Eurodance is a genre of electronic dance music originated in the early 1990s. It combines many elements from House, Hi-NRG and Italo-Disco. Starting in the early 1990s and continuing these days, Eurodance production continues to evolve with a more modernized style that incorporates elements from Trance and Techno music.
Eurodance music is heavily influenced by the utilization of rich melodic vocals, either exclusively by itself or inclusively with rapped verses. This, combined with cutting-edge synthesizer, strong bass rhythm and melodic hooks establishes the core foundation of Eurodance music.
Definition
The term "Eurodance" gradually became associated with a specific style of European dance music over time. During its golden years in the mid 1990s it was just as likely to be referred to as "Euro-House" or "Euro-NRG"; in Europe it was often called "Dancefloor" or simply "Dance".
While some use a much broader definition of what is considered "Eurodance", over time, the term particularly came to refer to an NRG-based genre from the 1990s which included a solo vocalist or a rapper/vocalist duet and is also used to describe later European dance acts such as Cascada.
Eurodance is nightclub-oriented music that is usually produced somewhere in Europe and sounds commercial enough to be played by radio stations and music television. Some of the more prominent Eurodance songs go international, especially if an act manages to score more than one hit.
Characteristics of the music
Most Eurodance is characterized by synthesizer riffs, female vocals with simple chorus, male rap parts, sampling and a strong beat.
Vocals
Eurodance is often very positive and upbeat; the lyrics often involve issues of love and peace, dancing and partying, or expressing and overcoming difficult emotions. The early-mid 1990s Eurodance vocals were frequently done by a solo vocalist or a mixed rapper-vocalist duet.
Many projects utilized variations of the rapper-vocalist theme, such as a German rapper with American singers (Real McCoy), or the use of reggae rap as in Ice MC and Fun Factory, or scat singing as in Scatman John. Solo singing artists such as Alexia, Tess, Whigfield and Double You also contributed to the genre.
Eurodance lyrics are almost always sung in English, regardless of the artist's nationalities. However, some artists release their songs in both English and their native languages.
Percussion
Almost all Eurodance emphasizes percussion and rhythm. Eurodance percussion is generally a "kick" bassdrum with some variations on a 4/4 time signature. While the percussion is always done by synthesizers, it is a sound more typical of dance music and not the "beat box" sound typical of rap music. The tempo is typically around 135 beats per minute, but may vary from 110 to 150 BPM.
Melody
Most Eurodance is also very melody-driven. Besides the contribution of the female vocals, there is often a noticeable use of rapid synthesizer arpeggios. This is a very distinctive feature of Eurodance that separates it from Hi-NRG disco. The synthesizer often has a piano or barrel organ but sometimes mimics other instruments, such as calliope (e.g., "Touch the Sky" by Cartouche). There is often a short, repetitive riff, while other times there is a whole tour de force of synthesizers (e.g., Close To You by Fun Factory). Some songs have a second riff cycling in between verses.
Characteristics of the bands and business
Eurodance is widely commercialized. Some producers, like Max Martin or Larry Pignagnoli, have fronted dozens of bands. From thousands of records released, only a few bands have existed in the mainstream beyond two records. Many acts, such as Captain Jack and Jonny Jakobsen (Dr. Bombay), had a carefully planned humoristic image. A group called E-rotic received attention with sexually provocative lyrics and music videos.
While Eurodance singles regularly went to Gold, Platinum or multi-Platinum status, it had been more difficult to get a full length album to get to the same level of success. Typical problems cited include the album as a whole not up to the strength of the singles, the performers not being charismatic enough to hold the attention of millions of people past a song or two, or weak promotion of the remainder of the album after the singles have become hits.
History
Original Eurodance is a fusion of several styles of dance music, primarily house and rap with the Hi-NRG variant of disco music.
Hi-NRG and Italo-Disco
Hi-NRG started in the United States as an underground, faster form of disco after disco had lost mainstream popularity. In the late 1980s it became associated with British record producers Stock, Aitken and Waterman, and by the early 1990s bands such as Masterboy were producing a Continental version of Hi-NRG.
