Mainstream hardcore

Mainstream hardcore or gabber, is a subgenre of hardcore. The essence of mainstream hardcore sound is a distorted bass drum sound, overdriven to the point where it becomes clipped into a distorted square wave and makes a recognizably melodic tone.

Often the Roland Alpha Juno or the kick from a Roland TR-909 was used to create this sound. Mainstream hardcore tracks typically include samples and synthesized melodies with the typical tempo ranging from 150 to 180 bpm. Violence, drugs and profanity are common themes in mainstream hardcore, perceptible through its samples and lyrics, often screamed, pitch shifted, or distorted.

History

The mainstream hardcore sound derives from the early hardcore (still called gabber at the time). In the late 1990s, the early hardcore became less popular than the Hardstyle. After surviving underground for a number of years, in 2002 the gabber regained some popularity in the Netherlands, although the sound is more mature, darker, and industrial. Some producers started embracing a slower style characterized by a deeper, harder bass drum that typically had a longer envelope than was possible in the traditional, faster style. In this aspect, this new form of gabber obviously cannot be considered less powerful than its precursor. This newer sound was referred to as "New Style" or "Mainstream" and as the tempo got slower and slower it began to become similar to Chicago hard house. Many hardcore enthusiasts hated Chicago hard house and the club scene it typified, and frequently DJs would be booed by one group of fans and cheered for by another at the same party, depending on the tempo and style of music they were playing. This is similar to the rivalry and mutual dislike that surfaced earlier between fans of "regular" hardcore and happy hardcore. Eventually the two styles met in the middle, and most gabber today is produced in a range of 160-180 bpm. This style is typically a bit slower than the Rotterdam style of the mid-1990s.

Hardcore (1979 film)

Hardcore is a 1979 American crime drama film written and directed by Paul Schrader and starring George C. Scott, Peter Boyle and Season Hubley. The story concerns a father searching for his daughter, who has vanished only to appear in a pornographic film. Writer-director Schrader had previously written the screenplay for Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver, and both films share a theme of exploring an unseen subculture.

Plot

Jake Van Dorn (George C. Scott) is a prosperous local businessman in Grand Rapids, Michigan who has strong Calvinist convictions. A single parent, Van Dorn is the father of a seemingly quiet, conservative teenage girl, Kristen, who inexplicably disappears when she goes on a church-sponsored trip to Bellflower, California. Andy Mast (Peter Boyle), a strange private investigator from Los Angeles, is then hired to find her, eventually turning up an 8mm stag film of his daughter with two young men.

Van Dorn then suspects that his daughter was kidnapped and forced to join California's porno underworld. His quest to rescue her takes him on an odyssey through this sleazy adult subculture.

Hardcore (1977 film)

Hardcore is a 1977 British comedy film directed by James Kenelm Clarke and starring Fiona Richmond, Anthony Steel, Victor Spinetti, Ronald Fraser and Harry H. Corbett. It depicts a highly fictionalised account of the life of Richmond, who was a leading pin-up in the 1970s.

In the US the film was known as Fiona.

Cast

References

Hardcore Henry

Hardcore Henry (also known as simply Hardcore) is a 2015 science fiction action film written and directed by Ilya Naishuller. The film stars Sharlto Copley, Danila Kozlovsky, and Haley Bennett. The film is scheduled to be released theatrically on April 8, 2016, by STX Entertainment.

Plot

Hardcore Henry is a first-person perspective action film, in which the audience sees everything through the eyes of Henry, who's resurrected from the brink of death and remembers nothing about his past. He is trying to save his wife Estelle, who has been kidnapped by Akan, a powerful warlord with a plan for bio-engineering soldiers. In the unfamiliar city of Moscow, Henry tries to avoid being killed while discovering the truth behind his identity.

Cast

Release

The film premiered at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival on September 12, 2015. The film became one of the highest-profile at the festival, and led to a bidding war between Lionsgate, Universal, and STX Entertainment. Ultimately, STX acquired worldwide rights to Hardcore, including a wide release commitment, for $10 million, becoming the studio's first festival acquisition. It was retitled Hardcore Henry for its domestic release.

Mainstream

Mainstream is current thought that is widespread. It includes all popular culture and media culture, typically disseminated by mass media. It is to be distinguished from subcultures and countercultures, and at the opposite extreme are cult followings and fringe theories.

This word is sometimes used in a pejorative sense by subcultures who view ostensibly mainstream culture as not only exclusive but artistically and aesthetically inferior. In the United States, mainline churches are sometimes referred to synonymously as "mainstream."

In the media

The labels "Mainstream media", or "mass media", are generally applied to print publications, such as newspapers and magazines that contain the highest readership among the public, and to radio formats and television stations that contain the highest viewing and listener audience, respectively. This is in contrast to various independent media, such as alternative media newspapers, specialized magazines in various organizations and corporations, and various electronic sources such as podcasts and blogs (Though certain blogs are more mainstream than others given their association with a mainstream source.

Mainstream (band)

Mainstream were a British shoegazer band, briefly famous in the late 1990s. They were formed by Mewton, Hartnell and Neill. Later they were joined by Peter Mullaney (guitar) and later still (after a bit of searching) Mark James Aviss. After performing several successful gigs they attracted label interest. Immediately prior to signing with nude Peter Mullaney, for various reasons departed, later to be replaced with Greg Cook. Signed to Suede's label Nude Records in early 1995 and produced one album (also called Mainstream) in 1998. The band comprised Anthony Neale (voice) (now frontman for The Truths on Aardvark Records), James Hartnell (guitars), Conrad Mewton (bass), Greg Cook (keyboards) and Mark James Aviss (drums) (now with 'The Little Things').

Despite having been renowned for their live performances, the album failed to chart anywhere and the group split up shortly afterwards.

However the album appears to be still in print and selling (as of October 2007 it was possible to find the album on the shelf in both the Virgin Megastore and the HMV on London's Oxford Street and it remains available from several on-line stores). Also in 2006 a myspace page was created for the band, although this only contains information about their prior career, and does not indicate either that the band have reformed or are planning to do so.

Mainstream (Quiet Sun album)

Mainstream is the only album of the UK band Quiet Sun. The band split up in after the albumn in 1975 Manzanera to Roxy Music, MacCormick to Matching Mole, Hayward to This Heat and Jarrett began to teach mathematics.

In 1975, Manzanera booked a studio for 26 days to record his first solo album Diamond Head and got Quiet Sun together again to record a studio album from their previously composed material at the same time. The result Mainstream was critically acclaimed and became the New Musical Express' album of the month, apparently Island Records' fourth or fifth biggest seller at the time, close up to Bad Company and Cat Stevens.

Reworked versions of two tracks from Mainstream - "Mummy was an asteroid..." (merged with Manzanera's song from Diamond Head "East of Echo," and rechristened "East of Asteroid") and "Rongwrong" - were performed by Manzanera's 801 project during 1976 and feature on their acclaimed LP 801 Live.

A CD release of Mainstream was released in 1997 on Manzanera's label, Expression Records.