Happy hardcore, also known as 4-beatorhappycore, is a subgenreofhardcore dance music or "hard dance". It emerged both from the UK breakbeat hardcorerave scene, and Belgian, German and Dutch hardcore techno scenes in the early 1990s. The thing that makes happy hardcore stand apart from happy gabba, is that happy hardcore tends to have breakbeats running alongside the 4/4 kick drum.[1]
The breakbeat hardcorerave scene was beginning to fragment by late 1992 into a number of subsequent breakbeat-based genres: darkcore (tracks embracing dark-themed samples and stabs), hardcore jungle (reggae basslines and influences became prominent), and 4-beat also known as happy hardcore where piano rolls and uplifting vocals were still central to the sound.[2] DJs such as Slipmatt, DJ Sy, DJ Seduction, Wishdokta, DJ Dougal, and DJ Vibes continued to play and put out music of this nature throughout 1993/94 – notably Slipmatt through the SMD releases, Wishdokta as "Naughty Naughty", and Seduction on the Impact label.[3]
The sound of happy hardcore changed in the 1990s, with tracks increasingly losing their breakbeats towards a stomping distorted 909 4/4kick drum pattern, with more original vocal leads and stab patterns. DJs and producers that began to come through included Hixxy, Breeze, Force & Styles, DJ Sharkey, and DJ DNA,[4] and tracks that started to define the genre included "Heart of Gold", "Pretty Green Eyes", "Cloudy Daze", "Sunshine after the Rain", "Above the Clouds", "Discoland", "Love of my Life", "Techno Wonderland", and "Hardcore Fever".[5] Throughout the mid-late 1990s, the compilation series Bonkers would be commercially popular and showcase the latest happy hardcore music. Bonkers only really came into being due to the record label React showing interest in Toy Town, and Hixxy and Sharkey convincing the label to do a compilation album deal instead.[6]
In the UK, the scene received its own special on BBC Radio 1 called John Peel Is Not Enough (named after a track by CLSM) in 2004.[7] The scene continued to expand, with compilations such as Clubland X-Treme Hardcore, and an evermore youthful audience.[8] In 2009, DJ Kutski hosted a show featuring hard dance and hardcore on Radio 1.[9]
^Reynolds 2013, chpt. 11: "The difference between happy hardcore and happy gabba is slight: basically, the English tracks have sped-up breakbeats running alongside the stomping four-to-the-floor kick-drum, and at 170 b.p.m., they're slightly slower than happy gabba.".
^Reynolds 2013, p. 266, "Back in 1993, when hardcore plunged into the 'darkside', a breakaway faction of DJ-producers like Seduction, Vibes and Slipmatt continued to make celebratory, upful tunes based around hectic breakbeats. By the end of 1994, happy hardcore had coalesced into a scene that operated in parallel with its estranged cousin, jungle.".
