Darycka wrote:@ Absence
Don't tell me to go back to 2006 and listen to that hardstyle. I've been listening hardstyle since 2003 and DJ'ing/actively following the scene since 2006/2007. I know what happened, followed hardstyle evolving.
I for one like some of the things that changed and dislike some other things. The general production quality improved a lot over time, and so did the quality of the compositions.
That is your own experience, the quality for me didn't improve, kicks became less coherent, meaning the punches and tails are easily distinctable and the bass is overdone causing to create walls of bass with barely any power anymore. Things became more complex indeed, but better qualitywise, don't think everyone will agree on that.
Also, the diversity in the scene had an enormous boost. We now have mainstream tracks, which can be divided into softer ones and harder/darker ones and also we've got lables like Theracords and Spoontech, who'll keep hard and bring something totally different.
On the other hand, I can't deny that a certain uniqueness is gone. If I listen to a number of songs from when I started listening hardstyle, then I hear tracks which differ more from each other than songs which are released today.
You are contradicting yourself here, how much tracks differ from eachother is called diversity, so the diversity was higher back in the days. Just look at the popular acts like Gunz4Hire, Zatox, Wasted Penguinz and see how similar their own tracks are compared to eachother.
Tho we've got to keep in mind that older tracks come with nostalgia, and above that, that we only listen to the better tracks of those days.
When I see lineups of the parties from pre 2006 I could enjoy myself at every stage. Nowadays only a handful of parties are left that offer a lineup that interests me; last year at Defqon I spend 4-5 hours sitting in the relax-area, because I had to choose between 4 different area's with mainstream hardstyle acts. Diversity my ass. Defqon being considered as one of the most commercial festivals has less diversity than the smaller festivals.
But, to get to the point, just the fact that Hardstyle is getting more known worldwide doesn't mean that it'll die of commerce. As long as you won't hear hardstyle on MTV or see it in the Top 40 or smth, I don't think we should really fear for it to happen either. And like I said, even if it happens, let it die and get back to the core, not really a problem with that either, right?
Why do you think there is a run on making clips at the moment? Some of these clips are broadcasted at the belgium MTV already. Psyko Punkz and Headhunterz already made their way to the Dutch biggest radiostations, which are normally only playing the top40 crap. Interviews with NC, Wildstylez, HHZ as well as with Linda from Q-dance show that hardstyle should become that popular and they already planned a strategy to reach that goal. It is already happening right now. And it is working. Letting the scene explode is therefore maybe indeed the only good option we have left. But I'm afraid there will be very little people left when they have to endure even more cheese and commercial tunes.
Glasgow, Scotland