Eurodance
Eurodance aka dancefloor developed around 1990 from Eurodisco and Italo disco and was initially inspired by hip hop and house. Simply put, the formula in the beginning was »hip hop and soul vocals plus a house beat«.
Characteristics of Eurodance are completely electronically produced, melody-driven tracks in often minor keys, prominent baselines and a strong 4/4 dance beat with a tempo of 110-150 bpm (typically around 140 bpm). Beats show a strong influence of techno, house and new beat and the tracks usually feature the contrast of a soulfully sung chorus by a female singer and raps by a male rapper/MC.
The origin can be seen in the so-called Sound of Frankfurt with producers like Torsten Fenslau, Michael Münzing und Luca Anzilotti, Jam El Mar, Mark Spoon and DJ Dag. Early Eurodance examples are »Pump Up the Jam« (1989) by Belgian project Technotronic, »Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)« (1990) by US project C+C Music Factory or »The Power« (1990) by Snap!, a project by aforementioned German producers Michael Münzing and Luca Anzilotti. With their 1992 hit »Rhythm Is a Dancer«, Snap! created the first genre milestone. In 1993, Torsten Fenslau’s project Culture Beat had a big hit in 1993 with »Mr. Vain« as did Haddaway with »What Is Love« (produced by Karin Hartmann and Tony Hendrik), the latter being a rare genre example without any rap part.
Further successful Eurodance acts and hits were Dr. Alban from Sweden with »It’s My Life« (1992), Dutch duo 2 Unlimited and »No Limit« (1993), »Scatman (Ski-Ba- Bop-Ba-Dop-Bop)« (1994) by American-German project Scatman John , Swedish project Rednex with »Cotton Eye Joe« (1994), »Be My Lover« (1995) by German- American duo La Bouche , German group Mr. President’ s »Coco Jamboo« (1996), Dutch band Vengaboys and »Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom!!« (1998) as well as »Barbie Girl« (1998) by Danish-Norwegian band Aqua and Italian group Eiffel 65 with »Blue (Da Ba Dee)« (1999).
Eurodance was also produced in the USA (and therefore sometimes called US dancefloor). Apart form the aforementioned C+C Music Factory are notable examples »I Like to Move It« (1993) by Reel 2 Real, 20 Fingers’ »Short Dick Man« (1994) and The Outhere Brothers with »Boom Boom Boom« (1995).
Some genre artists are still successful, like DJ Bobo from Switzerland or German band Scooter although their newer music also/rather belongs to other genres like jump style or hands up.
