Hardstyle

WHAT IS HARDSTYLE MUSIC?

Hardstyle is an electronic dance music genre with a tempo of 140-150 BPM. It has influences of both hardcore and hard trance music.

Next to the mainstream hardstyle sound, several subgenres have developed over the years, including rawstyle and dubstyle. The hard sound of the first years are now often referred to as early hardstyle

THE ORIGINS OF HARDSTYLE

It was the year 2000. The hardcore genre had reached a commercial peak. The call for new sound was loud and clear.

On the 3rd of February 2001, the first edition of Qlimax took place in a sports center in Amsterdam. Later that month, the very first edition of Qlubtempo was held in the “Hemkade“ in Zaandam. It was the beginning of a new, fresh and hard sound that would grow to become one of the most important genres in the EDM industry.

The first editions of Qlubtempo were a mix between German, Italian and UK hard house records. A little rough at first, but it didn’t last very long until it developed into a complete new sound. In December of 2001, Q-dance sold out the 3rd edition of Qlimax in the Heineken Music Hall, being their first major hardstyle event.

After several successful editions of Qlubtempo and Qlimax, Q-dance registered the word hardstyle as their brand on the 4th of July 2002.

While Qlubtempo saw its last edition in 2003, Qlimax is still one of Q-dance’s most popular concepts and the biggest indoor hardstyle event in the world.