Eurobeat
Encyclopedia
Eurobeat is a form of italo-disco/hi-NRG
music that developed in the late 1980s.
In the United States
, Eurobeat was sometimes marketed as Hi-NRG
and for a short while shared this term with the very early freestyle music
hits.
"Eurobeat" is also directly related to the Japanese Para Para
dance culture, but in a completely different way, explained later in this article.
produced hits by Dead or Alive
, Bananarama
, Jason Donovan
, Sonia, and Kylie Minogue
which were heavily based on the British experience with italo-disco during holidays in Greece
and elsewhere. "Eurobeat" was also applied to the first hits from Pet Shop Boys
and other UK-based dance music
and electropop groups of the time. Those "eurobeat" hits had a European beat, topped the UK charts, and, in the USA, received radio airplay and contributed to the evolution of New York's Freestyle genre. "Braun European Top 20" on MTV Europe
also aired on MTV USA during summer 1987 to 1989, spreading the UK's Eurobeat sound. But after the summer of 1988 (UK's summer of love), the style lost popularity, with the exception of Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan. By the summer of '89 the term "eurobeat" was replaced by other labels and the music changed to 90s eurodance
and mostly euro house. The term "Eurobeat" was also used only in the UK and during 1986-1988, for specific Italian 80s euro disco
imports, especially those from Sabrina Salerno
, Spagna
and Baltimora
.
nightclub culture, that has existed since the early '80s. Japan experienced italo Disco through the success of the German group "Arabesque", which broke up in 1984. This did not prevent the release of 2 italo Disco-sounding singles in 1985 and 1986, produced and mixed by Michael Cretu
(of Enigma
). The later solo success of Arabesque's lead singer Sandra
further introduced this sound to Japan. That attracted the attention of many italo-disco producers (mostly Italians and Germans) and by the late '80s while the Germans faded out of the outdated italo-disco scene and went for other newly-rising popular scenes, mainly trance
, the Italians created a new sound especially for Japan, but virtually unknown in the rest of the world. In Japan, this music is called "eurobeat", "super eurobeat", and "eurobeat flash
".
In the early 1990s when eurobeat's popularity was gradually decreasing in Japan, two Japanese men, the owner and a managing director of Avex, a small import-record shop at the time, decided to release a compilation CD. They went to Italy and met Giancarlo Pasquini later known as Dave Rodgers
, then a member of the italo disco band Aleph
, and eventually released the compilation CD, the first Super Eurobeat
, which proved an instant success and re-sparked eurobeat's popularity in Japan.
Despite its European origins, this eurobeat style's main market has always been Japan
, where its synthetic and emotionally upbeat stylings are popular. Even though many European people and American people have heard of eurodance
, eurodisco and euro house, this flavor of Eurobeat is largely unknown in Europe and only recently became somewhat popular in the Western world. It appeals to open-minded italo Disco fans and some euro-house fans.
The anime
series Initial D
, based on the manga
by Shuichi Shigeno
, uses eurobeat music regularly 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.
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, characteristic are the energetic (sometimes wild) and heavy use of synths, distinctive brass and harp sounds, and tight, predictable percussion in the background. These sounds are layered with vocals and natural instruments (guitar and piano are common) into complex, ever-shifting melodies that, at their best, burst with energy.
In 1998, Bemani a branch of the video game company Konami
made a hit video dance machine, Dance Dance Revolution
. The game acquired eurobeat songs from the Dancemania
compilation series from Toshiba EMI. Over time, DDR has featured eurobeat songs on-and-off in their songlists. However, their number has dwindled due to efforts to make DDR more marketable to North American markets. Currently, there has been a push to add more eurobeat into DDR, most recently with the addition of Super Eurobeat tracks in the latest arcade release, Dance Dance Revolution X2
. Other music games in Konami's lineup feature a large number of Eurobeat tracks, including Beatmania
, Beatmania IIDX
, and jubeat
. The popularity of the genre also led Konami to create a Para Para
game; ParaParaParadise
.
The Sega AM2-developed arcade fighting game, Sonic the Fighters (Sonic Championship in the US) uses a eurobeat influenced soundtrack.
, 70s eurodisco, space disco
, Canadian Disco, and italo Disco
(a.k.a. 80s eurodisco) emerged from Electronic Music
. Although disco music became unpopular in North America, it remained in the limelight in Europe for many more years. In the USA, in the early 80s, disco linked with George Clinton
, Earth, Wind & Fire
, and the Hi-NRG
scene.
What follows in the article, is the description of "eurobeat" (a.k.a. super eurobeat) as formed during the late 80s and 90s in Japan.
While modern music is often recognized by its lyrics, eurobeat is recognized not primarily by its lyrics. Very much like bubblegum
eurodance
, it usually has extremely silly or utterly meaningless lyrics. Eurobeat is primarily recognized by its synthesized chorus known as the Sabi (short for Sabishigaru, not to be mistaken for the Japanese Wabi-sabi
), which means "to remember someone or something" in Japanese. This of course refers to the generally acknowledged fact that you mostly remember the Sabi as opposed to the stanzas of the Eurobeat song. This broad genre can create a great number of different "sub-genres" within it because of this combination of harmony and rhythm. Sometimes it can still sound like the old disco music we know, sometimes it can be very "fast and happy" like happy hardcore
or speed music, and occasionally it even uses guitars as a method of Saiba.
One peculiar thing about eurobeat is the fact that each artist is often credited with a variety of different aliases (See "Popular Eurobeat Artists" below for details). Artists usually adopt different stage names according to the mood of each song, or depending on who wrote their lyrics. For instance, Ennio Zanini has stated on the SCP Music website that he goes by the name of "Fastway" on songs which are more upbeat and sprinkled with high-pitched female backing vocals, and goes by "Dusty" on his more "serious" tracks. Also a popular theory is that Eurobeat artists such as Clara Moroni and Giancarlo Pasquini
manufacture the same acts under many different names in order to "compete with themselves". (Compare to legendary House
producer Thomas Bangalter
, who is infamous for the same practice).
Eurobeat also has notoriety for name recognition
, lifting titles from popular songs and using them as the names of Eurobeat tracks. Examples are "Like a Virgin", "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", "What is Love", and "Station to Station." The Eurobeat songs that reuse song titles typically have nothing to do with the song it lifted its title from (i.e., not a cover).
The intro is the introduction into the song, the riff is the musical part without voices. The a melo, or a-melody is the first verse in the song, the a melo2 (a-melody 2) is the bridge of the song, and the sabi is the chorus of the song. The outro is the ending. There will also be a c melo (the second a melo) after the first sabi, as well as another a/b melo variant after the second sabi.
Eurobeat is notorious for its complex rhythm, always attempting to throw the listener in another direction, but the flow is usually a one way ticket. After the one and only eurobeat synth, the song usually repeats the verse, bridge, and chorus (although with different lyrics most the time. Often these lyrics are extremely original and feature intricate vocals, such as the sole use of clever words such as fire and desire) and then goes into a "breakdown" where there can be a variety of new parts to the song including a guitar solo, the dropping and adding of percussion, or a plain instrumental version of the track. Typically though, this only encompasses the verse and bridge; the chorus is usually sung once again, and then the synth and extro play. The extro can either be the synth played again, or something reminiscent of the intro.
