Does anyone else agree that some of the best dance songs came out during the early 90's? I just love the dance music from the early 90's and it had some great songs like Rhythm Is A Dancer by Snap, What Is Love by Hadaway, Where Love Lives by Alison Limerick and Everybody's Free (To Feel Good) by Rozalla

What i love about dance music from the early 90's is that the songs actually had rhythem to them and you could dance to them. Maby this is just me but i think that dance music from the 00's is really boring and there just seems to be no fun with it

I am sorry, I must disagree. I like 90's music such as that by the artists below.  However, I like 00's dance music more.  This is because the newer music is more complex and may include strings, sweeping crescendos, and better beats (in my opinion).  The vocals seem better as well. 

00's Dance Artists
Freemasons http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEZ69M5a1I0
Sophie Ellis Bextor http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_Nsi05HkXw  (my favorite video ever made!)
Fedde Le Grand http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCWUiBn2yXc&feature=related
Axwell http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SU-tpNPoNmg
DT8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCvky5LAz_o&feature=related
Stonebridge http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7aDpK-9_20&feature=related
Above And Beyond http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JU2HjLR-ts

90's Dance Artists
Ace Of Base http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96jFtzVa80A
Alice Deejay http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHd71U5RHNI&feature=related
Amber http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cDUBYRI1SI
Haddaway http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsCXZczTQXo
La Bouche http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pI8T0ArK0o&feature=related
Real McCoy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNbRMG-4wAI&feature=related
Whigfield http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fphjh7m5flA&feature=related

Also, 90s dance music seems a little boring to me now, even the songs I like.

^ All excellent choices! 8)


I love 90s Dance music, but I gotta agree with midnite.  The 00s scene is much better. 

Mainstream early-mid 90s dance music was a little too euro for me. I really didn't like the techno cheese.

I prefer the harder funkier house music of the late 90s / early 00s... stuff like Basement Jaxx and Groove Armada. That was definitely my time.

Superstylin - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-u9lQ9bkwE

Rendezvous - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfXrPw38k6A

And a bit of handbag house for good measure...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xiY_c5Nn5Y

I totally dig early 90's dance music.  Plus that was the peak of my clubhopping days.  I was into all that early tech-no shtuff from semi-faceless artists like

Altern 8
Acen
Joey Beltram
Moby
The Prodigy
SL2
Sonz Of A Loop Da Loop Era (aka Danny Breaks)
4 Hero
Lords Of Acid/Praga Khan/Channel X
L.A. Style
Messiah
Nebula II
Utah Saints

There's some decent 00s dance music...I'm into more of the electro-type stuff from artists/producers/remixers like Benassi, Crookers, Dirty South, Tiga, David Guetta, Chromeo, LCD Soundsystem, Hardrox etc.

I totally dig early 90's dance music.  Plus that was the peak of my clubhopping days.  I was into all that early tech-no shtuff from semi-faceless artists like

Altern 8
Acen
Joey Beltram
Moby
The Prodigy
SL2
Sonz Of A Loop Da Loop Era (aka Danny Breaks)
4 Hero
Lords Of Acid/Praga Khan/Channel X
L.A. Style
Messiah
Nebula II
Utah Saints

There's some decent 00s dance music...I'm into more of the electro-type stuff from artists/producers/remixers like Benassi, Crookers, Dirty South, Tiga, David Guetta, Chromeo, LCD Soundsystem, Hardrox etc.


I know a few of the artists mentioned for the 90s above.  I can't really enjoy Techno now like i used to in the 90s.  The music seems annoying and whiny.  However, some of the early dance songs from 1990-1992 are good.

I think the reason that 00's dance music may be better than 90's dance music is because there is more variety now.  As Midas mentions, he/she likes Electro.  I prefer dance and trance music.  My point is that there seems to be more choices now then there were in the early 90's.  Also with the internet, we have more access to music around the world.  I believe most Dance Music has been driven via Europe.

