90s Dance Music: The Eurodance

One of the musical genres that impacted my life the most is 90s Dance Music. In particular, in Europe, I listened to and danced a lot of Eurodance music tracks.
It was the time of lightheartedness: DJs used to go round the shops, searching for those few vinyls, the latest release to play in disco or in a private party (they were all around town, both outdoors and indoors).
There were sono many musical genres that caught my attention: House Music was one of my absolute favorites. Despite this, Eurodance Music raged throughout the Old Continent, and there were so many dancing pieces, with very innovative sounds and with captivating melodies full of feeling.
There were musical instruments typical of this musical genre: synthesizer, drum machine, keyboard and sequencer.
Vocals were usually entrusted to a female singer (the melodic part) and to a male singer (the rapped part). Some of the most famous songs that followed this precise scheme are: Move On Baby (Cappella), Rhythm Is a Dancer (Snap), Sweet Dreams (La Bouche).
But sometimes Vocals were entrusted to a solo singer (Double You e Haddaway, among the best known and beloved).

When I think of the geographical origin of those groups or singers, I can safely say that Italy and Germany played a very important role. I have pin pointed some of the protagonists of the Eurodance, sorted by country of reference:

ITALY
Double you, Corona, Cappella, Blackwood, Gala, 49ers

GERMANY
Snap, Jam & Spoon, Captain Hollywood Project, Culture Beat, Haddaway, La Bouche

UK
Ice Mc, Urban Cookie Collective

NETHERLANDS
2 Unlimited, 2 Brothers on the 4th Floor

SWEDEN
Dr. Alban

Anyone who was alive in this amazing decade won’t be perplexed by those names: I highly recommend to people who don’t know that names to dive into the world of web and to listen to their songs or, better yet, to watch their music videos and their live performances (full of energy and often choreographed).

Finally, Eurodance had a huge business impact. A lot of songs of this genre reached No. 1 in the Singles Charts. Just to give you an idea, the best-selling single of 1994 in Italy was The Rhythm of the Night (Corona). In the same year, other songs of the same genre placed in the top 10 positions, in the best-selling single chart: Sweet Dreams (La Bouche) and It’s a rainy day (Ice Mc), among them.