Trance songs I Don't Like
Submitted by lyceaum on Tue, 07/24/2007 - 08:45
Tags:
- These are mostly songs that many people like, and I just happen to think otherwise. Many are also on top trance lists, and often very high on the lists. It's just personal opinion here, and I know MANY people will disagree with me. That's ok. There are of course, many many other horrible trance songs out there.
- Ian Van Dahl - Castles in the Sky
- I HATE this song. The vocals make me cringe.
- Alice Deejay - Better off Alone
- Not really trance, and not really worth listening to.
- ATB - 9p.m. (Til I Come)
- Trance Allstars - the First Rebirth
- It makes me so angry that most people think these guys made this song, when it is actually JONES AND STEPHENSON-THE FIRST REBIRTH. It's so sad.
- Voodoo and Serano - Blood is Pumpin'
- Don't get me started on how this is a ripoff of so many songs. So many things bad about this. Cheese from the getgo. Josh Winks' Higher State of Consciousness did this how many years before??? and way better.
- Robert Miles - Children
- This song does nothing original. I don't have a problem with trance going mainstream, but there are SO many better songs that should have appealed to the masses.
- Darude - Sandstorm
- I don't like the sounds used in this song. I don't like the rush, amd I don't like the how it is trying to force me to get excited.
- Nalin & Kane - Beachball
- It's too repetitive.
- Kamaya Painters - Endless Wave
- Ayla - Ayla
- Awex - It's Our Future
- I find the "It's our...future" vocal part very annoying.
- Jam and Spoon - Stella
- I never understood what was so great about this song.
- Lost Tribe - Gamemaster
- It's a ripoff of Quench - Dreams, and the woman talking is incredibly cheesy.
- Energy 52 - Cafe del Mar
- Many disagree with me on this one.
- Bite me.
- Cosmic Baby - Loops of Infinity
- The vocals are so lame. "Celestial Harmonies" is so much better than this track, which makes it to many top trance lists for some reason.
- Dance 2 Trance - the Power of American Natives
- I don't care if these guys are supposed to be trance pioneers, this song is so dumb. It's really the predecessor of dance music like C & C Music Factory. It has nothing to do with the trance I actually respect. I don't really like "We Came in Peace" either, but I don't dislike it enough to add it to this list.
- Not a huge fan of Sash, BT, Scooter nor Tiesto (although Tiesto does deserve some cred.)
umm..
what can i say, 3 of the songs you've listed here are umm, well classics. And with good reason.
I can see your hatred for the first three, as they immensly annoy me too, and frankly the 2 after as well. But BEACHBALL? It is THE ibiza trance song, drifts you away to paradise, it's not meant to be exciting in a club sense, it stimulates the mind not the body. Then Cafe Del Mar? It has (even in an anthem hater's perspective) one of the most cleverly constructed breakdowns ever and a kick ass melody that could loop forever (Thankyou Cosmic Baby). Don't even get me started on Xpander! It's Xpander! The best progressive (And IMO the best of all time) trance track there is, well, read my list for why, but some of those choices just surprised me is all.
Good idea for a list though.
I honestly think Beachball is really boring. It just doesn't do much.
I said I don't "hate" Cafe Del Mar, it's just overrated. I also think Xpander is overrated and boring. I was so disappointed in Sasha when I first heard it. I agree those 2 are definitely not in the same category as the rest. It's just that those songs came at a time when I was getting so disenchanted with trance that I stopped listening to it.
I think that this list is pure bullshit. Come on man, I know that these days everybody has the right to express their opinions, but this is just too much. I don't think that you know enough about trance music to make lists like these. But ok, it's your right, just as my right is to disagree and express my own opinions on the subject. So here are they:
ROBERT MILES - CHILDREN: This song does everything original. It was released back in 1995, when trance was still trippy, repetitive, acidic music. It was released on Platipus (very respected trance label at the time), and it enjoyed huge support from trance listeners. That support started to fade out slowly, when it was picked up by a major label (Deconstruction) and when all the others started to love it. But the track itself was very innovative, and it introduced a softer and slower style of trance, with lots of piano - so-called "dream trance". For the track that started a whole new subgenre (dream trance) and transformed an existing one (classic trance) into something more softer and melodic, it's stupid to say it's unoriginal.
