Unpopular opinions

[Soundphase]

Kids getting into Hardstyle now may see all of that past music as a relic of its time, or possibly are overwhelmed and instead are focusing on the current music. tl;dr, if you weren't around for the roots of a musical genre, the identity of and relation to that sound will be lost since you weren't there to experience the growth firsthand

Absolutely, and I do agree about there being some outliers as well.

[Soundphase]

Even "millennial generation" jumped into the "modern wagon" instead of keeping their own style from the past (probably because they would be skipped by the crowd if they would still produce 5:30 minutes tracks).

Yes of course, but the fact is that for some producers the "passion for oldschool" isn't there, not that it's a problem or anything, but simply because they are missing that firmware in their brain. While some had exposure to the past, others never felt the passion for hardstyle back then. I'm not saying that things are good or bad either, I personally don't mind evolution of the genre.

[The Blaster]

I feel it has a lot to do with a generational barrier. The millennial generation do think differently to the younger generation of hardstyle producers today. I could be generalizing a little bit, but I think there's a degree of truth in this.

This is just my hypothesis but I feel that your statement is 100% true. Obviously there are outliers and this isn't some majority fact I feel... But this may be true for many people, myself included, because we spent our formative years (and early adulthood) listening to Hardstyle. We were already used to the "early" sound having just happened a few years ago, and experiencing the natural progression into nustyle where the format largely stayed the same. This all happened in real time for us, and of course it's a huge legacy to have left behind in sound. Kids getting into Hardstyle now may see all of that past music as a relic of its time, or possibly are overwhelmed and instead are focusing on the current music. tl;dr, if you weren't around for the roots of a musical genre, the identity of and relation to that sound will be lost since you weren't there to experience the growth firsthand.
Just a reminder that 2007-2010, which I saw as the "golden years" for melodic Hardstyle/nustyle, had started 15 years ago, and the days of Early Hardstyle were 20 years ago. Many of us probably remember listening to an Early track and thinking "Damn that was just 5 or 6 years ago, we came a long way!" If Hardstyle was a person, they would be old enough to vote, drink, smoke, and drive a car by now. We're just getting old

Spoiler

There's also the growing evidence that consumption of rapid-fire media like TikTok, Instagram, and algorithm fed content like Twitter are re-wiring the minds of some younger people to rely on quick shots of content for dopamine rather than experiencing things within a longer time frame. This is still kind of psuedo-science at the moment, though the observed behaviors of the youth are pretty evident of this issue. My point being that this can also be feeding into the huge love for uptempo/new raw styles where tracks are 3 minutes long with nearly a dozen kicks to keep people on their toes.

oh absolutely. thousand percent agree with both comments.

but still, there's enough curiosity in young people to think bigger, to explore more, to find places like this where people discuss music and have tastes and opinions and passion. places like harderstate can't be that overwhelming?

the perspective and learning just by browsing pages here is huge. you can have a fairly good introduction to thousands and thousands of tracks by just browsing the early appreciation thread

[Emre]

There's also the growing evidence that consumption of rapid-fire media like TikTok, Instagram, and algorithm fed content like Twitter are re-wiring the minds of some younger people to rely on quick shots of content for dopamine rather than experiencing things within a longer time frame. This is still kind of psuedo-science at the moment, though the observed behaviors of the youth are pretty evident of this issue. My point being that this can also be feeding into the huge love for uptempo/new raw styles where tracks are 3 minutes long with nearly a dozen kicks to keep people on their toes.

Pseudo science or not, this is very true, in my head at least. Attention spans seem to be fucked up. 'Access to quick dopamine' for a lack of better words seems to be way too easy nowadays so people need more and more and more to be satisfied. This also applies to adults.

[ceero]

might be a bit lengthy, but i think this is a very related documentary for this debate. definitely worth watching.

[Reverse Ghost]

Love this video, I always give it a rewatch every few months just to relive the feelings from a decade ago.

[Emre]

might be a bit lengthy, but i think this is a very related documentary for this debate. definitely worth watching.

Didn't know this video, will deffo give this a watch.

[DjVero]

If we musically stay in 2010 level, this genre wouldn't exist anymore. Everything has to evolve on its own way.

Can't be sure of that I think. Look at uplifting trance for example. It hasn't really changed much/came up with anything revolutionary since like 2007 and it still exists, still has a solid fanbase, still have new talents rising (Ciaran McAuley for example), still have the hot shots of the genre like Aly & Fila getting highlight bookings on fancy festivals. Yeah, the genre is not as big as it was 15 years ago. But it still exists, still has a solid fanbase going on, still have parties with it.

Imo this comparison is a bit out of place. Trance has a much wider fanbase across the entire planet. Hardstyle in comparison is way smaller and is only a huge thing in The Netherlands, with some other countries with a relatively big fanbase as well; Australia, Chile and ..?? Still a much smaller fanbase than Trance though, which is also around for a longer time.

We will never know however if and how hardstyle would have survived had it stayed the same.

[DjVero]

There's also the growing evidence that consumption of rapid-fire media like TikTok, Instagram, and algorithm fed content like Twitter are re-wiring the minds of some younger people to rely on quick shots of content for dopamine rather than experiencing things within a longer time frame. This is still kind of psuedo-science at the moment, though the observed behaviors of the youth are pretty evident of this issue. My point being that this can also be feeding into the huge love for uptempo/new raw styles where tracks are 3 minutes long with nearly a dozen kicks to keep people on their toes.

Pseudo science or not, this is very true, in my head at least. Attention spans seem to be fucked up. 'Access to quick dopamine' for a lack of better words seems to be way too easy nowadays so people need more and more and more to be satisfied. This also applies to adults.

And yet the big EDM producers ventured into Tech(no), Progressive and whatnot, with track lengths also being almost double the length of their previous bandwagon. Two examples:

[Reverse Ghost]

Although this is anecdotal evidence from myself, but at any Techno or Progressive party I've been to the crowd was typically dominated by older millennials or people well into their 30s. Hardly many young people at those kinds of parties I've noticed.