Mainstream early-mid 90s dance music was a little too euro for me. I really didn't like the techno cheese.

I prefer the harder funkier house music of the late 90s / early 00s... stuff like Basement Jaxx and Groove Armada. That was definitely my time.

Superstylin - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-u9lQ9bkwE

Rendezvous - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfXrPw38k6A

And a bit of handbag house for good measure...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xiY_c5Nn5Y




You're speaking my language.  Armada and the Jaxx are two of my favourites

Personally I prefer the early 90s for dance music. It was very popular here in New York. I cant name all of songs I dont remember all the artists too. I know techno was popular in the clubs and freestyle music which formed in the east coast put alot of latin artists on the map.

IMHO-Most forms of "popular" music start out underground and eventually someone hears something in one of these songs while they are out at a club or even a rave. And if it's the right person with the right connections, that track gets more attention from more and more people until the next thing you know, 20 years later it's being used to sell burritos for Taco Bell.

Music has become so disected over the last 10 years that you can't have just a trance track anymore, it's either a euro trance or deep trance. And house, well you gots disco house, hard house, deep house, acid house, jazz house, dirty house. Man, I remember when house was YOU USED TO HOLD ME, Techno was ENERGY FLASH and trance was anything on PLATIPUS.

In the early 90's with the explosion of nightclubs and remixes, EVERY track that was released had a house mix, a techno mix, a dub and the "original". It was all about getting an artists track played so they had to appeal to every aspect that there was/is.

Unfortunately, it ruined dance music, again, IMHO. Most trance nowadays is just covers of old 80's stuff. Which is fun, for a while. But when you have 6 covers of Send Me An Angel in just 8 years, you strart to wonder if some artists have any originality about them. There isn't as much today that I absolutely LOVE like I did 10, 20 years ago.

But some of the best real deep and vocal house of the 90's came out of the uk from a label called AM:PM and a label called DeConstruction. Artists like M People, USURA, The Absolute, Alcatraz, Heller & Farley....good s**t Maynard.

As much as I would like to pass myself off as some kind of authority on the matter, I can't, because I can't name nearly half the names you folks have listed already.

Personally, I couldn't stand techno / house music for a long time... the only music I really enjoyed dancing to was hip hop and Top 40 kind of stuff, and all that faster stuff, well... I just couldn't bust out the running man at 135 bpm.  Plus, it wasn't on mainstream radio, so most of it was largely unfamiliar for me.  But then I became a DJ, and I started playing the house and techno songs my mentors played (from, like, '97-99ish,) and that's when I realized how damn strong that sh*t is, when you've got 500 people in your club, and the songs mix so much easier from one to the next, and the builds in the songs get faster and faster, and the bass bins on the dance floor sound like they're going to shake the whole damn place down to the ground.  THAT's when I "got" the appeal of house music.

So I became a fan of the "hard house" style of dance music, at least for the time I still played it.  (Been stuck at a top 40 / hip hop club since 2001, now.)

So my vote for the most enjoyable '90s dance music would be from the late part of the decade.  Pusaka, Adrenaline, The Porn Kings, Armand Van Helden, JS-16, etc.  That was the stuff I enjoyed most.

I listen to the early 90's Euro-house influenced pop music - the CeCe Peniston, Haddaway, Crystal Waters, La Bouche kind of stuff - and I miss it, though mainly because I miss the era in which it was released.  I wasn't a DJ when those songs came out, but it was all over the radio, so I have at least that much connection with it.  Personally, though, I'm waiting (and hoping) for dance music, even simple pop-heavy dance music to come back to the radio.  Right now, you can sort of choose between Lil Wayne and all the ghetto-tempo thug crap or Britney, Justin, Fergie or the Pussycat Dolls, and that's kind of all there is for dance music, aside from the more underground club stuff mentioned above.  I mean, "Calabria" was a big hit for me, and I love playing it, but beyond that, Bob Sinclair's "World Hold On," and Eric Prydz' "Call On Me," (and sometimes "Put Your Hands Up For Detroit," by Fedde Le Grand,) there's nothing else mainstream enough for me to play at my club that anyone wants to hear, it seems.

