What is Eurodance?


There are several different forms of dance musice out there, the most popular ones are euro, techno, progressive, dream, happy hardcore, raggae, and rap. Each style has its own unique characteristics and hence, has its own group of audiences. I'm one of those who is deeply attracted by the beautiful sound of eurodance, or so-called "high energy" music.

Most of the eurodance/hi-nrg tracks have the following characteristics:

The most distinquish feature of eurodance tracks is the abundance of the vocal verses/choruses as opposed to other styles of dance music where less vocals are heard. The combination of rich vocals and catchy melodies make eurodance tracks easy to attract listeners and fill the dance floors.

Here's a brief history of eurodance for those of you who are new to this style. Eurodance emerged in the early 90's with songs like "Rhythm is a Dancer", "Mr. Vain", "The Sign" etc. And it blossomed towards the mid 90's when tons of awesome eurodance/hi-nrg tracks were released. However, in 1996, a few other new styles emerged and took the dance scene by storm, the most noticeable was dream music. From that time on, eurodance gradually loses its popularity. It gets worse when euro progressive style took over the club scene in the early 1997. At that time, a lot of eurodance artists began to go with the trend and change their music styles. Most of them ended up with no success. So what do you do if the experiment doesn't work? Go back to the basics! And back to the eurodance style they went. With the surprise success of Danish pop/bubble-gum releases from artists like Aqua and Daze, eurodance began to creep back to the dance scene. In 1998, Sweden led the way with awesome eurodacne releases from E-Type, Basic Element, Solid Base, and La Cream. They all did very well, especially E-type whose two new releases topped the charts and sales in many of the european countries, and Solid Base's album "The Take Off" sold plantium in Finland. Many of the new eurodance releases have the influence of the progressive sound that dominated during the year 1997 and 1998.

Although the golden period of eurodance is gone, eurodance is still alive and our devotion and support will make it even more so. Please proceed to the other sections of my eurodance zone, where I have charts and mixes in real audio format to listen to. Enjoy!


If you have any questions related to Eurodance or any comments please send messages to chou@wpi.wpi.edu
1