Another thing to note is that the intro is somewhat like an instrumental rendition of the verse, bridge, and chorus, while the synth is a lot like a synthesized version of the chorus. They don't have to sound completely similar, but they do in fact fit on top of each other most of the time.
and Alberto Contini
, and introduced in 1991 on Super Eurobeat 9. Many of the labels producers and artists have worked with eurobeat and italo disco even before A-Beat C was created, so don't be surprised to hear familiar voices or see familiar titles on older Italo Disco labels.
What is pretty easily recognizable in previous A-Beat C works is the "Rodgers' touch" that you can recognize if you knew his former productions under the "Aleph" alias. He had given the label a unique kind of sound to their songs and it of course has both positive and negative effects, depending on how you look at it. A-Beat C productions are generally pretty mature and the label supports a lot of duets between their male and female vocalists. The biggest names from A-Beat C are Dave Rodgers, Powerful T, Norma Sheffield and Futura. After 2007, many singers and producers left A-Beat C to pursue other projects, including Domino, Sandro Oliva, Matt Land, Mega NRG Man, Lolita, the Go Go Girls
, Neo, Nuage, Annerley Gordon, Kiko Loureiro
, Mickey B., etc. Those who remained with the label have since become part of Sun Fire Records.
Notable A-Beat C songs:
Recent Notable tracks:
albums for example. Some of the known BBB artists are Mark Farina, Spencer, Sarah, Alvin, Milk & Coffea, The Flippers and Ken Martin.
If you are familiar to other eurobeat compilations such as EuroPanic you might also remember Laurie. What is common for BBB is that the songs are extra hyper, and there's a huge dose of positivity in the songs. Saifam took off from Avex for a few years but on Super Eurobeat 161 the label is introduced to the series for the first time! Before this the label had only apepared on the shorter series. During the past few years, small scale VIP-compilations that have non-stop edits from the BBB songs is most of what has been released.
This label resembles house music to a degree. They typically use the formula of adding a new section of percussion, bass, and synth after every 4th measure. After the last synth (sometimes after the chorus is goes straight to the following) there is typically a percussion drop until there are only 4 measures of a "kick" or "hat" left. As with Vibration, BBB can be somewhat unpredictable in musical structure.
Boom Boom Beat songs
Recent Tracks from Boom Boom Beat
So little by little the label got more and more success and now when you look back to the SEB history you can locate a huge number of great delta songs. The label has known names like Marko Polo, Niko, Vicky Vale, Cherry, Pizza Girl, Suzy Lazy and Dr. Love. Delta's style is pretty much like A-Beat C.
Tracks usually drop percussion during the breakdown while the singer sings the first verse and bridge again. Synths are typically very "harsh"-sounding, and bass is relatively low depending on the producer of each track.
Notable Delta songs:
Recent Notable tracks
HI-NRG Attack offers a wide variety of different styles. Some of the known names from this label are Jee Bee, Claudia Vip, Franz Tornado, Bazooka Girl, Nikita Jr., Baby Gold and Dolly Pop.
As with Delta, percussion usually drops during the transitions in many songs. This label is notable for its relatively "quirky" lyrics and rhythm, with lyrical subjects such as cows, Russia, getting drunk, and bazookas. Synths are known to be very wild, sometimes playing a different note at every 1/4 beat.
Notable Hi-NRG Attack songs:
Recent Notable Hi-NRG Attack songs:
A unique quality about Time is that most of the label's music includes a very long Intro and typically ends with a fade-out of the synth instead of an outro. The outro of the song usually ends with a "fade-out" of the synth.
Time was released from the Super Eurobeat compilation in 2008 by Avex. Though the reason is officially unknown, some say it's because of their second publishing name Time S.p.A that had releases outside of Avex Trax, and some say Sergio Dall'Ora was unsatisfied by Time Records standards. Both reason may also be true. However, Avex still recognizes Time Records as a Super Eurobeat compilation label and recently published another Time track in 2010, on SEB 203.
Notable Time songs:
Recent Notable Time songs:
Notable songs
Notable songs
Notable Vibration songs:
Some more well known artists from this label are Fastway (a.k.a. Dusty), Kiki & Kika, Ace, Christine and from the newer names such as Lisa Lion has made an impact with her first release. SCP almost always follows A Beat C's formula. Rarely is there ever a percussion drop, but instead you can find a guitar solo or "ad-libbing" of lyrics or synthesizers. In 2008 & 2009, SCP experimented with more pop/house oriented songs such a cover of "Wait for You" by Elliott Yamin and an original production, "Bright Time" which has an infused feel of 80s pop and modern house music. The recent songs of SCP in 2011 , are more a mix of the experimental style they created, mixed with the older sound they had in the Euromach era.
Notable SCP songs:
Recent notable tracks
uses more 'airy' synths that had been seen his Delta productions. Sinclaire also produces Hyper-Techno hits for the series We Love Techpara. Some of his older techno tracks appeared on Super Dance Freak compilation in the 1990s. All former tracks he produced with Delta transferred with him over to Sinclairestyle. Recently, Former A-Beat-C artist Denise De Vincenzo (a.k.a. Nuage) came out of retirement of singing Super Eurobeat music to lend her voice to a Sinclairestyle track, "Before Tomorrow," which appeared on 199.
Notable Sinclaire Style songs
Recent Notable Songs
(a.k.a. Domino) and Sandro Olivia and in 2006. Alessandra and Sandro decided that it was in their best interests to detach from A-Beat-C and create a new label to preserve the classic sound that they felt was being lost with the direction A-Beat-C was heading. Noted singers who left A-Beat-C to join Go Go's Music are Elena Gobbi Frattini (a.k.a. Lolita, Virginelle) and Manuel Caramori (a.k.a. Manuel - although in 2010 Manuel left Go Go's Music to join Dima Music due to artistic differences between the singer and the label). Go Go's Music also brought new singers to the Eurobeat genre, including Giorgia Vecchini (Giorgia V), Silvio Rondelli (Leo River), Elisabetta Coiro (Betty Beat), Marina Santelli (Mari-san), and Ester Scarpa (Ester). Notably, A-Beat-C's most recognized group alias "Go Go Girls
" was brought over to Go Go's Music as Alessandra and Sandro held the creative rights to the group. Go Go's Music unofficially debuted on SEB 175 with three songs, but was not recognized as an official Super Eurobeat compilation label until volume 177. GoGo's Music and SCP have a close relationship with each other, and have collaborated on a couple of songs in the past: including a remake of a popular SCP song, Looka Bomba, which covered by the "Go Go Girls."
Notable Go Go's Music songs
Notable Akyr songs
Notable Sun Fire songs
and the various "Super Eurobeat presents..." compilations by Avex Trax
. Other notable compilations include:
Hi-NRG
Hi-NRG describes a form of high-tempo disco music as well as a genre of electronic dance music originating in the United States during the late 1970s...
music that developed in the late 1980s.
In the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Eurobeat was sometimes marketed as Hi-NRG
Hi-NRG
Hi-NRG describes a form of high-tempo disco music as well as a genre of electronic dance music originating in the United States during the late 1970s...
and for a short while shared this term with the very early freestyle music
Freestyle music
Freestyle or Latin freestyle, sometimes referred to as Latin hip hop, is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in the early 1980s. Mostly popular during the mid 80s to the early 90s...
hits.
"Eurobeat" is also directly related to the Japanese Para Para
Para Para
is a synchronized group dance that originated in Japan. Unlike most club dancing and rave dancing there are specific synchronized movements for each song much like line dancing...
dance culture, but in a completely different way, explained later in this article.