DARUDE - SANDSTORM: What exactly is so cheesy about this one? It's supersaw-free, doesn't contain lyrics and it's not overdramatic like some dutch crap of that time (bear in mind that it was released back in 1999, when the market was flooded with the Ferry-preset trance). Plus, that harsh acid gave it an oldschool feel which is a very good thing (and very fresh for the trance track in 1999). Darude, just like Robert Miles with Children, created a track which didn't follow the trends and he succeded. You can hate it because it has been played practically everywhere, but you can't say it's cheesy or unoriginal.
ATB is one guy...
NALIN & KANE - BEACHBALL: There are just a few trance tracks that can create images and visualizations in your mind as efficiently as this one. I mean, there are tracks that are called Satellite or Velvet Morning, but when you listen to them you are thinking about everything else but the theme from its title. This one builds beautiful summer atmosphere with the sounds of waves and seagulls crying, and sincerely, in how many trance tracks you can hear that? So you can't say it doesn't do much. It does more than 95% of the faceless trance tracks out there.
ENERGY 52 - CAFE DEL MAR: I'm a huge fan of classic trance, but even I and my classic trance friends admit that Three'N'One's remix is better than the two original versions from 1993. It's probably the greatest post-1995 trance track ever (there were a lot of polls that agree with me on this one, and lots of djs picked it out as their favourite), and as such it cannot be too overrated.
AYLA - AYLA: Original mix from 1996 is anything but cheesy. You probably have that awful Taucher remix, which just loops one part of the song over and over again.
SASHA - XPANDER: Xpander is not that original, but to say it's boring is just plain stupid. It's complex, ethereal and hypnotic track, that represents everything good about real trance music.
ANYTHING BY BT: You must be kidding. BT is a legend of EM, the guy who popularized epic progressive house in the first half of the 90-ies, and progressive trance in the second half. He touched pretty much every genre of EM, built his own music equipment and produced music for many hollywood movies. Just look at this series of hits: Loving You More, Blue Skies, Flaming June, Godspeed, Remember, Mercury & Solace, Dreaming, Namistai... And last year he released probably the downtempo/ambient album of the year, which is not that common for a guy who never did an ambient album before. Plus, one track from that album, The Antikythera Mechanism was voted as a track of the year 2006 by TA members.
First of all, starting a comment with "I think that this list is pure bullshit" is quite immature, and doesn't really deserve a response.
Nonetheless, I feel like you need some clarification. I've been listening to trance since 1993, and a DJ since 1994. I started going to raves in Toronto in 1993 and went until 1996. I stopped going in 1996 mostly because of the music, some of which is on my list. I've kept up with the music though, even though I stopped going to raves. I'm not going go over why I chose the songs I did, because it's personal opinion. Take note...I said "Trance songs "I" don't like." I did NOT say "Worst trance songs" or anything like that. There is really no need for such aggression here. I'm not saying YOU can't like these songs. Also, saying that such and such song was at the top of everyone's list or whatever, does not necessarily make it good.
Incidentally, saying that Sandstorm doesn't use a supersaw, and therefore isn't cheesy, is a ridiculous statement. I also own many Platipus albums, including the "Ultimate Dreams Collection" and I think that Children is one of the worst songs they've ever released.
Most of these songs represent what I feel is the downfall of trance. It's like what Green Day did to punk rock. They took an underground movement and repackaged it for mass consumption. Most are a bastardized version of what trance used to be.