I wish people started appreciating dance music again.  As a DJ, it's the LEAST I could hope for!

 
But some of the best real deep and vocal house of the 90's came out of the uk from a label called AM:PM and a label called DeConstruction. Artists like M People, USURA, The Absolute, Alcatraz, Heller & Farley....good s**t Maynard.


Karma for reminding me of USURA - that "Sweat" track they had was a killer. 

I was more of a trance guy, but I wanted the vocals and bass to be more deep/aggressive.  For me, it was all about layers of synth; the more layers you can cram into the track, the more times you can re-listen to it, and the more likely a random listener is to pick up on at least one layer that they can dance to.

As long as we're on the subject, I'll throw some random 90s-to-early-00s stuff out there that I liked (and still like).  Floors filled, baby.

Tokyo Ghetto Pussy: Pump It
Herbie: Right Type of Mood
Reel 2 Reel: Can You Feel It
N-Trance: Set You Free, plus a long string of covers from Guns and Roses' Paradise City to the Bee Gees' Stayin' Alive.
Berri / New Atlantic: Sunshine After the Rain
Crush: Jellyhead
Motiv 8 (aka Motiv8): Rockin' For Myself

And for a bonus, now playing: Crew 7, Money For Nothing, featuring remixed Dire Straits vocals as of 2007/8ish.  Would have played very well in the early 90s.  Check 'em out.

As much as I would like to pass myself off as some kind of authority on the matter, I can't, because I can't name nearly half the names you folks have listed already.


Relax, none of us can.

That's the real business problem with dance music.  When 90% of the track is instrumental, and when 90% of the listeners are in a club (or listening to an MP3 download of a liveset that may or may not have come with an .nfo file), unless it's a cover of an 80s hit, there's no way for anyone to figure out what the track titles were, let alone who actually performed it.

These days, we've sorta solved that problem with the mash-up.  Nobody's into dance music for the money anyways (because of the previous problem), so why not just pick two tracks from top-40 (preferably from different decades to appeal to both the younger and older folks in the audience) and mash 'em up?  Costs nothing to produce, it's just legal enough to play at a club, and it's loads of fun. 

The most interesting take I've seen on the mashup phenomenon is from Trademark G of the Evolution Control Committee.  The guy's been doing this sort of thing for 15 years, and he's at the point where he can "Spin the Wheel of Mashup!".  It's exactly what it sounds like.  An audience member spins one wheel to see who's on backbeat, another wheel to see who's on vocal, and Trademark mashes 'em up live.  Freaking awesome, and it has to be seen to be believed.

Karma for reminding me of USURA - that "Sweat" track they had was a killer. 

I was more of a trance guy, but I wanted the vocals and bass to be more deep/aggressive.  For me, it was all about layers of synth; the more layers you can cram into the track, the more times you can re-listen to it, and the more likely a random listener is to pick up on at least one layer that they can dance to.

As long as we're on the subject, I'll throw some random 90s-to-early-00s stuff out there that I liked (and still like).  Floors filled, baby.

Tokyo Ghetto Pussy: Pump It
Herbie: Right Type of Mood
Reel 2 Reel: Can You Feel It
N-Trance: Set You Free, plus a long string of covers from Guns and Roses' Paradise City to the Bee Gees' Stayin' Alive.
Berri / New Atlantic: Sunshine After the Rain
Crush: Jellyhead
Motiv 8 (aka Motiv8): Rockin' For Myself

And for a bonus, now playing: Crew 7, Money For Nothing, featuring remixed Dire Straits vocals as of 2007/8ish.  Would have played very well in the early 90s.  Check 'em out.