Origin of the term "eurobeat"
The term "eurobeat" was first used in the UK when Ian levin'es Eastbound Expressway released their single "You're A Beat" in recognition to the slower tempo of Hi-NRG/italo disco music emerging from Europe. The majority of Hi-NRG releases tended to be from 124bpm - 138bpm where as the European tended to be 108 - 120 bpm. Many European acts managed to break through under this new recognition namely the likes of Modern Talking, Bad Boys Blue, Taffy and Spagna. It was used commercially to describe the Stock Aitken WatermanStock Aitken Waterman
Stock Aitken Waterman, sometimes known as SAW, were a UK songwriting and record producing trio consisting of Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman. They had great success during the mid to late 1980s and early 1990s...
produced hits by Dead or Alive
Dead or Alive (band)
Dead or Alive were a British New Wave band from Wirral, England, United Kingdom, Europe. The band rose to fame in the 1980s with their number one single on the UK Singles Chart, "You Spin Me Round ". They were the first group to have a number one single under the production team Stock Aitken Waterman...
, Bananarama
Bananarama
Bananarama are an English female pop duo who have had success on the pop and dance charts since 1982. Rather than relying on a two part harmony, the duo generally sings in unison, as do their background vocalists. Although there have been line-up changes, the group enjoyed their most popular...
, Jason Donovan
Jason Donovan
Jason Donovan is an Australian actor and singer. He initially achieved fame in the Australian soap opera Neighbours, before beginning a career in music in 1988. In the UK he has sold over 3 million records, and his début album Ten Good Reasons was one of the highest-selling albums of 1989...
, Sonia, and Kylie Minogue
Kylie Minogue
Kylie Ann Minogue, OBE - often known simply as Kylie - is an Australian singer, recording artist, songwriter, and actress. After beginning her career as a child actress on Australian television, she achieved recognition through her role in the television soap opera Neighbours, before commencing...
which were heavily based on the British experience with italo-disco during holidays in Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
and elsewhere. "Eurobeat" was also applied to the first hits from Pet Shop Boys
Pet Shop Boys
Pet Shop Boys are an English electronic dance music duo, consisting of Neil Tennant, who provides main vocals, keyboards and occasional guitar, and Chris Lowe on keyboards....
and other UK-based dance music
Dance music
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...
and electropop groups of the time. Those "eurobeat" hits had a European beat, topped the UK charts, and, in the USA, received radio airplay and contributed to the evolution of New York's Freestyle genre. "Braun European Top 20" on MTV Europe
MTV Europe
MTV Europe is a pan-European 24-hour entertainment cable and digital television network launched on August 1, 1987. Initially, the channel served all regions within Europe being one of the very few channels that targeted the entire European continent...
also aired on MTV USA during summer 1987 to 1989, spreading the UK's Eurobeat sound. But after the summer of 1988 (UK's summer of love), the style lost popularity, with the exception of Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan. By the summer of '89 the term "eurobeat" was replaced by other labels and the music changed to 90s eurodance
Eurodance
Eurodance is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1980s or early 1990s primarily in Europe. It combines many elements from House, Techno, Hi-NRG and especially Italo-Disco...
and mostly euro house. The term "Eurobeat" was also used only in the UK and during 1986-1988, for specific Italian 80s euro disco
Euro disco
Euro disco is an all encompassing colloquial term used to describe a variety of European electronic dance music that first originated from disco in the 1970s; incorporating elements of pop, New Wave and rock into disco-like continuous dance atmosphere...
imports, especially those from Sabrina Salerno
Sabrina Salerno
Sabrina Salerno , also known in her singing career as Sabrina, is an Italian singer, television hostess, model, actress and record producer...
, Spagna
Spagna
Spagna is an Italian singer and songwriter.-Career:She started her career singing in English and in the early 1980s she provided vocals and wrote songs for an Italo Disco duo project called Fun Fun; as well as writing songs for many other dance music projects until 1986, when she embarked on a solo...
and Baltimora
Baltimora
Baltimora were an Italian New Wave dance outfit active in the mid to late 1980s. The group comprised Jimmy McShane , Maurizio Bassi , Giorgio Cocilovo , Claudio Bazzari , Pier Michelatti and Gabriele Melotti...
.
Renaissance: "By the Italians, for the Japanese"
Meanwhile, in Japan, in 1985, the term "eurobeat" was applied to all continental-European dance music imports. These were mainly Italian- and German-produced italo-disco. That sound became the soundtrack of the Para ParaPara Para
is a synchronized group dance that originated in Japan. Unlike most club dancing and rave dancing there are specific synchronized movements for each song much like line dancing...
nightclub culture, that has existed since the early '80s. Japan experienced italo Disco through the success of the German group "Arabesque", which broke up in 1984. This did not prevent the release of 2 italo Disco-sounding singles in 1985 and 1986, produced and mixed by Michael Cretu
Michael Cretu
Michael Cretu is a Romanian musician. He is known also as Curly, MC or Curly M.C. because of his fair curled hair . His peak musical activity was with the Enigma project, which was mainly based in Germany....
(of Enigma
Enigma (musical project)
Enigma is an electronic musical project founded in Germany by Michael Cretu, David Fairstein and Frank Peterson in 1990. The Romanian-born Cretu conceived the Enigma project while working in Germany, but has based his recording studio A.R.T. Studios in Ibiza, Spain, since the early 1990s until May...
). The later solo success of Arabesque's lead singer Sandra
Sandra Cretu
Sandra Ann Lauer, stage name Sandra is a German pop singer, who dominated European charts with eighteen top 20 hits during the 1980s and early 1990s, with the help of her then-husband and musical partner, Michael Cretu. During a brief height of popularity, she even outsold Madonna in a number of...
further introduced this sound to Japan. That attracted the attention of many italo-disco producers (mostly Italians and Germans) and by the late '80s while the Germans faded out of the outdated italo-disco scene and went for other newly-rising popular scenes, mainly trance
Trance music
Trance is a genre of electronic dance music that developed in the 1990s.:251 It is generally characterized by a tempo of between 125 and 150 bpm,:252 repeating melodic synthesizer phrases, and a musical form that builds up and breaks down throughout a track...
, the Italians created a new sound especially for Japan, but virtually unknown in the rest of the world. In Japan, this music is called "eurobeat", "super eurobeat", and "eurobeat flash
Eurobeat Flash
Eurobeat Flash is a precursor to the Euromach series. Eurobeat Flash was an album series dedicated to more energetic songs from eurobeat record labels...
".
Dave Rodgers
Dave Rodgers is an Italian songwriter, composer, and producer.Born in Mantua, he started production with the band Aleph. Since then, he has collaborated with artists from around the world and has produced several multi-platinum albums...
, then a member of the italo disco band Aleph
Aleph (musician)
Aleph is a 1980s Italo disco band, featuring the vocals of Dave Rodgers. The other members of the group were Donato Bellini and Marco Manzi. They achieved a fair amount of success with the single "Fly To Me" in 1985, which reached the Top Ten in several countries. They released two LPs, "Black Out"...
, and eventually released the compilation CD, the first Super Eurobeat
Super Eurobeat
Super Eurobeat is a CD compilation series of Eurobeat music in Japan. The series itself is one of the longest running in the entire world. It has been running for over twenty years and consists of 214 volumes as of May 2011...
, which proved an instant success and re-sparked eurobeat's popularity in Japan.