Look, one thing is to say "I don't like this track", and another is to say "This track is boring/unoriginal/cheesey/whatever...). I mean, you absolutely have every right to express your opinions (in this case statements), but I also have every right to defend the tracks you're "attacking". You obviously wanted to get some reaction, so deal with it. This is how this internet shit works. And I know that the fact that some song was on everyone's list doesn't necessarily make it good, but we're talking about Cafe Del Mar here. The track of unquestionable quality that gave a new meaning to the terms build up and suspension, the track that was praised by critics, djs and audiences. I could write a whole page about that track, but that's not gonna change anything. It's just good, not overhyped, overrated or over the top, just good.
Hmm, I know that Children is hated by most of the classic trance folks, because it was one of the tracks that helped to destroy that real trance sound. You don't like it too (I don't like it that much either, but for different reasons) and you said it was the worst record released on Platipus. And that's ok, it's your opinion and I respect it. But when you say it does nothing original, I have an urge to react, because it's not your opinion anymore. So let's look into the dictionary and see the definition of the adjective "original":
1. Preceding all others in time; first
2. Not derived from something else; fresh and unusual
3. Showing a marked departure from previous practice
4. Productive of new things or new ideas; inventive
5. Being the source from which a copy, reproduction, or translation is made
So, according to all these definitions, Children is truly an original piece of work. I'll repeat again, it was released in 1995 when trance still sounded raw and entrancing so it definitely showed a marked departure from previous practice. Also, you can't argue that it didn't sound fresh and unusual since nobody until then released a record which combines trance and ambient in that way. Plus, pianos weren't used in trance that much till then, and definitely not as a dominating instrument in the track (that piano hook is probably the most recognizable melody in the history of trance). So, it had been inventive and full of new things and ideas and as such the source from which copies and reproductions had been made, since the whole "dream trance" subgenre has it's foundations in that track.
Sandstorm on the other hand didn't have so much influence (it didn't ruin anything, everything has been ruined already), so you can admit that you hate it just because it became so popular. And I didn't say it's not cheesy just because it doesn't use supersaw as the main lead. That's just one of the reasons. You are taking the words out of the context. To really appreciate Sandstorm, you must understand the state of trance at the time it was released. As I already said, the market was flooded with dutch trance. The demand for a new "choon" or "anthem" was ridiculously high, which resulted in scene full of bland, generic and uninspiring music made by a template (buildup+2 minute breakdown+big riff). In this situation Sandstorm came like a breath of fresh air, because it didn't follow the standards set up by dutch producers and stupid audience. Funny how you didn't mention Gouryella, Airwave or Out Of The Blue, because that tracks did much more for the bastardization of trance than Sandstorm...
I agree with you in that I did write "statements" about the songs, rather than opinions. I'll try to go into more detail about what I don't like about each track.
I'm aware of the fact that Cafe del Mar was on everyone list, and praised by critics. While I actually like the sounds used in the song, I feel that it doesn't build to anything. It just plays the string section over and over again. That's my problem with it. I actually just listened to it again, and I can understand why it would get critical praise, but it still lets me down. I feel that it isn't complete. I'm sure you disagree with me here, and I'm sure you could write a page about it, but that won't change my opinion.
Can you pinpoint exactly what is original about Children, as in going into detail about the song. The first time I heard it I thought, "Wow, this song does nothing new." You must be kidding about saying pianos weren't used in trance. Cosmic Baby and Komakino, are two that come to mind off the top of my head. While many may not have used the actual piano sound, I consider the synth keyboard melodies, ie. Paul Van Dyk-My World, to be included in the "piano melodies." Robert Miles just happened to pick the actual "piano" sound when he made Children. Also, Caucassus-Our Dream does the same thing. Just melodies played on a keyboard.
I agree with you that things had already been ruined when Sandstorm came out, but you're definitely out of line when you say I don't like it just because it became popular. There are other mainstream songs that came out at that time that I don't have a problem with. I actually like Da Hool-Meet her at the Love Parade, and Kernkraft-Zombie Nation. I also like Gouryella and Out of the Blue. I don't like the sounds used in Sandstorm, I don't like the rush, I don't like the how it is trying to force me to get excited. I like cerebral trance the most. I guess it's difficult for me to describe why I don't like it, but that's the best I can do.