I loved Motiv8, especially that one. Even when I tried like hell to hate Wanna Be & Ooh Ahh....those hooks were just too damn catchy.

Thanks for the Karma!! Ask any of my friends, I LOVE to remind them of songs they forgot....that was a big problem with dance music in the 90's (and now too IMHO), too much of dance music became "disposable". A quick hit for a couple months, then forgotten. (Barbie Girl anyone??)

And I love trance. Some of the best trance tracks from "back in the day"

Right In The Night - Jam & Spoon
Saltwater - Chicane
Halycon (And On) - Orbital
Vicious Cycles (Carl Cox Remxies) - Poltergiest (Had a nice Nitzer Ebb type bass line)
Someone - Ascension
Bluebottle - POB
Shine On You Crazy Diamond - DJ Dado


There still is some good vocal trance out these days, but it's few and far between. I still love Paul Van Dyk & BT.

I loved Motiv8, especially that one. Even when I tried like hell to hate Wanna Be & Ooh Ahh....those hooks were just too damn catchy.

Thanks for the Karma!! Ask any of my friends, I LOVE to remind them of songs they forgot....that was a big problem with dance music in the 90's (and now too IMHO), too much of dance music became "disposable". A quick hit for a couple months, then forgotten. (Barbie Girl anyone??)


Hmph.  More Karma, then.  Keep reminding me of stuff!

Gina G's Ooh, Aah was indeed infectious, the "Vocal Slam" mix of the Spice Girls' Wannabe, and as long as you're going to bring up Barbie Girl, I'm gonna cue up Aqua's Cartoon Heroes and BKS' Astroplane. 

If you don't already have it, look up a remix service/compilation series called Eurotracks.  20-30 volumes of stuff, lots of tracks that former club-goers would probably recognize by ear, but would never be able to guess at the artist/title to search for 'em.

But some of the best real deep and vocal house of the 90's came out of the uk from a label called AM:PM and a label called DeConstruction. Artists like M People, USURA, The Absolute, Alcatraz, Heller & Farley....good s**t Maynard.



I agree, AM:PM has some hot house trax from the 90's.  I bought quite a bit of what was then-current club music on vinyl back in the mid-90's and often times I'd buy something just because of the label it was on (AM:PM, Strictly Rhythm, Bassex, Nervous etc.).  In the early 90's it was R&S Belgium, XL Recordings, Suburban Base, Rabbit City, stuff like that.  I never got into trance a great deal.  I like the Jam & Spoon stuff, I have a 90's trance vinyl comp from Kickin' Records, and the 12" for DJ Tom & Norman's "Thundergod" on Sperm Records and that's about it, outside of a few tracks from the 00's.

Here's a few of my favourite early 90s techno trax that I occasionally drop on my FUSION mixshow (next one May 16 @ 10 PM EST):

"Nightmare" - Kid Unknown
"Flatliners" - Nebula II
"Far Out" - Sonz Of A Loop Da Loop Era
"I Need Relief" - Digital Domain
"There Is No Law" - Messiah (I also like "Temple Of Dreams")
"Narra Mine" - Genaside II


If you don't already have it, look up a remix service/compilation series called Eurotracks.  20-30 volumes of stuff, lots of tracks that former club-goers would probably recognize by ear, but would never be able to guess at the artist/title to search for 'em.


I got into Eurotracks from '95 -'97...I was able to snag Volumes 1, 3-7, 10, 12 and 14.  Lots o' energy on those comps. :)

And I love trance. Some of the best trance tracks from "back in the day"

Right In The Night - Jam & Spoon
Halycon (And On) - Orbital
Vicious Circles (Carl Cox Remixes) - Poltergeist (Had a nice Nitzer Ebb type bass line)



I must have overlooked this post last night.  I have these tracks also...I usually went with the Union Jack mix on "Vicious Circles".  It mixes well with another track that I have that I guess would be considered trance by Deepsky - "In My Mind" (Rampant Records).