Despite its European origins, this eurobeat style's main market has always been Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, where its synthetic and emotionally upbeat stylings are popular. Even though many European people and American people have heard of eurodance
Eurodance
Eurodance is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1980s or early 1990s primarily in Europe. It combines many elements from House, Techno, Hi-NRG and especially Italo-Disco...
, eurodisco and euro house, this flavor of Eurobeat is largely unknown in Europe and only recently became somewhat popular in the Western world. It appeals to open-minded italo Disco fans and some euro-house fans.
The anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
series Initial D
Initial D
is a manga by Shuichi Shigeno which has been serialized in Kodansha's Young Magazine since 1995. It has been adapted into a long-running anime series by OB Planning, Studio Comet, Studio Gallop, Pastel, and A.C.G.T, and a live action film by Avex and Media Asia...
, based on the manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
by Shuichi Shigeno
Shuichi Shigeno
is a Japanese manga author famous for the anime and manga Initial D. Shigeno has also created Bari Bari Densetsu, Dopkan, and Tunnel Nuketara Sky Blue all prior to the manga that would make him famous in 1995...
, uses eurobeat music regularly 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.
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, characteristic are the energetic (sometimes wild) and heavy use of synths, distinctive brass and harp sounds, and tight, predictable percussion in the background. These sounds are layered with vocals and natural instruments (guitar and piano are common) into complex, ever-shifting melodies that, at their best, burst with energy.
In 1998, Bemani a branch of the video game company Konami
Konami
is a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...
made a hit video dance machine, Dance Dance Revolution
Dance Dance Revolution
Dance Dance Revolution, abbreviated DDR, and previously known as Dancing Stage in Europe and Australasia, is a music video game series produced by Konami. Introduced in Japan in 1998 as part of the Bemani series, and released in North America and Europe in 1999, Dance Dance Revolution is the...
. The game acquired eurobeat songs from the Dancemania
Dancemania
Dancemania is a series of remix compilation albums by i-DANCE. The series deals primarily with dance music, especially eurodance. Despite its tracks have been made by various musicians from all over the world mainly from the European continent, the albums have been released exclusively in Japan.The...
compilation series from Toshiba EMI. Over time, DDR has featured eurobeat songs on-and-off in their songlists. However, their number has dwindled due to efforts to make DDR more marketable to North American markets. Currently, there has been a push to add more eurobeat into DDR, most recently with the addition of Super Eurobeat tracks in the latest arcade release, Dance Dance Revolution X2
Dance Dance Revolution X2
Dance Dance Revolution X2, abbreviated DDR X2 or simply X2, is a music video game, and a part of the Dance Dance Revolution series. The arcade version of DDR X2 was revealed by Konami on November 20, 2009. A sequel to the Dance Dance Revolution X, X2 began public beta testing on November 25, 2009...
. Other music games in Konami's lineup feature a large number of Eurobeat tracks, including Beatmania
Beatmania
is a rhythm video game developed and distributed by Japanese game developer Konami and first released in 1997. It contributed largely to the boom of music games in 1998, and the series expanded not only with arcade sequels, but also moved to home consoles and other portable devices, achieving a...
, Beatmania IIDX
Beatmania IIDX
is a series of rhythm video games and the sequel to Beatmania that was first introduced by Konami in Japan on February 26, 1999. IIDX has since spawned over 19 arcade releases and over 13 console releases on the Sony PlayStation 2...
, and jubeat
Jubeat
is a series of arcade music video games developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Japan, and is a part of Konami's Bemani line of music video games...
. The popularity of the genre also led Konami to create a Para Para
Para Para
is a synchronized group dance that originated in Japan. Unlike most club dancing and rave dancing there are specific synchronized movements for each song much like line dancing...
game; ParaParaParadise
ParaParaParadise
, often abbreviated PPP, is an arcade and PlayStation 2 dance game made by the Japanese company Konami and released under the Bemani moniker following the booming Para Para fad....
.
The Sega AM2-developed arcade fighting game, Sonic the Fighters (Sonic Championship in the US) uses a eurobeat influenced soundtrack.
Eurobeat from the Japanese point of view
Eurobeat evolved into different genres, while preserving its essence. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Hi-NRGHi-NRG
Hi-NRG describes a form of high-tempo disco music as well as a genre of electronic dance music originating in the United States during the late 1970s...
, 70s eurodisco, space disco
Space disco
Space disco is a term used to describe the fusion of disco music with futuristic themes, sounds and visuals, which was popular in the late 1970s...
, Canadian Disco, and italo Disco
Italo disco
Italo disco encompasses much of the dance music output in Europe during the 1980s. It is one of the world's first forms of mostly electronic dance music and evolved during the late 1970s and early 1980s in Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and other parts of Europe...
(a.k.a. 80s eurodisco) emerged from Electronic Music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
. Although disco music became unpopular in North America, it remained in the limelight in Europe for many more years. In the USA, in the early 80s, disco linked with George Clinton
George Clinton (funk musician)
George Clinton is an American singer, songwriter, bandleader, and music producer and the principal architect of P-Funk. He was the mastermind of the bands Parliament and Funkadelic during the 1970s and early 1980s, and launched a solo career in 1981. He has been cited as one of the foremost...
, Earth, Wind & Fire
Earth, Wind & Fire
Earth, Wind & Fire is an American soul and R&B band formed in Chicago, Illinois, in 1969 by Verdine and Maurice White. Also known as EWF, the band has won six Grammy Awards and four American Music Awards. They have been inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Vocal Group Hall of...
, and the Hi-NRG
Hi-NRG
Hi-NRG describes a form of high-tempo disco music as well as a genre of electronic dance music originating in the United States during the late 1970s...
scene.
What follows in the article, is the description of "eurobeat" (a.k.a. super eurobeat) as formed during the late 80s and 90s in Japan.
While modern music is often recognized by its lyrics, eurobeat is recognized not primarily by its lyrics. Very much like bubblegum
Bubblegum Dance
Bubblegum dance is a subgenre of Eurodance music. The genre is characterized by cute lyrics and happy sounds. Bubblegum dance usually has a more pop sound than other Eurodance. The lyrics and style are often light-hearted and are not intended to be taken seriously. They are often amusing and...
eurodance
Eurodance
Eurodance is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1980s or early 1990s primarily in Europe. It combines many elements from House, Techno, Hi-NRG and especially Italo-Disco...
, it usually has extremely silly or utterly meaningless lyrics. Eurobeat is primarily recognized by its synthesized chorus known as the Sabi (short for Sabishigaru, not to be mistaken for the Japanese Wabi-sabi
Wabi-sabi
represents a comprehensive Japanese world view or aesthetic centered on the acceptance of transience. The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of beauty that is "imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete"...
), which means "to remember someone or something" in Japanese. This of course refers to the generally acknowledged fact that you mostly remember the Sabi as opposed to the stanzas of the Eurobeat song. This broad genre can create a great number of different "sub-genres" within it because of this combination of harmony and rhythm. Sometimes it can still sound like the old disco music we know, sometimes it can be very "fast and happy" like happy hardcore
Happy hardcore
Happy hardcore, also known as happycore, is a genre of music typified by a very fast tempo , often coupled with solo vocals and sentimental lyrics. Its characteristically 4/4 beat "happy" sound distinguishes it from most other forms of hardcore techno, which tend to be "darker". It is typically in...
or speed music, and occasionally it even uses guitars as a method of Saiba.
