THERE WAS A MOMENT IN THE 90S WHEN BOTH THE SUPERCLUBS AND THE AIRWAVES WERE HELD IN A DREAMLIKE STATE AT THE FEET OF A SMALL GROUP OF SUPERSTAR DJS THAT SPUN THE SORT OF RECORDS SO EUPHORIC THAT ALL ELSE MEANT NOTHING CLASSIC POP INVESTIGATES HOW TRANCE WENT FROM TINY CULT TO WORLD-CONQUERING PHENOMENON…

THOMASH GREEN 

Trance pioneer Paul van Dyk began his DJ career in Berlin, influenced by UK synth-pop

Naki/Redferns

Easter weekend 1999. Superclub Gatecrasher have taken over Sheffield’s Republic nightclub. In this converted warehouse, a thousand fluorescently clad loons are ‘avin’ it very large indeed. The cavernous main room, an ecstasy-fuelled disco-ball cathedral, is writhing with ‘Crasher Kids, Britain’s latest youth micro-cult.

Men’s hair is teased into miniature spikes, multi-coloured, women are cowgirls, bunny girls, bikini-robot seductresses, their cheeks neon-slashed with face-paint, everywhere bright gloves, yellow Gatecrasher-logo chokers. The favoured dress-code is akin to lysergic toddler-wear, the cartoonified bricolage of rave, baby pacifiers, whistles, soft toys attached to clothing, pilot goggles, and always, always those tell-tail wild black pupils. Everyone is dancing to a purpose.

That purpose is the music of the moment – trance – spun by resident DJ Scott Bond. It’s a pumping, drug-friendly amalgam of bangin’ kick drums, gated string effects, arpeggiated synth sequences, emotive minor-key harmonics, cod-Celtic atmospherics and, vitally, giant melodic breakdowns that send narcotised serotonin receptors through the roof.

All across the Midlands and the North, trance has gone nuts, the dusk-‘til-dawn staple of superclubs such as Cream in Liverpool, Godskitchen in Birmingham, and The Emporium in Coalville. After a decade brewing in various countries, trance is allconquering, its success reflected by 1999’s singles chart, ranging from the preposterous Braveheart-sampling Protect Your Mind (For The Love Of A Princess) by DJ Sakin & Friends to the punchier Better Off Alone by DJ Jurgen presents Alice Deejay, a No.2 hit. Every week of the year, the Top 20 is rife with the stuff, with smashes by Paul van Dyk, Chicane, Mike Koglin, Planet Perfecto, Ayla, Agnelli & Nelson, System F, Gouryella, Binary Finary, and many more. It was not always thus. Trance’s gestation was convoluted...

SEEKING PARADISE 

Haad Rin Beach, Thailand, autumn 1992. A melee of tanned traveller-hippies in fishermen’s ‘pants’ and tie-dye jiggle as the sun rises over the monthly Full Moon Party. A couple make love in the surf. Everyone’s off their nuts on grass, acid, booze and over-the-counter speed. The music is a tropics-friendly concatenation of house and techno. At this point in time, those two genres are the only options.