Hmph.  More Karma, then.  Keep reminding me of stuff!

Gina G's Ooh, Aah was indeed infectious, the "Vocal Slam" mix of the Spice Girls' Wannabe, and as long as you're going to bring up Barbie Girl, I'm gonna cue up Aqua's Cartoon Heroes and BKS' Astroplane. 

If you don't already have it, look up a remix service/compilation series called Eurotracks.  20-30 volumes of stuff, lots of tracks that former club-goers would probably recognize by ear, but would never be able to guess at the artist/title to search for 'em.


I have every Eurotracks from 1 to 18 which is about the time I got burnt out on euro. LOL

Did you ever get the double cd from Motiv8 that came out in the late 90's called Motiv8tion?? If you didn't, check it out...has all the good S**t..
Disco 2000 by Pulp
Designing Heaven by Heaven 17
Nothing In The World by Mozaic (Prolly my FAV Motiv8 remix)
Pride by Jonah

Just to name a few.......and anytime you need any reminding about anything, I'm your guy  ;)

I agree, AM:PM has some hot house trax from the 90's.  I bought quite a bit of what was then-current club music on vinyl back in the mid-90's and often times I'd buy something just because of the label it was on (AM:PM, Strictly Rhythm, Bassex, Nervous etc.).


I was lucky enough to work in a record store from 94-03. ANYTHING that was on AM:PM, Strictly Rhythm, Twisted, DeConstruction, Manifesto, was bought the minute it came in. Later it was Tidy Trax, Nukleuz, Platipus, Hooj Choons.

Messiah ROCKED!! I loved Thunderdome and Temple Of Dreams. Have you ever heard of Digital Orgasm? They had some good hard techno around the same time.

Some of my favorite techno from the early 90's....

Energy Flash by Joey Beltram
House Of God by DHS
LSD Is The Bomb by Radioactive Goldfish
Vamp by Outlander
Charly by The Prodigy

Some of the better techno of the late 90's and 00 came from the UK...Belgium, Holland, Germany.

Razormaid was always good for putting out the best techno on their service.

I was lucky enough to work in a record store from 94-03. ANYTHING that was on AM:PM, Strictly Rhythm, Twisted, DeConstruction, Manifesto, was bought the minute it came in. Later it was Tidy Trax, Nukleuz, Platipus, Hooj Choons.

Messiah ROCKED!! I loved Thunderdome and Temple Of Dreams. Have you ever heard of Digital Orgasm? They had some good hard techno around the same time.



I have the 12" for "Guilty Of Love".  They're the same peeps as Lords Of Acid/Channel X/Praga Khan. :)  I need to find "Running Out Of Time".

I've always wanted to work in a record store.  When I lived in Raleigh NC I got to know the managers of a couple stores (they were also DJs at clubs/raves) and picked up a lot of tunes on recommendations.  I also shopped whenever I traveled to places like Chicago and NYC.


Some of my favorite techno from the early 90's....

Energy Flash by Joey Beltram
House Of God by DHS
LSD Is The Bomb by Radioactive Goldfish
Vamp by Outlander
Charly by The Prodigy

Some of the better techno of the late 90's and 00 came from the UK...Belgium, Holland, Germany.

Razormaid was always good for putting out the best techno on their service.


Good stuff there.  Razormaid is one of my favourite remix services.  I also recently snagged the first five volumes of Twitch Recordings' remix service.  Good stuff at a great price! 

I wish I could find some Metropolis Remix Service issues.  They were based out of Dallas and featured remixes from local DJs that spun on EdgeClub 94 back in the day as well as Dallas clubs and other events.

I have the 12" for "Guilty Of Love".  They're the same peeps as Lords Of Acid/Channel X/Praga Khan. :)  I need to find "Running Out Of Time".