One peculiar thing about eurobeat is the fact that each artist is often credited with a variety of different aliases (See "Popular Eurobeat Artists" below for details). Artists usually adopt different stage names according to the mood of each song, or depending on who wrote their lyrics. For instance, Ennio Zanini has stated on the SCP Music website that he goes by the name of "Fastway" on songs which are more upbeat and sprinkled with high-pitched female backing vocals, and goes by "Dusty" on his more "serious" tracks. Also a popular theory is that Eurobeat artists such as Clara Moroni and Giancarlo Pasquini
Dave Rodgers
Dave Rodgers is an Italian songwriter, composer, and producer.Born in Mantua, he started production with the band Aleph. Since then, he has collaborated with artists from around the world and has produced several multi-platinum albums...
manufacture the same acts under many different names in order to "compete with themselves". (Compare to legendary House
House music
House music is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago, Illinois, United States in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American, Latino American, and gay communities; first in Chicago circa 1984, then in other...
producer Thomas Bangalter
Thomas Bangalter
Thomas Bangalter is a French electronic musician best known as a member of the French house music duo Daft Punk. He has also recorded and released music as a member of the trio Stardust, the duo Together, and as a solo artist including compositions for the film Irréversible.Thomas Bangalter owns a...
, who is infamous for the same practice).
Eurobeat also has notoriety for name recognition
Name recognition
Name recognition is a concept used in politics to describe the number of people who are aware of a politician. It is considered an important factor in elections, as candidates with low name recognition are unlikely to receive votes from people who only casually follow politics. Name recognition is...
, lifting titles from popular songs and using them as the names of Eurobeat tracks. Examples are "Like a Virgin", "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", "What is Love", and "Station to Station." The Eurobeat songs that reuse song titles typically have nothing to do with the song it lifted its title from (i.e., not a cover).
The Eurobeat formula (for the Japanese market)
Like most musical genres, (modern) eurobeat has a fairly specific formula to it:| intro → riff (musical synth) → a melo(verse) → a melo2(bridge) → a sabi (chorus) → riff (musical synth) → outro |
|---|
The intro is the introduction into the song, the riff is the musical part without voices. The a melo, or a-melody is the first verse in the song, the a melo2 (a-melody 2) is the bridge of the song, and the sabi is the chorus of the song. The outro is the ending. There will also be a c melo (the second a melo) after the first sabi, as well as another a/b melo variant after the second sabi.
Eurobeat is notorious for its complex rhythm, always attempting to throw the listener in another direction, but the flow is usually a one way ticket. After the one and only eurobeat synth, the song usually repeats the verse, bridge, and chorus (although with different lyrics most the time. Often these lyrics are extremely original and feature intricate vocals, such as the sole use of clever words such as fire and desire) and then goes into a "breakdown" where there can be a variety of new parts to the song including a guitar solo, the dropping and adding of percussion, or a plain instrumental version of the track. Typically though, this only encompasses the verse and bridge; the chorus is usually sung once again, and then the synth and extro play. The extro can either be the synth played again, or something reminiscent of the intro.
Another thing to note is that the intro is somewhat like an instrumental rendition of the verse, bridge, and chorus, while the synth is a lot like a synthesized version of the chorus. They don't have to sound completely similar, but they do in fact fit on top of each other most of the time.
Labels and "sub-genres"
There's a particular style of formula when it comes to the different "labels" of the Eurobeat world:A Beat C
A-Beat C is probably the most well known label. The label was founded in 1990 by Dave RodgersDave Rodgers
Dave Rodgers is an Italian songwriter, composer, and producer.Born in Mantua, he started production with the band Aleph. Since then, he has collaborated with artists from around the world and has produced several multi-platinum albums...
and Alberto Contini
Alberto Contini
Alberto Contini is an Italian musician. He has been the vocalist, bassist or keyboardist for the Italian speed metal band Bulldozer since early 1980s and has produced many works in the italo-disco scene and eurobeat scene since early 1990s....
, and introduced in 1991 on Super Eurobeat 9. Many of the labels producers and artists have worked with eurobeat and italo disco even before A-Beat C was created, so don't be surprised to hear familiar voices or see familiar titles on older Italo Disco labels.
What is pretty easily recognizable in previous A-Beat C works is the "Rodgers' touch" that you can recognize if you knew his former productions under the "Aleph" alias. He had given the label a unique kind of sound to their songs and it of course has both positive and negative effects, depending on how you look at it. A-Beat C productions are generally pretty mature and the label supports a lot of duets between their male and female vocalists. The biggest names from A-Beat C are Dave Rodgers, Powerful T, Norma Sheffield and Futura. After 2007, many singers and producers left A-Beat C to pursue other projects, including Domino, Sandro Oliva, Matt Land, Mega NRG Man, Lolita, the Go Go Girls
Go Go Girls
The Go Go Girls was a eurobeat group under the Go Go's Music label. This Eurobeat group used to be under the A-Beat C label, but since Sandro Oliva and Domino left that label, they took the rights to the group over to their new label, Go Go's Music....
, Neo, Nuage, Annerley Gordon, Kiko Loureiro
Kiko Loureiro
Kiko Loureiro is a Brazilian Heavy metal guitarist who has worked with bands such as Angra, Silent Moon, and Blezqi Zatzas....
, Mickey B., etc. Those who remained with the label have since become part of Sun Fire Records.
Notable A-Beat C songs:
- "Try Me" by Lolita
- "Space Boy" by Dave Rodgers
- "Sunday" by Nuage
- "Hurricane" by Karen
- "Fever the Night" by Matt Land
Recent Notable tracks:
- "Dance In My Town" by Dave & Futura
- "Super Eurobeat" by Dave & Futura
- "I Wanna Run To You" by Mickey B
- "Evergreen" by Karen
Boom Boom Beat
Boom Boom Beat is one of the minority labels on eurobeat. They actually came along in the early part of eurobeat history around 1994 but their songs haven't been on many of the eurobeat records. BBB is a label that has multiple sub-labels. It's under Saifam for starters, but the EPs that BBB releases have artists from various Saifam labels like Asia Records, Interdance and Technodisco. But successful BBB tracks have also appeared on Euromach and Eurobeat FlashEurobeat Flash
Eurobeat Flash is a precursor to the Euromach series. Eurobeat Flash was an album series dedicated to more energetic songs from eurobeat record labels...
albums for example. Some of the known BBB artists are Mark Farina, Spencer, Sarah, Alvin, Milk & Coffea, The Flippers and Ken Martin.
If you are familiar to other eurobeat compilations such as EuroPanic you might also remember Laurie. What is common for BBB is that the songs are extra hyper, and there's a huge dose of positivity in the songs. Saifam took off from Avex for a few years but on Super Eurobeat 161 the label is introduced to the series for the first time! Before this the label had only apepared on the shorter series. During the past few years, small scale VIP-compilations that have non-stop edits from the BBB songs is most of what has been released.
This label resembles house music to a degree. They typically use the formula of adding a new section of percussion, bass, and synth after every 4th measure. After the last synth (sometimes after the chorus is goes straight to the following) there is typically a percussion drop until there are only 4 measures of a "kick" or "hat" left. As with Vibration, BBB can be somewhat unpredictable in musical structure.
