What is a hard bass: a detailed description

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

What is hard bass? The underground movement of youth has existed for more than fifteen years, but so far nothing is known about it to the general public. This is a controversial subculture that has many of its own branches and subgenres. Based on the genre of electronic music, which is a protest against the "sugary" and "pop", according to harbassers, the sound of the mainstream DJs.

The movement is closely intertwined with other youth subcultures of football fans, ravers, hardcore players, straight tagers and more.

The birth of the genre

By the end of the nineties, youth music is undergoing significant changes. The emergence of new technologies has led to the availability of synthesizers and DJ consoles to a wide segment of the population. Rock and heavy metal are gradually fading into the background. Electronic music is gaining widespread development and popularity: it sounds on music channels, plays on the radio, listens to young people on cassettes. In 1997, a new genre of scouse is gaining popularity in Europe, the maina distinctive feature of which is the presence in the composition of the so-called bambu-bass.

Electronic music with a rhythmic sound quickly captured the hearts of young people in the post-Soviet space. In Moscow, St. Petersburg and other major cities, the first raves begin to take place. This is a disco for many hours with the presence of several thousand people. Raves were held on the outskirts, in undeveloped warehouses, hangars and so on. Nobody knew what hard bass was then, so the dances were accompanied by compositions by DJs X-ray, Hard Lickerz, Just Motion and others. It was then that DJ "High Per" presented his first composition in the style of hard bass.

Special sound

Unlike many popular youth musical genres and cultures at the beginning of the 2000s, hard bass did not come from the West, but originated in Russia. When in St. Petersburg they were already dancing to uncompromising basses, almost no one in Europe knew what hard bass was.

The musical style is based on a fast straight beat - a kick drum. Synthesized inserts are usually only a small part of the composition. One hundred and fifty beats per minute is the average tempo of the genre. Another distinguishing feature from a pumping house is the presence of frequent vocal inserts, often with the use of autotune.

Protest culture

The crisis of the nineties led to changes in the cultural values of young people. Electronic raves have gradually evolved from a regular disco into a whole movement. Culture has become inextricably linked to drugsand casual sex, which was the main leitmotif of the music. The first hard bass songs had the same semantic direction.

However, they were rarely played at raves due to their overly fast and hard, almost unprocessed sound.

One, one, one - that's hard bass

The genre gained real popularity thanks to the creative association "Hardbass Dance School". It consisted of four DJs from Moscow and St. Petersburg. They loved electronic music, but did not share the views of the mainstream ravers. In their songs, the guys ridicule the image of drug-addicted gopniks who filled the dance floors of the country and promote a he althy lifestyle. Their unique style appealed to many listeners. Simple music has a lot of vocals without autotune, which are quickly remembered by listeners. Thanks to the composition "Hard bass - everyone in Adidas sportswear" they learned about the genre and started talking.

Gradually, the movement grew into a separate youth subculture with its own unwritten rules and laws. An integral element was the special movements that are performed under electronic compositions. Fast and aggressive dances began to be performed not only at raves, but also in open areas during the day.

Members of the subculture are characterized by a special style of clothing: sports items of famous brands "Nike" and "Adidas". Also, many harbussers are sharply negatively opposed to drugs, aresupporters of a he althy lifestyle. The broad masses learned what hard bass is after the release of the Russian film "Okolofutbola", where one of the compositions of the "Hardbass Dance School" sounds. This gave impetus to a new development of culture and music, increased its popularity among football fans.