HAPPY HARDCORE - BACK TO THE 90s (2026)

Martin van Zeelandt / TCD

2 days ago

4 min read

After the previous review, I became more nostalgic, and wanted to hear something from my youth, and obviously I had to jump on YouTube, and within seconds I found a Happy Hardcore mix! It's like the internet knew. I wonder why though, but I should not let my thoughts dwell any further, I should just embrace the mix by DJ Ebi. And of course, within a millisecond did I notice the three devils, which will always remain linked to the glorious Happy Hardcore CDs, released by Arcade. Nearly 32/33 years ago was the first one released.... can't believe it!

It is always nice to hear those familiar songs again, and contrary to popular believe, they have become classics, years after their initial release, and still love by plenty. Hated at the time (unfortunately) by loads of people, and for no clear reason. Happy Hardcore was absolutely dope, and don't get me wrong, I am fully aware of the cheese factor here, but regardless, the music remained good, 20-30+ years later. Timeless classics, and they didn't even knew it, back in the 90s.

There are certain mixes, which will take me back instantaneously, like this one. DJ Ebi picked a lot of those wonderful records from back in the day, and put them in an hour and 30 minute long mix. 50 records, to be precise. And they are the big records, and you'll know them all. You might not like them all, but at least you know them all. And yes, they are very, very cheesy. But come on, let's be real here, you want that cheese so badly!

1. DJ Paul Elstak - Luv U More

2. Wonderland - In Our Dreams

3. Dune - Million Miles From Home

4. DJ Paul Elstak - Rainbow In The Sky

5. Critical Mass - Burning Love (Happy Radio Edit)

6. Charly Lownoise & Mental Theo - Stars

7. Dune - Are You Ready To Fly

8. Rave Nation - Going Crazy

9. Critical Mass - Dancing Together

10. DJ Paul Elstak - Life Is Like A Dance

11. U96 - Love Religion

12. Interactive - Forever Young

13. Network - Words

14. Mark Oh - Love Song

15. Charly Lownoise & Mental Theo - Together In Wonderland

16. Mark Oh - Tears Don't Lie

17. Moby - Feeling So Real (Westbam Remix)

18. U96 - Club Bizarre

19. Party Animals - Atomic

20. Dune - Hardcore Vibes

21. DJ Paul Elstak - Promised Land

22. Charly Lownoise & Mental Theo - Fantasy World

23. DJ Paul Elstak - Don't Leave Me Alone

24. 2 Brothers On The 4th Floor - Come Take My Hand

25. Dune - Can't Stop Raving

26. Marusha - Somewhere Over The Rainbow

27. Critical Mass - Believe In The Future

28. Charly Lownoise & Mental Theo - Wonderful Days

29. Bertocucci Feranzano - XTC Love (Radio Mix)

30. Wonderland - Be On A Star

31 Tokyo Ghetto Pussy - I Kiss Your Lips

32. Ohm - Trip To Paradise

33. Nakatomi - Children Of The Night

34. Party Animals - Have You Ever Been Mellow

35. Lipstick - I'm A Raver

36. Lovechild - All Out Of Love

37. Scooter - Friends

38. Party Animals - Aquarius

39. 2 Brothers On The 4th Floor - Fairytales

40. Dune - Hand In Hand

41. Charly Lownoise & Mental Theo - Hardcore Feelings

42. Charly Lownoise & Mental Theo - Your Smile

43. Party Animals - Hava Naquila

44. 2 Brothers On The 4th Floor - Mirror Of Love

45. Critical Mass - Happy Generation

46. Flamman & Abraxas - Good To Go

47. Technohead - I Wanna Be A Hippy

48. Dune - Rainbow To The Stars

49. 4 Tune Fairytales - My Little Fantasy

50. Charly Lownoise & Mental Theo - Streetkids

My whole youth, in a nutshell. No joke, all of these were blasting through my speakers. And I devoured most of these songs. Not many around me were fans of Happy Hardcore, but as a teenager, I made sure that the people around me know that I loved it. And as a fourty year old -some, I still do. And if you see me driving on the M1 and M25 next week and you see a blue Toyota Yaris blasting out the Happy Hardcore, you know it's me!

DJ Ebi picked a lot of well known records, truly loved to this day. Also a few shitty ones, like 'Love Religion', 'Love Song', and 'Mirror Of Love'. And over the years, I've become a bit less enthusiastic when it comes to DJ Paul's music. But at least Ebi kept some Dune, Critical Mass, and the biggest duo of them all, Charly Lownoise & Mental Theo, in the mix.

What I'm not so happy about, is the actual mix itself. Yes, the songs are great, and some beyond cheesy, but it's not flawless. And that's a bit disappointing. The mix already has quite a few plays on YouTube, as I'm not the only one who loves Happy Hardcore, but the mix isn't flawless, and at some moments throughout the mix, I skipped it, as it wasn't enjoyable. Which is unfortunate...

That doesn't mean the whole mix is bad. But you might need to be made aware, it's not as smooth as you might want it to be. Enjoyable due to the records selected? Yes. And when 'Happy Generation' is played, I felt young again. This could have been better, and more perfect.

Maybe I'm just a tad too harsh, and you might enjoy it more than I did. Why not give it a go?