WHAT? Especially anything by Scooter? Now you're getting personal. Scooter are geniuses. Witness:
"I want you back/for the rhythm attack/comin' down on the floor like a maniac/I want you back/so clean up the dish/by the way/how much is the fish?"
I don't go to raves too much, but I've never heard their songs be played, probably because I live in America. I wonder how popular they are overseas. Because I like bullet points, here's a few:
-I think H.P. ain't the greatest MC, despite what he says, but his lyrics are hilarious. They're so over the top ridiculous, with lots of random "YEAH" or "ACHH"'s, and his scream is so awkward. If it weren't for all this I would never have liked them in the first place.
-A "best of" Scooter collection would actually be pretty tight. They haven't made an album yet without at least one filler track, but some of them good (Our Happy Hardcore, Wicked, The Stadium Techno Experience).
-Their latest album is nice, but I really hate all the rampant sampling (for the record "Maria" was the worst, but the ones on this record are just way too blatant). I don't think Scooter gives any shits about musical integrity, they just want to make people dance.
-There's a number of surprisingly good tracks that they have that are never mentioned. "We Take You Higher", "Our Happy Hardcore", "Don't Waste No Time", "Coldwater Canyon", "Soul Train", and "Don't Let It Be Me" are all ace tracks. Since you mentioned "Sandstorm" I have to bring up "Soul Train", which is IMO a way better way of invoking the same mood.
So, why do you hate them so much? :)
To be honest, I heard Scooter a long time ago, and that was enough for me. For one thing I hate german accents, and I don't like to be told what to do in a song. But I can't argue back with any of the points you've made, because I don't know enough about them.
I've got one request...
MOVE!!
YOUR!!
ASS!!
Okay, point taken.
Maybe I'll download some Scooter for a laugh.
(:
It's just a good thing you don't have Cosmic Gate in your list. Just more support that Cosmic Gate is the best trance group evar!!! lol.
From what I can gather, you hate most non-acid trance songs.
no, I hate crap.
ouch, but hey that's your opinion.
You can love acid, and dislike non-acid tracks, but you can never like non-acid tracks and dislike acid.
I don't really understand what you're saying, can you clarify that comment?
But for the record, the majority of my top trance list is NOT acid trance. It was an ignorant comment he made saying that I only like acid trance.
Well, what I meant was that if you like trance, then you must like acid even if you dislike non-acid trance. You can't dislike acid trance and still like say prog. trance, then you're not really a trance lover. Just my very opinioniated comment.
Well, what I meant was that if you like trance, then you must like acid even if you dislike non-acid trance. You can't dislike acid trance and still like say prog. trance, then you're not really a trance lover. Just my very opinioniated comment.
Here's my take on 'acid'.
The term 'acid' refers to the TB303 sound. A lot of trance uses this sound for its melody, or simply as one of the many instruments for building layers. One example that come to mind is Union Jack's - Red Herring.
There is also acid trance which uses strictly uses the acid sound, for multiple melodies. One example would be Hardfloor - Acperience.
There is also a category called "hard acid" (which I used to dj), which definitely does not appeal to everyone who likes trance. It's leaning more towards 'techno' and generally doesn't have too much of a melody going on. One example would be Public Energy - Three O' Three.
I guess it's possible for someone to hate the acid sound altogether, but that would cut out a huge portion of trance.
"There are of course, many many other horrible trance songs out there."
That made me laugh, as if to say "don't worry with this list I have merely scratched the surface, if you look around you'll a lot of worse trance waiting in the wings, its a lot easier to find than good trance"
As for this list, of what I've heard,
Sandstorm - Its a pretty good track especially for when it was produced. I like it a lot.
