Eurobeat- a style of music influenced by genres such as dance pop, hi-NRG and Italo disco. It came to life in the late 1980s when a group of Italo disco producers created their new sound known as “Eurobeat” and distributed it to Japan, where newly rising scenes were more than welcome. Some fans discovered Eurobeat through a dance style known as “para-para” that was popular in Japan. Others discovered it through the arcade game and anime series “Initial D”. And finally, like most of Eurobeat’s small western fanbase, I discovered this when I was first captivated by the mainstream hits “Running in the 90s” and “Deja Vu” that gained popularity through internet memes. The tempo was upbeat and lively, the synths were captivating, and the lyrics may have been cheesy or too simplistic, yet the way these artists carried out their voices was powerful. Before I knew it, I was completely captivated by this hardcore synth/techno genre. It featured my both favorite instruments to listen to and my favorite cultures blended together in harmony. With English lyrics, a Japanese tempo, and Italian music origins, Eurobeat is a unique blend of cultures that, I expected would bring people together across the globe. Unfortunately, to my surprise, that is far from the truth.
Revisiting what I said previously, Eurobeat was created by Italian Producers, however it was only distributed in Japan. It may have experienced a boom within the music scene in Japan, but to the rest of the world, “Eurobeat” was, and still is, almost completely unheard of. Ironically, you could even ask an Italian off the street if they’ve heard of Eurobeat and they’ll most likely respond with a “No” despite Italy being it’s birthplace and the home to it’s founding fathers. This is all simply because it was never distributed in Italy, or anywhere but Japan. Yet even in Japan, it decreased immensely in popularity due to times simply just changing. By the late 2000's, it’s boom on a popular scale was coming to an end, and it was almost nowhere to be found in daily society. Because of the fact that it was never distributed world wide, and that times simply just changed, Eurobeat has never really received the proper recognition it deserves. This made me wonder with a bit of concern about the Producers, and how they’ve been managing this situation.
I think it’s safe to say the producers have been more than aware of the dying influence of their genre. Often times, buying an official CD or downloading songs off of applications such as iTunes can be the only way to support the Eurobeat industry. Eurobeat fans often times will buy CDS off of of sites such as ebay, rather than the offical website of the Producer, or download songs for free off of SoundCloud instead of purchasing them in an app such as iTunes. This combined with the lack of recognition the industry has alone disables producers from getting enough of a profit from their music at times. Despite Eurobeat still being in its rock bottom, it may have some ounces of hope. Viral internet memes based off of the songs “Running in the 90s” and “Deja Vu” has allowed producers to expand their content globally to an extent (the western fanbase is still incredibly small, but slightly increasing). These two songs, especially Deja Vu (since the Deja Vu meme rose recently in 2017) gave Eurobeat the extra push that it most definitely deserved. Deja Vu gained enough attraction for the even creator of the song himself, Dave Rodgers to rewrite a remake and record an entire music video with the song. It perfectly captures the cheesiness and lighthearted nature that is Eurobeat, and luckily it gained a small amount of traction from the western community too.
Eurobeat may be experiencing a small revival. Slowly, but surely more producers are coming out from the darkness, creating new content as more fans begin to either experience nostalgia, or have just recently discovered Eurobeat. These fans regardless have been growing slightly, and demanding more songs, all thanks to the viral memes that gained traction. New artists may join the scene, or the western fanbase may grow. No one is exactly sure about what path Eurobeat may take in the future, but we all hope this underrated genre can climb up and hit a spike as more and more producers are coming back to create content for the genre.