Boom Boom Beat songs
- "Sexy Sexy Sexy" by Ken Martin
- "Little Don" by The Factory Team
- "Simon Samurai" by Tipsy & Tipsy
- "Boom Boom Dollars" by King Kong & D. Jungle Girls
Recent Tracks from Boom Boom Beat
- "Thriller (Eurobeat Mix)" by DJ Moonraker
- "Diabolik" by Diabolik
- "Rainbow" by Danny Rock
Delta
Delta is one of the older generation labels that has been around for quite some time now, the label was created in the year 1995 as producer A. Leonardi from A-Beat C, L. Newfield and C. Moroni from Time joined forces with new eurobeat names and put Delta up. The first Super Eurobeat album with Delta on it was 64, where the old format of 13 songs changed to 18 songs per album. On the same album, Super Eurobeat 64, Delta also got their very first big hit, which was Marko Polo's Money Go!So little by little the label got more and more success and now when you look back to the SEB history you can locate a huge number of great delta songs. The label has known names like Marko Polo, Niko, Vicky Vale, Cherry, Pizza Girl, Suzy Lazy and Dr. Love. Delta's style is pretty much like A-Beat C.
Tracks usually drop percussion during the breakdown while the singer sings the first verse and bridge again. Synths are typically very "harsh"-sounding, and bass is relatively low depending on the producer of each track.
Notable Delta songs:
- "Money Go!" by Marko Polo
- "Doctor Love" By Dr. Love
- "Killing My Love" by Leslie Parrish
- "Running In the 90's" by Max Coveri
- "Crazy For You" by Pizza Girl
Recent Notable tracks
- "Heat Me Up" by M.O.V. ft Frankie
- "Looking Out For A Hero" by Daniel
- "Do With Me" by Vicky Vale
- "Go Shinkansen!" by Cherry and Luke
Hi-NRG Attack
HI-NRG Attack, founded in 1994, has a very divided following. This label has a very upbeat and cheerful sound, with generally nonsensical lyrics. Hi-NRG Attack's style is reminiscent of European bubblegum pop, with some apparent influences from rave.HI-NRG Attack offers a wide variety of different styles. Some of the known names from this label are Jee Bee, Claudia Vip, Franz Tornado, Bazooka Girl, Nikita Jr., Baby Gold and Dolly Pop.
As with Delta, percussion usually drops during the transitions in many songs. This label is notable for its relatively "quirky" lyrics and rhythm, with lyrical subjects such as cows, Russia, getting drunk, and bazookas. Synths are known to be very wild, sometimes playing a different note at every 1/4 beat.
Notable Hi-NRG Attack songs:
- "Velfarre 2000" by Bazooka Girl
- "Bandolero Comanchero" by Franz Tornado
- "Caballero With Sombrero" by Franz Tornado & Bazooka Girl
- "Ike Ike" by Tri-Star
Recent Notable Hi-NRG Attack songs:
- "Ride On My Speedy Car" by Garçon
- "Bomba" by Frank Tornado & The Bombardier Girls
- "SEF Deluxe" by Tri-Star
- "It's All Up to You" by Cy-Ro
Time
Time is one of the oldest eurobeat labels and has been around since the very early days. Time actually joined on the SEBs on Super Eurobeat 17. The label has a huge list of big names and famous songs. Many of the younger eurobeat labels have been created by producers who've left Time to create new labels (for example Vibration and HI-NRG Attack) The label is probably the most 'mature' one of all of the labels, with a very notable "classic" feel to their songs. Some of the biggest names in eurobeat history come from this label so you might recognize some of the latter names: Vanessa, Lisa Johnson, Lou Grant, Rose, Jilly, Sophie, Chester, Maio & Co. and Mike Hammer.A unique quality about Time is that most of the label's music includes a very long Intro and typically ends with a fade-out of the synth instead of an outro. The outro of the song usually ends with a "fade-out" of the synth.
Time was released from the Super Eurobeat compilation in 2008 by Avex. Though the reason is officially unknown, some say it's because of their second publishing name Time S.p.A that had releases outside of Avex Trax, and some say Sergio Dall'Ora was unsatisfied by Time Records standards. Both reason may also be true. However, Avex still recognizes Time Records as a Super Eurobeat compilation label and recently published another Time track in 2010, on SEB 203.
Notable Time songs:
- "Dark In The Night" by Maio & Co.
- "Melodies of Love" by Helena
- "Don't Drop Me*" by Ann Sinclair
- "Always on My Mind" by Lou Grant
Recent Notable Time songs:
- "Planet Love" by Magika
- "A Perfect Hero" by Chris Stanton
- "No Borders (of You and I)" by Annie
Eurogrooves
Time's successor, founded by Sergio Dall'Ora to replace Time of the Super Eurobeat compilations. Eurogrooves is directed by Dall'Ora exclusively, instead of the company Time Records Italy. The label is in somewhat of a hiatus due to label members giving no sign to fans since 2010 , and also having not released a Eurobeat track since Super Eurobeat 203. The songs released by Eurogrooves after SEB 203 are Healing Remixes or ballad remixes of Eurobeat songs.Notable songs
- "Super Eurobeat" by Eurogroove All Stars
- "Playboy" by Apple
- "Video Killed The Radio Star" by Tina Ray
- "Ready Forever" by Chris Stanton
Dima
Dima was founded by Davide Di Marcantonio. The name of the label comes from his last name. Most songs appeared on non-Avex Eurobeat compilations as Love Para2 released by the label FARM Records. Recently, they signed with Avex to have songs released on the Super Eurobeat series.Notable songs
- "1 Week" by Krystal Feat. David Dima
- "Can't Stop Lovin' You" by Dream Fighters
- "Fever Of Love" by Stephy Martini
- "Eternity" by Aleky
- "Say Goodbye" by Mr. Moog
- "All is Magic" by Manuel
Vibration
Vibration belongs to the company LED Records Italy, led by Luigi Stanga. The company have also been using the labels "LED Records" and "Eurobeat Masters", depending on to whom they licensed. It has a somewhat unpredictable style, some songs have simple percussion drop during transitions, and sometimes there is a very intense guitar solo or even new lyrics. With L. Stanga retiring in 2008, LED Records Italy (along with its labels) closed down.Notable Vibration songs:
- "Harmony" by Regina
- "Poison" by Elisa
- "Million Dollars" by Max Ducati
- "Hot Limit" by John Desire
SCP Music
SCP is also known as Stefano Castagna Productions, known as Double for some years until the title was changed to SCP. Stefano has worked behind many other labels before this one.Some more well known artists from this label are Fastway (a.k.a. Dusty), Kiki & Kika, Ace, Christine and from the newer names such as Lisa Lion has made an impact with her first release. SCP almost always follows A Beat C's formula. Rarely is there ever a percussion drop, but instead you can find a guitar solo or "ad-libbing" of lyrics or synthesizers. In 2008 & 2009, SCP experimented with more pop/house oriented songs such a cover of "Wait for You" by Elliott Yamin and an original production, "Bright Time" which has an infused feel of 80s pop and modern house music. The recent songs of SCP in 2011 , are more a mix of the experimental style they created, mixed with the older sound they had in the Euromach era.