Gamemaster - I haven't heard Dreams, but the acid line after the breakdown is just amazing! As for the cheesy vocals, doesn't trance stand for peace and love. Its an admittedly chessy part of the track, but its about what trance stands for. I guess my opinion might change on hearing Dreams.
The rest I pretty much agree with. Xpandar isn't bad, even though I don't like non-acid trance that much.
There is so much mainstream trance crap that I wouldn't even try to cover it all, so I just stuck to ones that are often found on "best trance" lists, which I feel are not that great.
You should really listen to Dreams. It's one of the greatest classic trance songs ever. Be sure to listen to the extended version though.
Trance doesn't really represent peace and love for me. It's more about mind expansion. But if that's what it represents for you, that's great.
Just please never say PLUR.
PLUR? And yeah you're right trance is about mind expansion too.
"Cus' pLuR dun paay Da Bilzz y0!"
No I totally agree with you, about the peace and love thing, for me it's more about the entrancing side to it.
hehe
Here PLUR means "Peace, Love, Unity and Respect." It was a term candy ravers used after I stopped going. I always hated that term because I felt that as raves got more mainstream they were about anything but PLUR.
If you throw terms like that around it leaves me totally confused and I feel like a n00b, I've never been to an EDM party :( and I do not know what "candy" ravers are. Candy and rave? Making up something like PLUR sounds rather cheesy.
It wasn't my intention to confuse you.
I used to go to raves in the mid 90's. Candy ravers are those kids who wore the huge pants, and had tons of bracelets and colourful necklaces. When the candy ravers came about, it wasn't my scene, and I stopped going to raves. They'd say things like "PLUR" at raves. It's definitely cheesy, yes.
Although I disagree with like... 50% of this list (bite me), I like the fact that you don't let other people tell you otherwise. And you include things like "bite me."
Thanks (I guess?).
Yes I feel "bite me" if an effective term.
Saw your list - and I kind of see where you coming from. You like the repetitive and entrancing early 90s - and what it evolved to you hate.
I used to be just like this, but I'm realizing its futile to ask for this old sound - its not coming back and while it'll survive you're not going to get many golden releases anymore.
Sincerely I believe you're exactly right in saying that *this* is the true sound of trance and all of *this* is something else.
You might want to check out Goa. Goa has a very similar sound to the early 90s trance - more so than prog, uplift, or anything else trance evolved to. And its far from mainstream - even farther than the original trance, I'd say.
But for me, I'm moving on into progressive house. It still retains many trancy elements, but it has a strong scene with many producers, and there are many djs (Sasha, Digweed, Zabiela, Holden) that play it. Back in the 90s most people's only connection with the scene was through the clubs/raves, and now since those are all but gone, its extremely difficult to be in touch with this disappearing genre. Progressive, on the other hand, has a strong international following, and it's not going away anytime soon - I know many trance listeners getting tired of the fake sound and moving into something closer to an entrancing sound. Life's too short to spend your time mulling over what could have been and what was.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on my rant.
I think I come from a different perspective than most of the people on here who have trance lists. I experienced the whole phenomena first hand, (being 34 now), instead of retrospectively like the majority of people who have trance lists (generally under 20 yrs. old). Needless to say, I am biased towards classic trance. I've also heard plenty of Goa, and it's just not my thing, although I do have an appreciation for it.
I like progressive house, although I'm the first to admit I'm not up to date with much that has been happening lately. I guess I really lost touch with the rave scene in about 1997.
Not sure what else to add here except that it's good to have an opinion from someone who doesn't attack this list. I just made it for my own amusement. I knew it would elicit a lot of controversy, but I like to argue/discuss music, so that's ok.
Yeah, I rarely meet anyone online who listens to "trance" who's been in the scene when it first began.
What do you listen to mostly nowadays?
I still try to listen to some trance/techno/house, and some indie music, but I've always found it extremely time consuming (although enjoyable) to keep up with what's current and good. I just don't have the time nor the money to do that right now, unfortunately. Back in the day, when I was djing, I was in the record store twice a week picking up new music.