I've heard a lot of bizarre music over the years, but
Eurobeat
has to take the cake for sheer W-T-F insanity. Virtually all the artists and producers are
Italian, and the only place where their
recordings sell in any quantity is, oddly enough,
Japan. That's right, Eurobeat doesn't sell to
Europeans. In most dance-music styles, 135 beats per minute would be considered rather fast; in Eurobeat,
155 BPM is considered slow. The lyrics are nearly always in English, with occasional Japanese--despite
the fact that very few English-speaking people buy the stuff. And the artists tend to record under an
assortment of pseudonyms, maintaining some degree of anonymity. Eurobeat had a major influence on the
parapara dance scene. Which led directly to
this. Ishkur's Guide to Electronic Music
called Eurobeat "sped-up, spastic Euro Disney cheese". And that fits perfectly, because the only places
Americans are likely to hear Eurobeat are in a DDR game---or on a
Radio Disney station. Eurobeat is (apparently) only available on
costly Japanese imports, most released by
Avex Trax.
Despite the anonymity of Eurobeat singers, at least one--
Alessandra Mirka Gatti, aka Domino--has
managed to become famous enough to have a
fansite. In English, no
less. Go there and examine her discography. That obscure, helium-voiced singer has been putting out
records for twenty years.
Someone is buying them.
posted to MetaFilter by metasonix
at 12:35 PM on May 28, 2007
(56 comments)