Eurodance shows a strong Hi-NRG influence, such as the high BPM and the strong use of female vocals. The influence of Masterboy is readily seen in Eurodance music that does not feature a duet, such as It's My Life by Dr. Alban and What Is Love by Haddaway. Eurodance can also be seen as a more technologically advanced form of Euro disco, just as Hi-NRG is the more technologically advanced form of Disco.
Italo Disco and its later evolution, Eurobeat, are sometimes thought to be sub-genres of Eurodance, but rather they are offshoots of the european version of Hi-NRG, called "Space Disco". Italo was influential on the production of Eurodance in general, while Italian-produced Eurodance artists, such as Alexia, Cappella, CO.RO, and Double You, tended to preserve features such as operatic female vocals. Later artists such as Eiffel 65 adopted a sort of "marching" beat in their productions. The term "Eurobeat" appears to be more common in Japan, where this style of music is featured in the video game Dance Dance Revolution, as well as in some Anime soundtracks, for example the street racing scenes in Initial D.
House music
House music, also an underground genre in the United States, had come to the UK and continental Europe with the rise of acid house and "rave" techno in the late 1980s. By the early 1990s, with the rise of the Belgian New Beat, house then became associated with Belgium and the Netherlands.
Some of the first songs with elements of what would later be called Eurodance are house music. For example, Strike It Up by Black Box (1990) and Rhythm is a Dancer by Snap! (1992) both have the duet characteristic of Eurodance, and Everybody's Free (To Feel Good) by Rozalla (1991) has the characteristic synthesizer riff.
Of course, not all European house music was absorbed into the Eurodance genre. By the early 2000s, it remained a style distinct from Eurodance with harder synth and a slower tempo, for example Satisfaction by Benny Benassi (2003).
Rap/Hip-Hop
Rap verse has been one of the main distinguishing elements of Eurodance. While Eurodance makes use of rap vocals, it does not contain the lyrical themes of "gangster rap", nor does it follow many of the instrumental conventions of rap music, such as turntable scratching or heavy basslines. It does however focus on danceability similar to funk music which was a critical basis to the hip hop genre since many songs from that genre were sampled by hip hop artists.
Eurodance has, however, served to popularize rap music in Europe. While rap had been made in Europe at least as far back as Falco's Einzelhaft album (1982), the American variety only gained a more widespread acceptance when Technotronic landed their hit "Pump Up the Jam", followed by Snap's "The Power". The combination of house music with rap vocals in general came to be referred to as Hip house or "house rap".
In Europe
Some examples of "original" Eurodance acts are Alcazar, Cascada, Infernal, Alexia, 2 Unlimited, Bad Boys Blue, Cappella, Captain Hollywood Project, Centory, Corona, Culture Beat, DJ Bobo, Dr. Alban, E-Type, Fun Factory, Ice MC, Imperio, Indra, La Bouche, 2 Brothers On The 4th Floor, Le Click, Maxx, Playahitty, Real McCoy and First Base.
These bands included emphasis of the combo female chorus together with male rap performances, leading directly to the duo revival. Each group featured their own signature sound, persona, visual imagery, and vocal approach.
Solo artists who performed Eurodance include Amber, Corona, Haddaway. Rozalla supported Michael Jackson during his European "Dangerous" tour. In 1994, Amber made history becoming the first singer in Eurodance history to be signed to a label as a solo artist, not a singer who is bound to a producer.
United States
In the United States, several Eurodance artists made the Rhythmic Top 40, Top 40 Mainstream and the Billboard Hot 100 between 1993 and 1998. However, it tended to be the more house and rap-oriented artists that received airplay. For instance, the hip-house project Snap! received quite a bit of airplay early on.
The more Hi-NRG-oriented artists were typically played during special "mix" shows if at all, and it was often necessary to go to a club to hear Eurodance music. While Eurodance did become popular with club DJ's in the United States, radio stations were cautious about playing anything that sounded too much like disco during most of the 1980s and 1990s. By the end of the 1990s, however, some of the later acts such as Blue (Da Ba Dee) by Eiffel 6
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