Tracks that have grown on / outgrown you

[Vicious]

Haha Chopper people posting Donkey Rollers tracks, shame on you, should have put that in the unpopular opinion topic.. agree with ceero and Dr Dave about some of the 2009-2012-2015 stuff, especially the kicks.

Aged like fine wine: All the Saifam classics, not only banging timeless tracks but the sound quality is so good, all the tracks are so crisp and perfectly mastered. And TNT is still just as good today! Tuneboy is a genius.

Straight On Black/Kamui/A*S*Y*S, that dark tech sound, never get's old for me and a lot of these tracks would fit into the modern techno sets.



Fusion classics, Zany and Michael Pollen _0_ I see some people saying the opposite but for me this is hardstyle, much like the Saifam stuff, just sounds like quality. silver bullet, hardstyle rockers, Wicked Generation, Pillz, Be on your Way and more are still in my rotation. I'm probably too biased to say if it's actually aged well or not though

Beholder Vs Zany, Rough and tuff




Golden era Noisecontrollers, Wildstylez, Headhunterz, DBSTF, Frontliner, Scope Dj, Josh and Wesz etc. Some of the tracks you could argue that they have aged poorly but there are so many good ones

[Doctor Dave]

I think some people have confused "aged badly" with "not my taste anymore". Personally I judge by technical quality / mastering. For example, most early Hardstyle Mafia tracks have aged just awfully - but that doesn't mean they're bad tracks or I don't like them!

There's stuff that IMO has aged well but I've never really been a fan of, also.

[Soundphase]

I think some people have confused "aged badly" with "not my taste anymore".

well some people are also confusing "aged badly" with something else.

Who the hell would listen to Chopper anymore? What's so exciting about this track in 2022 ?
It was a GREAT track in its time. Emphasis on "in its time".

Reverse bass tracks always seemed to age better in my opinion.

[Doctor Dave]

I know I mentioned Chopper before but I wasn't trying to single you out or anything

Having said that, I'll use Communicate as another example - I agree with you that it has aged well. But, I don't like the track, I find it quite boring personally. But it has aged well.

[ceero]

well some people are also confusing "aged badly" with something else.

Yeah, especially you with this stament

Who the hell would listen to Chopper anymore? What's so exciting about this track in 2022 ?
It was a GREAT track in its time. Emphasis on "in its time".

I still think it's a fucking ace track and one of the best Pollen & co. production ever. Simple gated kick, rough intro, amazing dark signature Fusion melody. Just because you don't like it anymore does not mean the track is bad by nowadays standards, or that it 'aged badly'. I will literally take the tune over every single raw tune made in the past 3 years without a blink of an eye.

[Soundphase]

I'll use Communicate as another example - I agree with you that it has aged well. But, I don't like the track, I find it quite boring personally.

That's fine, all opinions count. No disrespect to DR, I worship many of their tracks, but it's as if on this forum if you dislike ANY early donkey rollers track then you're automatically having a shit opinion
Not all of them stood the test of time imho, and I'm not afraid to say it. That said..if people still enjoy Chopper than kudos to you.

[Soundphase]

Just because you don't like it anymore does not mean the track is bad by nowadays standards

It did age badly for me, it's not listenable to me anymore. This topic is all subjective opinion anyway.

[Vicious]

I think some people have confused "aged badly" with "not my taste anymore". Personally I judge by technical quality / mastering. For example, most early Hardstyle Mafia tracks have aged just awfully - but that doesn't mean they're bad tracks or I don't like them!

There's stuff that IMO has aged well but I've never really been a fan of, also.

There's mastering and quality and then theres the whole concepts an sound design of some the the old Headhunterz tunes for example that just don't stand up to today's standards, like you could never play the Sacrifice in anything other than an early nustyle set, great track but I can't say it has aged well

[ceero]

Just because you don't like it anymore does not mean the track is bad by nowadays standards

It did age badly for me, it's not listenable to me anymore. This topic is all subjective opinion anyway.

