Eurobeat
| Eurobeat | |
|---|---|
 Super Eurobeat Vol. 250 cover art | |
| Stylistic origins | |
| Cultural origins | British Eurobeat: Mid 1980s, United Kingdom Contemporary Eurobeat: Late 1980s, Italy, West Germany and Japan |
| Fusion genres | |
| J-pop[4][5] | |
| Regional scenes | |
| Other topics | |
Eurobeat refers to two styles of dance music that originated in Europe: one is a British variant of Italian[3] Eurodisco-influenced[6] dance-pop, and the other is a hi-NRG-driven form of Italo disco. Both forms were developed in the 1980s.
Producer trio
Overview
In the late 1970s, Eurodisco musicians such as Silver Convention and Donna Summer were popular in America.[7]
In the 1980s, a highly polished production with "musical simplicity" at its core — from
Eurobeat lyrics and melody are very simple. Italo disco, sometimes fast and happy music like EDM, with a sequenced octave bassline. Many feature guitars as a beginning section, followed by a thunderous, highly technical synthesizer riff[9] which is then repeated after the chorus. Songs usually repeat the verse, bridge, and chorus multiple times during the song. The beginning is typically like an instrumental rendition of the verse, bridge, and chorus, while the riff is a lot like an instrumental version of the chorus.
beginning (intro) → synth → A melo (verse) → B melo (bridge) → chorus → synth → C melo → ending
Use of the term
British record producer Ian Levine's Eastbound Expressway, released the single "You're a Beat" in recognition of the slower tempo of hi-NRG music emerging from Europe. Many European acts managed to break through under this new recognition, namely the likes of Modern Talking, Bad Boys Blue, Taffy, and Spagna. The term "Eurobeat" was subsequently used commercially to describe the Stock Aitken Waterman–produced hits by Dead or Alive,[10] Bananarama, Jason Donovan, Sonia, and Kylie Minogue which were heavily based on the British experience with Italo disco. During 1986–1988, it was used for specific Italian 1980s Eurodisco imports, such as Sabrina Salerno, Spagna, and Baltimora but was also used in the United States as a catch-all term for UK-based dance and electropop groups of the time such as Pet Shop Boys, purported to have a "European beat", hence Eurobeat. By 1989, with the advent of Eurodance and Euro house, the term was dropped in the UK.
History
United Kingdom
"It's a great hybrid with Motown-style lyrics, an Italian-style melody, and a Eurobeat. It sounds really great on the radio."
The trio of British record producers, songwriters, and former DJs Mike Stock, Matt Aitken, and Pete Waterman were involved in the British underground club culture, encountering the Black American soul music-focused scene called Northern Soul, Italian pop-Eurodisco, and sped-up Motown Sound-inspired tracks. As underground record producers, they sought to recapture the "nostalgia" of Motown Sound with a hint of campy playfulness where the simplicity of musical structures, like in Italian disco, was preferred. This musical formula was proven to be successful enough to be capitalized on as they had a string of top 10 UK hits in the 1980s to the point of their version of Eurobeat becoming synonymous with British pop music as a whole.[11]
Italy and Japan
"By the Italians, for the Japanese"
"Three labels have been with us for years now, and they believed in us. Without them, we couldn't have made it happen."
Meanwhile, in Japan in 1985, the term "Eurobeat" was applied to all continental-European dance music imports. These were mainly Italian and West German-produced
The Japanese Para Para dance culture is influenced by Eurobeat. In the early 1990s, Eurobeat's popularity was gradually decreasing in Japan. Two Japanese men, namely
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, the energetic (sometimes wild) and heavy use of synths, distinctive brass and harp sounds, and tight, predictable percussion in the background.
The 1996 video game Sega Touring Car Championship first featured Eurobeat as racing music. The 1998 anime series Initial D, based on the manga by Shuichi Shigeno, uses Eurobeat music regularly[16] 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. The series, as well as the Arcade Stage video games by Sega, use a large playlist of Eurobeat songs (for example, the trio of "Deja Vu" by Dave Rodgers, from second stage "Running in the 90s" by Max Coveri, from first stage Arcade Stage 2 and Special Stage and "Gas Gas Gas" by Manuel Caramori). from fifth stage and Arcade Stage 5 There are also many Eurobeat songs based on the series itself, including: "Takumi" by Neo, "Speed Car" by D-Team From fourth stage Arcade Stage 4 and Extreme Stage and "DDD Initial D (My Car is Fantasy)" by Mega NRG Man. from Fifth stage Initial D's successor, MF Ghost, the 2023 anime uses Eurobeat as background music in the same way as its predecessor. Another 2003 anime called Dear Boys, which focuses on basketball, also features Eurobeat during basketball game sequences.
In 1998, Bemani, a branch of the video game company
Wangan Midnight the Movie, which was a 2009 film adaptation of the manga and anime series of the same name, features some Eurobeat songs, though only in some scenes as it has an original score playing through race sequences. Similarly, the Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune arcade games by Namco feature a trance soundtrack, in a similar way to how Initial D has Eurobeat.
J-Euro
Types of music called "J-Euro" (Japanese Eurobeat) include:
- Eurobeat songs made in Italy, covered by Japanese artists with Japanese lyrics. This type of "J-Euro" appeared first in the early 1990s. Notable artists of this type of "J-Euro" have included Dream, and the "Queen of J-pop" Namie Amuro.[17]
- J-pop songs made in Japan, remixed in the style of Eurobeat by Italian Eurobeat producers. This type of "J-Euro" appeared first on the 1999 issue of Super Eurobeat, Vol. 100, with several tracks of this type of "J-Euro" by Dream, J-Euro Best, J-Euro Non-Stop Best,[20]etc.
