Breakbeat hardcore (or rave) is a style of electronic music. It was an early 1990s offshoot of the Acid House scene of late [1980s]] Britain. It added a hip-hop influence with the addition of breakbeats, and increased the tempo.
The scene revolved around the M25 motorway (London's orbital motorway), and its audience was mainly lower middle-class suburban teenagers with cars and urban teenagers. The audience was very much multi-cultural, with black and white influences resulting in a unique sound.
The music itself very much reflected the scenes drugs of choice, Ecstasy, LSD and amphetamines, with its bombastic beats, manic synths, ear-piercing vocal shots and rumbling bass-lines. The music, although in retrospect poorly produced and amateur (part of its charm), was generally extrovert, uplifting, gritty and hypnotic.
The scene also spawned the idea of holding huge parties rather then small clubs, where organisers such as Dreamscape would hold events in aircraft hangers and stadiums.
Around 1994 the scene fragmented, and forked off into the more sophisticated sounds of Jungle (with its heavy Black influences) and Drum and Bass (which, it could be argued, takes its cues from 1970s synth-based progressive rock - though it would be unlikely that practioners of this style would admit this!).
During mid-late 1994, breakbeat hardcore re-emerged as happy hardcore or 4-beat which combined the manic synths with a faster, techno based beat, and happier, commercial tunes. By around 1996, most 4-beat had dropped the breakbeats, and most Drum and Bass had dropped the techno style synth stabs, leaving the two sounds almost entirely different.
Important artists include Acen, Micky Finn, Nicky Blackmarket, Two Bad Mice, Nookie
