I think we all stick the boot in a lot more than we should.

It is an awful genre and full of un-inventive, formulaic and simpleton tunes - but it is a rite of passage for so many youngsters nowadays.

I bet there are a lot of you guys who listened to this kind of noisy hardcore shite when you were younger - or maybe you still do.

It's part of growing up musically - you end up progressing towards the more intelligent genres and more intricate and soulful music when you have got the raging hormones out of your system.

But we shouldn't slag it off too much as it is the first step for many into the club world.

I think what people need to realise is that different styles cater for a different type of people; hard dance is absolutely massive amongst working class northerners- it is by far the most popular style up here. and that relates to a topic on the Mixmag Facebook forum- people like their music hard and fast up here, possibly to combat their grim week at work!

but over all i'd say your article was spot on. and i think it's only fair that people like BK and Ali Wilson get the respect and coverage they deserve for constantly innovating the hard dance spectrum. it is NOT one dimensional.

:)

There are an equal number of nights which are not hard dance in the north, at the end of the day its just music, there are no rules as to which style to have to like or dislike, if you dont like it dont listen to it. Its music snobbery and sometimes sheer ignorance when you find people being detremental about other genres of house music. I too feel hard dance does get a bit of grief but every type of house music is not for everyone, thats what makes music and art in general so good its freedom of expression and freedom of choice as to what you look at/ listen too.

What the article does point out is that the genre isn't meant to be analysed (for obvious reasons) - it's just a bit of fun to dance to when your 17, have little frame of reference for melody, chord progression or depth and are just out with your mates chasing the buzz. It's like eating Pot Noodles or watching Carry On films - you can see why people enjoy it but as you get older you learn there's a much bigger world out there.

but not all hard dance music is like that- that's my point! as i say, listen to BK's album and then tell me it's the pot noodle of dance music lol

here you guys are all lookin at it the wrong way....

everyone who hates it are not goin deeper into the culture and findin therr is more than comercial "bollocks" therr, and that its fuckin class to just jump about like a tit once and a while, instead of watchin to make sure if you are looking like a tit.
But on the other hand people who are into hardstyle don't give any other genre a chance (except dnb)its all just "camp dance" to you guys.

OPEN UP PEEPS AND JUST FEEL SOME FUCKIN LOVE!

I think it should be celebrated and everyone who moans about it should stop being such terrible snobs.

Just cos we slag off a certain tyoe of music doesn't mean we are snobs - maybe it simply means that the music is actually meant for kids and is the lowest common denominator on the scene.

I think if you listen to this type of aural torture when you are in your twenties and have been around clubbing for a bit then you are obviously mentally challenged and immature.

Bit like drinking shite when you are younger. i bet all of us used to drink some horrible stuff simply because it got you drunk quick and was cheap. When you get past that immature attitude and you have experienced a lot more of life you begin to develop tastes for the better stuff and it becomes more than just getting strong alcohol in your bloodsream as quick as possible.

Sitting on a park bench and drinking Buckfast is not an option for a 25 year old.

If you slag off a certain type of music, saying that the people who listen to it are 'immature and mentally challenged' that is total snobbery. If you look down on others for their taste, that is snobbery. You're a big snob, and you don't even know it!

Id rather people listened to hard dance than the dj sammy style crap that seems to be the chav music of choice these days.

Call me a snob then!

It's true and you know it. This un-inventive, formulaic and mind numbing music is only enjoyed by teenagers for a reason.

Its just noise and a fast beat - just what they want. I was the same myself at that age. We all can look back at some of the different music we liked then and say that we have moved on as we get more water under the bridge.

This is shown in the clubs where a hardcore night will have a predominately younger audience.

It's funny this thread should come up

After about 7 years of buying mixmag this article was last dig for me at hard dance and have stopped buying it as such.

Is pretty obvious your views on the genre and sad in the way you express them every issue (by putting in as little hard dance related things as possible and when it is rarely mentioned it's spoke of in disgust). The face has been no hard dance cd in about 3yrs also says something for your feelings on it...you'd think it would be it's turn for a cover by now but no.

You would also think a magazine such as yours would be pretty open to most genres instead being so biased to certain genres...surely would make sense instead of driving people away from your magazine featuring so little and digging at it.