It sounds like shit to you today, it still sounds amazing to me. What could be the conclusion to draw here? That the whole 'aged well/badly' concept is probably nonsense. How does a track age anyway? Music is not wine, it's not like it changes with time. What changes with time is our preferences & taste and well, the music of these days we are inevitably going to compare it to, because the way it's produced is just different nowadays. Also, this is really not about some 'Donkey Rollers' cult. I'm more than willing to admit they made some (in my opinion) shit tracks. I never liked Evil for example, or a lot of the later stuff like Total Domination or Million Gods just sounds off to me.

Sure, there are tracks from the past that sound either messy/unclean or too simplistic if you compare them to nowadays production. In absolutely no way that means that they are 'not listenable anymore' as you are trying to put it. Quite on the contrary, I think shit tons of nowadays stuff if brutally overdone, overproduced, overcomplicated to the point it's just not fun for me to listen to it anymore (Atmozfears album is a brilliant example of this imo). What you mean by 'not listenable anymore' is either 'the way this was produced/composed/made is too different to what i'm used to listen to today to enjoy it' or 'my preferences changed to the point i dont like this anymore'. It's not like it suddenly turned to shit after 15 years.

I always said this (and this part is not directed towards you Soundphase, rather my 2c on the general topic) - I think hardstyle fans in general have an unhealthy obsession with sound design, the 'crispyness of the sound', the "quality of production". I'm putting this in quote marks because i think that it's a subjective thing, I would happily argue that there is some stuff from 2006 that sounds production-wise better than some top tier artists production from 2022). Of course good music should be made well and good production is certainly not a bad thing (even if i firmly believe that what it is is also subjective), but the perfection of the production and levels of crispiness of the mix/master shouldn't be the highest criteria for it. A good music is good music, good music is what is written well, what gives you the right emotion, what puts a smile on your face, what becomes personal to you and what brings you memories. I think it's fair to say that 60s Beatles, 70s Pink Floyd or 80s Iron Maiden is recorded and produced on a level that is below 2022's recording and production standards for rock music. Does that make that stuff 'badly aged' or worse than modern stuff (because in hardstyle world it would). Well, I have yet to meet a single person who would claim that. Quite on the contrary, the production of that time is what makes it sound the way it does and what makes it great. I think the same can be said about a lot of old hardstyle. I don't need to hear a Donkey Rollers track remixed to 2022's 'standards', squished into 2.5 minutes with 4 different kicks in the intro and probably some added pop vocal. It's perfect the way it is and the fact that a '22 Sub Zero Project track sounds different productionwise doesnt prevent me from enjoying it.

This obsession of hardstyle fans with 'the crispiest kick', the 'filthiest drop', 'cleanest synths' reminds me of two things - those 2010 Skrillex fans and their youtube comments 'this wobble is filthier than fingering your own sister' and those obnoxious audiophile vinyl elitists who are willing to go through 12 different pressings of Dark Side Of The Moon to find the 'warmest sounding mono dynamic range for my 500eur ortofon cartridge and Moondrop headphones'. In my opinion those are both simply wrong and superficial ways of listening to music, but yeah, who am I to say.

[battlejellyfish]

It sounds like shit to you today, it still sounds amazing to me. What could be the conclusion to draw here? That the whole 'aged well/badly' concept is probably nonsense. How does a track age anyway? Music is not wine, it's not like it changes with time. What changes with time is our preferences & taste and well, the music of these days we are inevitably going to compare it to, because the way it's produced is just different nowadays. Also, this is really not about some 'Donkey Rollers' cult. I'm more than willing to admit they made some (in my opinion) shit tracks. I never liked Evil for example, or a lot of the later stuff like Total Domination or Million Gods just sounds off to me.

The main part of Evil with the gated kick tho But just to leave my comment on the subject as starter of the topic, yes, it's not the track that ages well or badly because it stays the same throughout time - as if it's the original and not some edit - but our standards. I just wanted to discuss here what you think you liked couple of years ago that you know don't or vice versa If any of you have a better idea what to rename the topic to, just let me know.