- Eurobeat songs made in Japan, and sung by Japanese artists themselves. This type of Eurobeat has always been present since the 2000s, but only started to gain attention once the para para scene began promoting songs in this style. Most songs are anime remixes or J-pop covers, which has led to some calling it an anime boom.[tone] Eurobeat labels that showcase this type of J-Euro are A-One, Akiba Koubou INC/Akiba Records, Eurobeat Union, Fantasy Dance Tracks, Plum Music, Sound Holic, SuganoMusic, TTL Sound, Takanashi Koubou and more.
Para Para
One of the dance moves Eurobeat spawned was para para (パラパラ), a type of Eurobeat music-inspired Japanese youth social dance performed in unison.[21][22]
See also
References
- ^ Mad, Badalbum. I got really, really sick." [...] The Stock Aitken Waterman team was reportedly quite firm about adhering to their production methods and concepts, which Burns said was a major source of friction. "That's why we eventually walked away from them. For instance, there was a lyric from 'Something in My House' [from the follow-up album, Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know] where I make a reference to a 'wicked queen.' The actual producer, Mike Stock, stopped me and said I couldn't use the term because it would mean the record is about gay people. I was like, 'Fuck this; it's going on!' They actually wiped the original vocal, but then Pete Waterman came back and said, 'Let [Burns] do it the way he wants to.' There you go."
- ISBN 978-1-86074-242-2
- ^ a b c David D. Laitin, Robert Schuman Centre (2000). Culture and National Identity: "the East" and European Integration. European University Institute. Page 14.
- ^ Keizai, Kokusai & Zaidan, Kōryū (cont.) "Japan Spotlight: Economy, Culture & History, Volume 23". Page 24 (Ng Wai-ming: "The Rise of J-Pop in Asia and Its Impact"). Japan Economic Foundation & the University of California. 2004. Quote: "JAPANESE pop music is commonly I referred to as "J-pop", a term coined by Komuro Tetsuya, the "father of J-pop", in the early 1990s. The meaning of J-pop has never been clear. It was first limited to Euro-beat, the kind of dance music that Komuro produced. However, it was later also applied to many other kinds of popular music in the Japanese music chart, Oricon, including idol-pop, rhythm and blues (R&B), folk, soft rock, easy listening and sometimes even hip hop."
- ^ Society for Asian Music (2003). "Asian Music: Journal of the Society for Asian Music, Volume 34, Issue 1". Page 1 ("Japanese Popular Music in Singapore"). The University of California.
- ISBN 9781134957927. "Eurorecords had to have immediate cross-national appeal, musical simplicity was of the essence- a bouncy beat, just one chorus hook, elementary lyrics. The fun of these records was entirely a matter of sound quality, but once a record was a hit it took on a kind of sleazy, nostalgic charm of its own. It was precisely the brazen utility of these records, in short, that gave them gay disco consumer appeal too.[...] Eurodisco also had an obvious element of camp -British club audiences took delight in the very gap between the grand gestures of Eurosingers and the vacuity of their songs."
- ISBN 978-1-4724-7962-4.
- ^ a b c BMI: The Many Worlds of Music. Broadcast Music, Incorporated, 1986. p. 17.
- ^ "Eurobeat Creation Theory: Synth Riffs/"Sabi"s". Odyssey Eurobeat. 2010-08-06. Archived from the original on 2015-11-07. Retrieved 2019-10-22.
- ^ Kreisler, Lauren. "Inside The Hit Factory: Dead Or Alive – You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
- ISBN 9780307449658.
- ^ a b McClure, Steve. "Midem 2000: JAPAN: Execs Stress Dance & Urban". Billboard (Nielsen Business Media, Inc.). Jan 22, 2000. Page 80. ISSN 0006-2510. Quote: "[T]o maintain an existing relationship with our clients we want to show our special appreciation to our collaborators for the success of 'Super Eurobeat Volume 100,' which has sold more than a half-million units since being released in August," says Avex's Haji Taniguchi. [...] Taniguchi says the three companies to which Avex feels especially grateful for their support over the years are A-Beat C, Time, and Delta, all of which are from Italy."
- ^ Various - Super Eurobeat Vol. 1 - Extended Version, 1994, retrieved 2023-03-09
- ^ Various - Super Eurobeat Vol. 1 - Time Compilation, 21 January 1990, retrieved 2023-03-09
- ^ "ユーロビートの基礎知識 PowerGun". triplei.hp.infoseek.co.jp. Archived from the original on 17 May 2006. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
- ISBN 9781633537330.
- ^ Bakuren, List of J-EURO Original Tracks Archived 2008-10-10 at the Wayback Machine (in Japanese)
- ^ "Empress of Pop - TIME". Time. Archived from the original on 3 June 2011. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
- ^ Tsutaya, J-Euro Non-Stop Best > Summary Archived 2019-01-10 at the Wayback Machine (in Japanese)
- ^ Avex Trax, J-EURO (in Japanese)
- ISBN 9780804820417. Quote: "[T]he para-para girls-young women in their late teens and early twenties dancing in unison in Japanese dance steps to the sound of fast-tempo Euro-beat. Para-para dancing is not a new invention: it dates back to the early eighties."
- ISBN 9789715424196.