Eurodance

Its formula is instantly recognizable: a four-on-the-floor kick (usually 120–140 BPM), bright synthetic brass riffs, marked snares and cymbals, and — the genre's signature — the combination of verses rapped by a male voice with powerful choruses sung by a female vocalist, the so-called “divas” of Eurodance. That rap-plus-chorus architecture, wrapped in clean digital production and edited for the maxi-single and the CD, became a machine for dance floor anthems.

A founding case is offered by Snap!, a project put together in Frankfurt by the German producers Michael Münzing and Luca Anzilotti (under the aliases Benito Benites and John “Virgo” Garrett III): by mixing hip hop and soul vocals with computer-built tracks laid on house foundations, they helped set the mold of the genre even before it had a settled name.

Peak (1992–1996): the nineties explosion

From 1992 on, Eurodance went from a club sound to a chart phenomenon: between 1992 and 1995 it took over the top places of the European charts (and of the Canadian dance chart), with one act after another reaching number one. By 1995 the genre managed to place several simultaneous singles in the European top 10.

The starting gun was fired by Snap! with “Rhythm Is a Dancer” (1992), one of the style's defining anthems. In its slipstream came 2 Unlimited — the Belgian-Dutch duo — with “No Limit” (1993); Haddaway with “What Is Love” (1993); Culture Beat — the producer Torsten Fenslau's project — with “Mr. Vain” (1993); and Captain Hollywood Project, whose “More and More” (July 1992) was number one in Germany. DJ BoBo broke through in 1992 with “Somebody Dance with Me,” and Cappella strung together pan-European hits such as “U Got 2 Let the Music” (1993).

The bridge to America was as strong as the European one. Real McCoy released “Another Night” in Europe on July 12, 1993 and, pushed by Arista, reached the top 3 in the United States and the United Kingdom at the end of 1994. La Bouche, a duo based in Germany, put “Be My Lover” (1995) at the top across half of Europe and in the American top 10. Along that same transatlantic axis moved Corona with “The Rhythm of the Night” (1994) and Sweden's Ace of Base, whose pop success gave the labels an appetite for signing European dance floor projects.

For the Venezuelan and Latin American minitecas, Eurodance was first-rate booth fuel: its clean structures, its extended versions and its singalong choruses made it ideal for holding the dance floor, and it fit naturally alongside the Italo Disco and the Hi-NRG that already formed the heart of the repertoire. A good part of those 90s tracks — Corona, Cappella, Ice MC — in fact live, in miniteca memory, alongside the italo/euro continuum documented in the Italo Disco entry.

Key hits and artists (1992–1997)

• · Snap! – Rhythm Is a Dancer (1992), The Power (1990, proto-eurodance)
• · 2 Unlimited – No Limit (1993), Tribal Dance, Get Ready for This
• · Haddaway – What Is Love (1993), Life
• · Culture Beat – Mr. Vain (1993), Got to Get It
• · Captain Hollywood Project – More and More (1992), Only with You
• · Corona – The Rhythm of the Night (1994), Try Me Out
• · La Bouche – Be My Lover (1995), Sweet Dreams
• · Real McCoy (MC Sar & The Real McCoy) – Another Night (1993/94), Run Away
• · Dr. Alban – It's My Life (1992), Sing Hallelujah!
• · DJ BoBo – Somebody Dance with Me (1992), Everybody
• · Cappella – U Got 2 Let the Music (1993), Move On Baby
• · Ace of Base – All That She Wants, The Sign (related Swedish pop-dance, not pure eurodance)
• · Ice MC – Think About the Way (1994; Italian production, a crossover with the euro sound of the 90s)

Legacy

Eurodance defined the sound of the first half of the 90s on the world's dance floors. Around 1996 it began to lose momentum: the center of the European scene shifted toward progressive house and trance, hip hop/R&B gained ground in the mainstream, and the formula itself became saturated by overproduction. But its DNA did not disappear: it dissolved into dance-pop, into the “second wave” eurodance of the late 90s (Vengaboys, Eiffel 65) and, decades later, into the nineties nostalgia that fills compilations and retro dance floors. For miniteca culture, its rap-and-chorus anthems remain synonymous with the euphoria of an era, and an infallible way to reignite the dancing.

Notes on scope and precision

The core of the genre is of the nineties; its roots (Italo, Hi-NRG, house) lie at the end of the 80s, but they are documented as lineage, not as a period of Eurodance itself. Its dominant format was the CD and the maxi-single. Since this is a narrative of the 90s, “DJ” is used as a matter of course: the term already existed in that decade.

Documented precisions: Ace of Base is a Swedish pop-dance group with a reggae-pop tint — it is included for its kinship and for having given the labels an appetite for European dance floor projects, but it is not pure Eurodance. Corona and Ice MC are Italian productions of the 90s that miniteca culture shares between Eurodance and the italo/euro continuum (see the Italo Disco entry); they are cited in both contexts on purpose. “The Power” by Snap! (1990) is cited as proto-eurodance, earlier than the full crystallization of the genre. “The Rhythm of the Night” by Corona circulates dated between 1993 (the Italian edition) and 1994 (the reissue/international hit); 1994 is recorded here, following the more widely distributed edition.

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Credits and sources

• · Miniteca framing (Eurodance as booth repertoire, sibling of Italo Disco and Hi-NRG): “La Revista de las Minitecas” (DJ Vladimir Medina edition) and curation of the CMTK Archive.
• · Definition, origin (continental Europe: Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy), musical traits (four-on-the-floor, synthetic brass, male rap + diva chorus), the fusion of Italo/Hi-NRG/house/techno and the chronology of rise and decline: Wikipedia (EN), “Eurodance”; AllMusic – Eurodance overview.
• · Snap! (Frankfurt; Michael Münzing and Luca Anzilotti / Benito Benites and John Garrett III) and “Rhythm Is a Dancer” (1992): Wikipedia, “Snap!”, “Rhythm Is a Dancer”.
• · Dates and single details: Wikipedia and Official Charts – “Another Night” (Real McCoy, Jul 12, 1993; top 3 US/UK 1994); “Be My Lover” (La Bouche, 1995); “More and More” (Captain Hollywood Project, Jul 1992); Discogs – Corona, “The Rhythm of the Night” (1994); retrospective press (Thomann, Nexus Radio, TopTuneTales) for “No Limit,” “What Is Love,” “Mr. Vain,” DJ BoBo, Cappella.
• · Billboard – reviews and chronologies of the dance chart (1992–1996).