90s Rave
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90s Rave is the broad sound of the early-decade rave boom: breakbeats, hoovers, piano stabs, sirens, cartoon samples, hardcore drums, acid squelch, and big communal hooks. It is rougher than later club trance and more chaotic than house. The tracks often feel like flyers, pirate-radio IDs, and warehouse sirens turned into music.
History
The style crystallized in the UK and Europe as acid house gave way to faster breakbeat hardcore, Belgian techno-rave, and chart-facing rave singles. The Prodigy, Altern-8, SL2, Acen, 2 Bad Mice, T99, Moby, L.A. Style, Joey Beltram, N-Joi, Orbital, and Bizarre Inc. became recurring names in the canon. By the mid-1990s the scene split into jungle, happy hardcore, hard trance, hardcore techno, and big beat, but the early rave template stayed instantly recognizable.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- Guardian hardcore-rave ranking
- 909originals T99 feature
- UK rave histories
- Discogs release listings