1990 by Dave Rodgers and Alberto Contini, and introduced in 1991 on Super Eurobeat 9. 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 previous A-Beat C works is the "Rodgers' touch" that you can recognize if you knew his former productions under the "Aleph" alias. He had 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, Powerful T, Norma Sheffield and Futura. After 2007, many singers and producers left A-Beat C to pursue other projects, including Domino, Sandro Oliva, Matt Land, Mega NRG Man, Lolita, the Go Go Girls, Neo, Nuage, Annerley Gordon, Kiko Loureiro, Mickey B., etc. Those who remained with the label have since become part of Sun Fire Records.
Notable A-Beat C songs:
Recent Notable tracks:
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
Recent Tracks from Boom Boom Beat
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. Tracks usually drop 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:
Recent Notable tracks
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:
Recent Notable Hi-NRG Attack songs:
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 eurobeat 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 released from the Super Eurobeat compilation in 2008 by Avex. Though the reason is officially unknown, some say it's because of their second publishing name Time S.p.A that had releases outside of Avex Trax, and some say Sergio Dall'Ora was unsatisfied by Time Records standards. Both reason may also be true. However, Avex still recognizes Time Records as a Super Eurobeat compilation label and recently published another Time track in 2010, on SEB 203.
Notable Time songs:
Recent Notable Time songs:
Time's successor, founded by Sergio Dall'Ora to replace Time of the Super Eurobeat compilations. Eurogrooves is directed by Dall'Ora exclusively, instead of the company Time Records Italy. The label is in somewhat of a hiatus due to label members giving no sign to fans since 2010 , and also having not released a Eurobeat track since Super Eurobeat 203. The songs released by Eurogrooves after SEB 203 are Healing Remixes or ballad remixes of Eurobeat songs.
Notable songs
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 Records. Recently, they signed with Avex to have songs released on the Super Eurobeat series.
Notable songs
Vibration belongs to the company LED Records Italy, led by Luigi Stanga. The company have also been using the labels "LED Records" and "Eurobeat Masters", depending on to whom they licensed. It 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. With L. Stanga retiring in 2008, LED Records Italy (along with its labels) closed down.
Notable Vibration songs:
SCP is also known as Stefano Castagna Productions, known as Double for some years until the title was changed to SCP. 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. 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. In 2008 & 2009, SCP experimented with more pop/house oriented songs such a cover of "Wait for You" by Elliott Yamin and an original production, "Bright Time" which has an infused feel of 80s pop and modern house music. The recent songs of SCP in 2011 , are more a mix of the experimental style they created, mixed with the older sound they had in the Euromach era.
Notable SCP songs:
Recent notable tracks
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. All former tracks he produced with Delta transferred with him over to Sinclairestyle. Recently, Former A-Beat-C artist Denise De Vincenzo (a.k.a. Nuage) came out of retirement of singing Super Eurobeat music to lend her voice to a Sinclairestyle track, "Before Tomorrow," which appeared on 199.
Notable Sinclaire Style songs
Recent Notable Songs
Go Go's Music was founded by Alessandra Mirka Gatti (a.k.a. Domino) and Sandro Olivia and in 2006. Alessandra and Sandro decided that it was in their best interests to detach from A-Beat-C and create a new label to preserve the classic sound that they felt was being lost with the direction A-Beat-C was heading. Noted singers who left A-Beat-C to join Go Go's Music are Elena Gobbi Frattini (a.k.a. Lolita, Virginelle) and Manuel Caramori (a.k.a. Manuel - although in 2010 Manuel left Go Go's Music to join Dima Music due to artistic differences between the singer and the label). Go Go's Music also brought new singers to the Eurobeat genre, including Giorgia Vecchini (Giorgia V), Silvio Rondelli (Leo River), Elisabetta Coiro (Betty Beat), Marina Santelli (Mari-san), and Ester Scarpa (Ester). Notably, A-Beat-C's most recognized group alias "Go Go Girls" was brought over to Go Go's Music as Alessandra and Sandro held the creative rights to the group. Go Go's Music unofficially debuted on SEB 175 with three songs, but was not recognized as an official Super Eurobeat compilation label until volume 177. GoGo's Music and SCP have a close relationship with each other, and have collaborated on a couple of songs in the past: including a remake of a popular SCP song, Looka Bomba, which covered by the "Go Go Girls."
Notable Go Go's Music songs
Delta producer Laurent Newfield created a label under Hearty INC. called Akyr Music in 2005. Akyr produces not only eurobeat, but Trance and Hyper-Techno as well. The songs were featured on the Farm Records compilation, Love Para2, and other albums such as Parapara Hyper Best. Since the label was not releasing any material with Avex Trax and it was Laurent Newfield's label (from Delta) , Avex told to clubs in Japan to stop playing Akyr Music productions , which lead to difficulties to keep the label alive. In Winter 2008, Newfield released an internet-only album, Super Euro Freak, with remixes by Diskowarp and other independent producers. Even though being a defunct label , Akyr will still have special releases like Super Euro Freak in the future; Super Euro Freak Vol. 2 was released in October 2009.
Notable Akyr songs
A-Beat C producer, Dave Rodgers established Sun Fire Records. It's the newest Eurobeat label that signed to Avex since 2010. The label made it's first appearance on Super Eurobeat Vol.206. The label is also producing Hyper Techno in the same style of their previous Techno label under A-Beat-C , Sound & Vision Italy.
Notable Sun Fire songs
There have been three types of music called "J-Euro" (Japanese Eurobeat);
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:
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