Notable SCP songs:
- "Fantasista!" by Ace
- "Not For Sale" by Go 2
- "Big on Emotion" by Lisa Lion
- "Easy Busy" by Kiki & Kika
- "Looka Bomba" by Go 2
- "Dancin' Alone" by Pamsy
- "Formula 1" by Fastway
- "NRG" by Go 2
Recent notable tracks
- "I Won't Fall Apart" by Jager
- "CooLover" by Irene
- "Power of My Love" by Yo Shine
- "Lengendary Heart by Hotblade
- "Up & Dance , Up Go by Lou Master
Sinclaire Style
A former producer with Delta, Bratt SinclaireBratt Sinclaire
Bratt Sinclaire is an Italian eurobeat/italo-disco producer. He has produced a countless number of tracks for the Super Eurobeat series, a.k.a. SEB, the world's longest running series of dance compilation albums...
uses more 'airy' synths that had been seen his Delta productions. Sinclaire also produces Hyper-Techno hits for the series We Love Techpara. Some of his older techno tracks appeared on Super Dance Freak compilation in the 1990s. All former tracks he produced with Delta transferred with him over to Sinclairestyle. Recently, Former A-Beat-C artist Denise De Vincenzo (a.k.a. Nuage) came out of retirement of singing Super Eurobeat music to lend her voice to a Sinclairestyle track, "Before Tomorrow," which appeared on 199.
Notable Sinclaire Style songs
- "Night Of Fire" by Niko
- "Yesterday" by Cherry
- "Speedway" by Niko
- "Eurobeat" by Dr. Love
Recent Notable Songs
- "Toy For Love" by Bon
- "Live It Up" by Nathalie
- "Too Young to Fall In Love 2009" by Dejo
- "Before Tomorrow" by Nuage
- "King and Queen
" by Tora - "Kiss My Boo Boo" by Mom & Dad
Go Go's Music
Go Go's Music was founded by Alessandra Mirka GattiAlessandra Mirka Gatti
Alessandra Mirka Gatti is an Italian Eurobeat singer.- Career :Alessandra Mirka Gatti first got a name in Italo Disco when she met Giancarlo Pasquini in the late 1980s...
(a.k.a. Domino) and Sandro Olivia and in 2006. Alessandra and Sandro decided that it was in their best interests to detach from A-Beat-C and create a new label to preserve the classic sound that they felt was being lost with the direction A-Beat-C was heading. Noted singers who left A-Beat-C to join Go Go's Music are Elena Gobbi Frattini (a.k.a. Lolita, Virginelle) and Manuel Caramori (a.k.a. Manuel - although in 2010 Manuel left Go Go's Music to join Dima Music due to artistic differences between the singer and the label). Go Go's Music also brought new singers to the Eurobeat genre, including Giorgia Vecchini (Giorgia V), Silvio Rondelli (Leo River), Elisabetta Coiro (Betty Beat), Marina Santelli (Mari-san), and Ester Scarpa (Ester). Notably, A-Beat-C's most recognized group alias "Go Go Girls
Go Go Girls
The Go Go Girls was a eurobeat group under the Go Go's Music label. This Eurobeat group used to be under the A-Beat C label, but since Sandro Oliva and Domino left that label, they took the rights to the group over to their new label, Go Go's Music....
" was brought over to Go Go's Music as Alessandra and Sandro held the creative rights to the group. Go Go's Music unofficially debuted on SEB 175 with three songs, but was not recognized as an official Super Eurobeat compilation label until volume 177. GoGo's Music and SCP have a close relationship with each other, and have collaborated on a couple of songs in the past: including a remake of a popular SCP song, Looka Bomba, which covered by the "Go Go Girls."
Notable Go Go's Music songs
- "Para Girl" by Domino
- "My Heart Goes Boom Boom" Betty Beat
- "Nack 5" by Domino & Kaioh
- "Super Eurobeat" by Virginelle & Domino ft Mega NRG Man
- "Good Love & Mystery" by Lolita
- "109" by Domino
- "It's Like A Fire" by Kaioh
Akyr Music
Delta producer Laurent Newfield created a label under Hearty INC. called Akyr Music in 2005. Akyr produces not only eurobeat, but Trance and Hyper-Techno as well. The songs were featured on the Farm Records compilation, Love Para2, and other albums such as Parapara Hyper Best. Since the label was not releasing any material with Avex Trax and it was Laurent Newfield's label (from Delta) , Avex told to clubs in Japan to stop playing Akyr Music productions , which lead to difficulties to keep the label alive. In Winter 2008, Newfield released an internet-only album, Super Euro Freak, with remixes by Diskowarp and other independent producers. Even though being a defunct label , Akyr will still have special releases like Super Euro Freak in the future; Super Euro Freak Vol. 2 was released in October 2009.Notable Akyr songs
- "Electric Love" by Lisa Versach (Eurobeat)
- "Bitch is a Bitch" by DJ Hope ft Stefy (Hyper Techno)
- "You Got It" by Techno Venus (Hyper Techno)
Sun Fire Records
A-Beat C producer, Dave Rodgers established Sun Fire Records. It's the newest Eurobeat label that signed to Avex since 2010. The label made it's first appearance on Super Eurobeat Vol.206. The label is also producing Hyper Techno in the same style of their previous Techno label under A-Beat-C , Sound & Vision Italy.Notable Sun Fire songs
- "Louder and Faster" by Powerful T
- "The Race of The Night" by Dave Rodgers
- "Tell Me Why" by Rich-Hard
"J-Euro"
There have been three types of music called "J-Euro" (Japanese Eurobeat);- 1. 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 MAXMAX (band)MAX whose name is an acronym for "Musical Active eXperience" is an Okinawan vocal group popular in Japan. The original members of MAX made their musical debut as members of the Super Monkey's along with lead vocalist, Namie Amuro...
, D&DD&D (band)D&D was a Japanese girl group that was moderately popular in the late '90's. Its members were Olivia, Chika and Aya . The trio are from the Okinawan Actors School and were managed by Rising Production....
, V6V6 (band)V6 is a six-member Japanese boy band formed by Johnny & Associates. The group debuted on November 1, 1995 with the single "Music for the People", which was used as the image song for the World Cup of Volleyball in 1995...
, DreamDream (Japanese band)Dream is a Japanese pop girl group signed to the Avex Trax since 2000 and Rhythm Zone since 2009.In 1999 Avex Trax organized a huge talent contest, called "Avex Dream 2000", with the aim of finding the right and talented girls for a new group. The result was dream, a three-piece group consisting of...
, and the "Queen of J-pop in the 1990s" Namie AmuroNamie Amurois a Japanese R&B and pop singer, entertainer, and former actress who at the height of her popularity was referred to as the "Teen Queen" and the title "Queen of Japanese Pop Music". Born in Naha, Okinawa, Amuro debuted at the age of 14 as an idol in the girl group Super Monkey's...
.
- This type of "J-Euro" appeared first in the early 1990s. Notable artists of this type of "J-Euro" have included MAX
- 2. 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 MAXMAX (band)MAX whose name is an acronym for "Musical Active eXperience" is an Okinawan vocal group popular in Japan. The original members of MAX made their musical debut as members of the Super Monkey's along with lead vocalist, Namie Amuro...
, Every Little Thing, and the "Queen of J-pop in the 2000s" Ayumi HamasakiAyumi Hamasakiis a Japanese singer-songwriter, record producer, model, lyricist, and actress. Also called "Ayu" by her fans, Hamasaki has been dubbed the "Empress of Pop" because of her popularity and widespread influence in Japan and throughout Asia. Born and raised in Fukuoka, she moved to Tokyo at fourteen to...
