Hardstyle emerged in the late 1990s from the Netherlands, Belgium and Italy, out of hard trance and hardcore

Hardstyle emerged in the late 1990s to early 2000s in the Netherlands, Belgium and Italy, mixing influences from techno, new beat, hard house, hard trance and mainstream hardcore. Its most direct precursor was hard trance — notably hard trance’s ‘reverse bass’ and artists such as Scot Project. Early hardstyle ran around 140 BPM. The event company Q-dance ran the first hardstyle-credited event, Qlubtempo, in 2000 in Zaandam, and trademarked the term ‘hardstyle’ on 4 July 2002 after Qlubtempo and Qlimax proved successful. Early key labels were Fusion Records (DJ Zany) and Scantraxx (Dov Elkabas).

Examples

Scot Project’s hard-trance ‘reverse bass’ is cited as a direct precursor; Q-dance’s Qlubtempo (2000) is the first hardstyle-credited event.

Assessment

Name the three countries of origin for hardstyle, identify the company that trademarked the term, and name the parent genre most directly credited with shaping its core sound.