I'm open to most genres (hard house being my main one) and basically had enough....so nice one mixmag...keep up the good work...commercial rubbish
Loving the band / nu rave stuff every issue now...proper dance music...lol

how can you say mixmag promotes commercial rubbish?
I love progessive house and techno now and that is far from commercial and mixmag supports my musical taste all the way....

infact mixmag rolls with the times from when i was 17 to now (im 26)
the fact of the matter remains they will post news and reviews on what the masses want and are loving and raving about right now, just like the days when hard house was at its prime and that was mostly what you heard about and what CD's you got on the front... (Eddie Halliwell-bosh ROCK ON!)
sadly hard house died a hard death because it ran out of steam (like it or not) thats why its now called hard dance!
I personally cant stand it but, I accept it was hard house that started my journey onto the music i love now!
so yes, hard, fast in yer face music (be it hard style/dance or nu rave) is mostly for kids with more energy than a duracell bunny jacked up on speed & a can of redbull becuase its happy go lucky & superficial!
but that doesnt mean I slate it becuase I dont think it has a place on the scene more becuase Im getting old and my ears will bleed if i get subjected to a night of cyber fraggles whizzed off their tits jumping around to what i can only call crap these days (buit thats just my opinion)
so please dont put a CD on the front it just adds to the already problematic refuse issue we have in this country.

I loved it when I was younger and kinda got away from it into the more mature levels of techno and commercial Electro, but in the last year or so I have found myself getting back into it. OK you can't enjoy going to see a hard dance DJ as generally there will be alot of chavs, kids and jaw swingers there but I think you should appreciate the music not the following!

If ya dig hard dance than thats kewel if ya dont thats kewel too its a genre that we need to keep chavs from going to see erol or smd :D ha. only kidding plenty of my friends are into hard house i personally dont listen to it but i think you still have to appreciate what its done for dance.

hard dance is just something you grow out of - i used to be well into it going to nights like nuklearpuppy in edinburgh but then kind of fell out of love. now when i listen to hard dance tracks i just cringe!

http://noiseporn.blogspot.com
iamnoiseporn@googlemail.com

I can't stand hard dance, it makes me cringe as well.

I've always hated hard house but I guess I started clubbing before it reared it's ugly head. I'm sick of hearing it blaring out of kids' mobile phones or out of a chav's nova (complete with big exhaust init cha!)

It's always been similar path, when I started clubbing everyone started off liking trance before moving onto deeper stuff. It's like being in the early years of my dance music education. If trance was primary school then I guess the introduction of hard house is like having pre-school.

Hahaha god some of you are soo pretentious and up your own arse.
Hard house is all about FUN, its not meant to taken seriously, it's not meant to be deep or meaningful or whatever. It's not about looking good, poseing, been seen, etc.
Its about fun and having a good old stomp with ya mates =D
Hard house is dead? WTF?
Have you acutally been to a decent hard house recently?
Get ya self to Hi-Oktane in leeds or Parlez-Vous in bradford and come back and tell me its dead, coz it clearly isn't.

BTW, nu-rave is the biggest pile of wank ever

well if its a topic up for debate and it generates sales then its clearly being played(hard dance that is), showing that people like it!

by listening to dark by design, yoji, lashes etc i was introduced to dance music! i cant stand listening to the stuff anymore even though i was at a mauro picotto gig a few weeks back and had a brilliant night!

age has also got nothing to do with music tastes. I am now a devout minimal techno listener and im only 18!

if people like hard dance, leave them like it. no point knocking there taste!

I admit I haven't read the article, but from the responses above, it symbolises exactly what i hate about small minded individuals - i will quite happily listen to any genre from breaks and funky house with minimal thrown in right through to speedcore on occasion, and it really is dependent on the listener - different strokes for different folks. Don't pigeon hole it, and slag it off simply because you don't like it - accept that there are different viewpoints, and whilst it isn't your favourite doesn't mean it should be banned.....

interesting side note too - i recall something from a while ago saying in some random medical study, 140bpm was the optimal to dance to in terms of getting heartbeat going and feeling the music more - i'm not sure quite how far i believe it without seeing further info, but maybe its a thought you could work with........

Different styles same old debate, I remember big splits opening up in the 90's when hardcore came along, a lot of people hated it but to the people who went to those nights it was their thing and it brought them together to feel part of something that was theirs. As far as the musical argument goes most late 70's punk bands were by their own admission terrible musicians but people still have admiration for them because they feel as though they represented them and what they were about when they were at "that age".
I don't like much Hard Dance but I don't think it is fair to dismiss it as a less credible form of music than anything else, Its just not my cup of tea.

I'm certainly not one for saying Hard Dance is a lesser form of music, each to their own. But I don't think the whole Punk association sticks - yeah some Punk musicians weren't all that great, but some - The Clash most obviosuly - were. The Ramshackle style of the music was a deliberate move against the overblown stadium rock of the 70s and it's sensibilities. I don't think hard dance is making any sort of deliberate point. It's noise for noise sake - and there's nothing wrong with that.

The fact is however shit punk sounds, it's hard to make a good punk record, i don't think it's that hard to make a good hard dance record - at least not compared to other more experimental and sophisticated genres. I reckon Techno is more directly comparable, it was born out of something, said something, but at the same time can be completely nonsensical. Which is why Techno makes me moist.

what a silly little debate you have going.............this time could be spent practicing your mixing and production skills! why can't we just all get along? this is why we are not going to see another summer of love for a long time yet.when people forget about genre...........................