. This type of "J-Euro" has been popular in the para paraPara Parais a synchronized group dance that originated in Japan. Unlike most club dancing and rave dancing there are specific synchronized movements for each song much like line dancing...
scene since around 2000. Avex TraxAvex Trax, listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange as 7860 and abbreviated as AGHD, is the holding company for a group of entertainment-related subsidiaries based in Japan...
launched the Super Eurobeat Presents : J-Euro series in 2000; Ayu-ro Mix 1SUPER EUROBEAT presents ayu-ro mixThe Super Eurobeat Presents Ayu-ro Mix remix album was released by Ayumi Hamasaki on February 16, 2000. The album became the second highest selling remix album in Japan of 2000 with 650,000 copies sold. The album became Hamasaki's longest charting remix album with over 31 weeks on the chart...
–2SUPER EUROBEAT presents ayu-ro mix 2Super Eurobeat Presents ayu-ro Mix 2 is a remix album, consisting of recordings by Japanese singer Ayumi Hamasaki remixed by various eurobeat producers from Italy, released in the late 2001 by Avex Trax....
featuring Ayumi HamasakiAyumi Hamasakiis a Japanese singer-songwriter, record producer, model, lyricist, and actress. Also called "Ayu" by her fans, Hamasaki has been dubbed the "Empress of Pop" because of her popularity and widespread influence in Japan and throughout Asia. Born and raised in Fukuoka, she moved to Tokyo at fourteen to...
, Euro Every Little ThingSuper Eurobeat Presents Euro Every Little ThingSuper Eurobeat Presents Euro Every Little Thing is a remix album, consisting of recordings by Japanese pop group Every Little Thing remixed by various eurobeat producers from Italy, released in 2001 by Avex Trax.-Tracks:-Further details:...
featuring Every Little Thing, Hyper Euro MAX featuring MAXMAX (band)MAX whose name is an acronym for "Musical Active eXperience" is an Okinawan vocal group popular in Japan. The original members of MAX made their musical debut as members of the Super Monkey's along with lead vocalist, Namie Amuro...
, Euro global featuring globeGlobe (band)Globe is a dance-oriented Japanese pop band, formed in 1995 by producer and songwriter Tetsuya Komuro. Originally consisting of Komuro, Keiko Yamada and Marc Panther, the group's singles consistently hit the charts...
, Euro Dream LandSuper Eurobeat Presents Euro Dream LandSuper Eurobeat Presents Euro Dream Land is a remix album, consisting of recordings by Japanese all-girl dance band Dream, released in the late 2000 by Avex Trax....
featuring DreamDream (Japanese band)Dream is a Japanese pop girl group signed to the Avex Trax since 2000 and Rhythm Zone since 2009.In 1999 Avex Trax organized a huge talent contest, called "Avex Dream 2000", with the aim of finding the right and talented girls for a new group. The result was dream, a three-piece group consisting of...
, J-Euro Best, J-Euro Non-Stop BestJ-Euro Non-Stop BestJ-Euro Non-Stop Best is a megamix compilation album, consisting of recordings by various Avex artists produced and/or remixed by various music producers mostly those of eurobeat from Italy, released in 2001 by Avex Trax....
, ...
- 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 MAX
- 3. Eurobeat songs made in Japan , and sung by Japanese artists themselves.
- This type of Eurobeat was always present since the 2000's , but only started recently to gain much attention with the para paraPara Parais a synchronized group dance that originated in Japan. Unlike most club dancing and rave dancing there are specific synchronized movements for each song much like line dancing...
scene promoting a lot of these songs. Most songs are anime remixes or J-Pop covers , which makes it an anime boom as some people call it. - Eurobeat labels to showcase this type of J-Euro are Akiba Koubou INC/Akiba Records , Plum Music , Fantasy Dance Tracks and more.
- This type of Eurobeat was always present since the 2000's , but only started recently to gain much attention with the para para
Eurobeat compilations
There are many Eurobeat compilations series, the most famous (and longest running) are Super EurobeatSuper Eurobeat
Super Eurobeat is a CD compilation series of Eurobeat music in Japan. The series itself is one of the longest running in the entire world. It has been running for over twenty years and consists of 214 volumes as of May 2011...
and the various "Super Eurobeat presents..." compilations by Avex Trax
Avex Trax
, listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange as 7860 and abbreviated as AGHD, is the holding company for a group of entertainment-related subsidiaries based in Japan...
. Other notable compilations include:
- That's Eurobeat [Vol. 1 - 44, 1986 - 1994]
- That's Eurobeat series of compilation was launched by Alfa RecordsAlfa Records, originally Alfa Music, was established in 1969 by composer and record producer Kunihiko Murai. It was formed into an independent record label known as Alfa Records in 1977.- History :The company faced much hardship in the 1990s...
in 1986, as the successor to That's Hi-NRG, the first Hi-NRGHi-NRGHi-NRG describes a form of high-tempo disco music as well as a genre of electronic dance music originating in the United States during the late 1970s...
compilation in Japan released in 1985. It consisted of original eurobeat music, not reborn-eurobeat music that first appeared in the late 1980s - early 1990s. That's Eurobeat was the most popular, the best-selling "eurobeat" product until the early 1990s, when it was overtaken by Super Eurobeat.- Aerobeat Eurobeat
- Eurobeat Masters
- EuroPanic!
- Euromach
- Eurobeat DisneyEurobeat DisneyEurobeat Disney is the first of a series of compilation album of various Disney songs which has been remixed in the style of eurobeat. It is produced by Walt Disney Records. The first Eurobeat Disney was released on July 26, 2000...
- Eurobeat FlashEurobeat FlashEurobeat Flash is a precursor to the Euromach series. Eurobeat Flash was an album series dedicated to more energetic songs from eurobeat record labels...
- Gazen ParaPara!!Gazen ParaPara!!Gazen ParaPara!! is the new wave of ParaPara merchandise from avex trax focused on Japanese teenagers...
- LovePara²
- Maharaja Night
- Maharaja Night - Hi NRG Revolution
- ParaPara ParadisePara Para Paradise, often abbreviated PPP, is an arcade and PlayStation 2 dance game made by the Japanese company Konami and released under the Bemani moniker following the booming Para Para fad....
- Super Euro Best
- Super Euro Christmas
- Super Ponybeat
- Super Ponybeat is a series of eurobeat songs from and inspired by the cartoon My Little Pony: Friendship is MagicMy Little Pony: Friendship is MagicMy Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is an animated television series that premiered on October 10, 2010 on the United States cable network The Hub, and is based on Hasbro's My Little Pony line of toys and animated works. The series is produced by Hasbro Studios and DHX Media Vancouver...
by 'Odyssey' of Odyssey Music.- The Early Days of SEB
- Tokio Hot Nights
- VIP Mega Euro Star
Eurobeat labels
- Interbeat (include Magnum, Blitz, Movie)
- A-Beat C / Rodgers Music
- Akyrmusic (Includes Vocal Trance projects such as nR Element from California.)
- Delta
- Dima Music
- Disko Warp Music
- Farm Records
- GoGo's Music
- Hi NRG Attack
- LED Records (Includes Vibration, Eurobeat Masters)
- The S.A.I.F.A.M. Group (Includes Boom Boom Beat, Asia Records, etc.)
- SCP Music
- Sinclaire Style
- Time Records
- Eurogrooves
External links
- Avex Japan Eurobeat - Official web site for Super Eurobeat.
- Eurobeat Prime - Extensive Eurobeat information and database.
- NRG Express - Eurobeat information from Japan.
- Eurobeat.se - Some Eurobeat and Eurodance samples.
- Eurobeat-Italia - Italian Eurobeat Website
- New parapara - Chilean web site for Eurobeat and Parapara.