I've always wanted to work in a record store.  When I lived in Raleigh NC I got to know the managers of a couple stores (they were also DJs at clubs/raves) and picked up a lot of tunes on recommendations.  I also shopped whenever I traveled to places like Chicago and NYC.

Good stuff there.  Razormaid is one of my favourite remix services.  I also recently snagged the first five volumes of Twitch Recordings' remix service.  Good stuff at a great price! 

I wish I could find some Metropolis Remix Service issues.  They were based out of Dallas and featured remixes from local DJs that spun on EdgeClub 94 back in the day as well as Dallas clubs and other events.


I actually have the first issue of Metropolis. While I was djing, I was kinda king of the remix services lol. Roadkill, Hot Tracks, Prime Cuts, Master Beat, Rhythm Sticks etc....

And thank you for remembering Guilty Of Love.....I couldn't remember the name of it for the life of me.

Sounds like we might like alot of the same stuff.

I actually have the first issue of Metropolis. While I was djing, I was kinda king of the remix services lol. Roadkill, Hot Tracks, Prime Cuts, Master Beat, Rhythm Sticks etc....

And thank you for remembering Guilty Of Love.....I couldn't remember the name of it for the life of me.

Sounds like we might like alot of the same stuff.




Agreed.  I'm a huge Depeche Mode fan as well. :)  I have quite a few issues of Roadkill! and Hot Tracks, most of The Edge Series, some Ultimix, Twitch, Culture Shock, X-Mix, Power House...

I have every Eurotracks from 1 to 18 which is about the time I got burnt out on euro. LOL

Did you ever get the double cd from Motiv8 that came out in the late 90's called Motiv8tion?? If you didn't, check it out...has all the good S**t..


No, but I will soon :)

Heh. 

As for Razormaid -- oh yeah.  Most underrated (if for no other reason than because of their reputation for going after anyone who dared play the stuff on the air :) remix service ever.  Great stuff, even if (back in the day) you had to go to a club to hear it.

More evidence for the late 90s being better than the early 90s... UK Speed Garage!

Many a crazy night dancing till the early hours to these!

Hold Your Head Up High
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zw0ywSY8uW4

MrFriday Night
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8br9LLjqi4 (gets funky at 2.58!!!)

some early 90s dance tracks:

Strike-U sure do
Bizarre Inc.-I'm gonna get you
Black Box-Everybody Everybody

Messiah ROCKED!! I loved Thunderdome and Temple Of Dreams. Have you ever heard of Digital Orgasm? They had some good hard techno around the same time.


Forgot to mention these -- haven't heard of Digital Orgasm, but I'll look 'em up.  Messiah's 1994 cover of I Feel Love was the only one that sounded as ahead of its time as the original did in the late 70s.  (That, and you gotta give props to someone who can sample Monty Python into a cover of a Donna Summer disco smash hit, and make it sound deadly serious.)


Some of the better techno of the late 90's and 00 came from the UK...Belgium, Holland, Germany.


Speaking of Belgium, why didn't New Beat really catch on in the States?  That was great stuff, but apart from a few tracks (most notably A Split Second's Rigor Mortis, it never really caught on here... ah, what could have been.  Now I'm gonna have to crank up Crimewave and play GTA4 as it was meant to be played :)

Black Box-Everybody Everybody


Black Box were great. Their crowning glory was "I Don't Know Anybody Else"!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WTNv_AteW8

Speaking of Belgium, why didn't New Beat really catch on in the States?  That was great stuff, but apart from a few tracks (most notably A Split Second's Rigor Mortis, it never really caught on here... ah, what could have been.  Now I'm gonna have to crank up Crimewave and play GTA4 as it was meant to be played :)


You got me. There was alot of good techno that never really hit over here. I think that if most people can't sing along to something, if it's over 130 bpm and it isn't all over the radio, the average person just dosn't pay attention. It was always the die hard club goers (or ravers) who seemed to know who Joey Beltram is.  :)