Hi-nrg Is Not Dead, It Is Alive And Well?

[JAMES C]

A big Hello to all the forum members, I first found this site 2 days ago & couldn't help but become a newby member as I too love Disco / HI-NRG even thougn I was too young to enjoy the clubs back in the 80's. I've been a mad fan of this music for years & have always driven people crazy with the HI-NRG discussion. After spending countless hours searching for retro CD's online I finally found the place where everybody has the same passion.

As a Dj myself, I have lived through the progression of disco, from dancing to Donna Summer back in '77 when I was 4 too playing the latest NRG Driven Uk & European Hard-Dance/Hard-Trance & Hardcore. It's still the same music. In fact we Ravers call it HARD-NRG OR NRG-TRANCE OR RAVE-NRG

Coming from Melbourne, I remember DISCO/HI-NRG As being very big, primarily because of Melbourne's Large Greek/Italian/Yugoslav/Maltese generally Southern & Eastern European population. In the 80's, most of the clubs in Melbourne played Eurobeat & Hi-NRG, In fact It was accepted as Heterosexual music even if some of the songs were about homosexuality, It didn't matter, what mattered was that it was danceable, It sounded good in big car stereos & that it was different to the pop/New-Wave that was mostly popular amongst the Anglo-Australians Youth.

At the end of the 80's, most kids, from both Southern European background as well Anglo Background were really getting into HI-NRG just when the House revolution kicked-in, unfortunately, Stock-Aitken & Waterman hits basically killed the enthusiams overnight & that was the end of the HI-NRG ere at around the summer of '88-'89.

However, the acceptance of Disco/Euro-Dance got alot of people into House which eventually branched-off into Techno & from there into the dozens of synth joneras that the 'commercial' scene described as trance.

As a Dj & Producer of anything Trance-NRG, I still see the influence that HI-NRG has had on the dance scene, most Dj's & Producers who I have met & worked with, especially from the UK, have all grown-up listening to Euro-NRG when growing up in the 80's. The influence has really shaped 90's Dance, Techno & Rave music to this date.

In fact, while everybody is currently into the Electro-House craze, which in my opinion is still the same boring monotonous 'sample - repeat' House as it's been for the last 16 Years, There is in fact a style of music that has Killer Vocals, Hi-NRG Chord Progressions & Key Changes. They call it UK Hardcore & it's bigger now in Europe, especially in the UK as well as Here in Australia. It's fast (we're talking 170 BPM), If you don't like it cheesy, there's even Freeform which is basically. sped-up melodic Hard-Trance than can be anything from light to very dark. Even the slower Euro-Trance & Club-Trance is also HI-NRG influenced, it even came close to a full-scale revival back in '95-'96 with countles EURO-TECHNO tracks from Italy & Germany. Let's not forget Claudja Barry's '93 classin POISON produced by GENERAL BASE, An 80's HI-NRG diva on an 90' Trance-NRG production, one of the most beautiful synthesized productions of the 90's. GENERAL BASE was also a major catalyst for the growing HARDCORE RAVE scene as well. In fact most people I know who like TRANCE also liked HI-NRG in the 80's, regardless of age!.

All of us producers have dreamed of re-producing HI-NRG as close to it's purest form, in fact One of the most begging questions are, where the hell can we go to license remixes of classic tracks, even if the remix is simply to upgrade the original. 'BOBBY O, ARE YOU LISTENING', I currently have bootlegs of a couple of tracks like Just A Mirage, Searchin' made into both electro style but with more of an original HI-NRG Feel & Also as Hardcore Trance. Problem is, It would be nice to get the legal rights from the artists/labels to reproduce the vocals, I'm all for reviving HI-NRG, bring it back.

Anyway, hope the network gets bigger & we do revive HI-NRG, because if there's 1 thing I'm sick & tired of is Electro-House & 80's Retro nights where Dj's don't even know what Eurobeat & Hi-Nrg is ,

P.S. BIG SHOUT TO ALL MELBOURNE HI-NRG FANS, IF YOU'RE OUT THERE!

[David b]

Hi James c , welcome to the forum
I too am a huge fan of eurobeat and hi nrg and would love to see it become more popular and to revive it . Nothing beats this music for it's sound and energy to dance all night to .

[remicks]

Originally Posted by JAMES C

.
There is in fact a style of music that has Killer Vocals, Hi-NRG Chord Progressions & Key Changes. They call it UK Hardcore & it's bigger now in Europe, especially in the UK as well as Here in Australia. It's fast (we're talking 170 BPM), If you don't like it cheesy, there's even Freeform which is basically. sped-up melodic Hard-Trance than can be anything from light to very dark.

This is a very interesting posting. Thanks James C !

170 BPMs you say ! Holy moly !



*****

[David b]

The best songs were 120-130 bpm in the late 70s and early 80s.
I agree music needs to slow down about 50bpm so you can dance to it again

[marmite7]

I think in some ways that higher energy format helped to "kill disco" too. Not everybody wanted to operate at peak levels hours on end .... many stopped going when the sound was only repetitive endless hi nrg.

Remicks - hi-nrg didn't kill disco, it just evolved, as has all music!

Those who couldn't keep up wth the frantic hi-nrg/eurobeat (all of 120!), just went to regular discos I guess.


Then came House music

[Energyguy]

Hello James C ! Welcome to the forum !