New beat is an electronic dance music term that was used in the 1980s with two different meanings, one a collective term used in the U.S. for various electronic music styles, and the other a reference to the new beat sound: a particular electronic music genre that flourished in Western Europe during the mid-1980s. New beat is also used as a reference to the wider Belgian underground music scene and subculture during the 1980s.
The European new beat sound originated in Belgium in the late 1980s, especially in 1987 and 1988. It was an underground danceable music style, well known at clubs and discos in Western Europe. It is a crossover of electronic body music (EBM, which also developed in Belgium) with the nascent Chicago-originated acid and house music. New beat is the immediate precursor of hardcore electronic dance music (at the time known as rave), which developed in the neighboring Netherlands and elsewhere around 1990.
The genre was "accidentally invented" in the nightclub Ancienne Belgique in Brussels when DJ Dikke Ronny (literally "Fat Ronny") played the 45 rpm EBM record "Flesh" by A Split-Second at 33 rpm, with the pitch control set to +8. In addition to A Split-Second, the genre was also heavily influenced by other industrial and EBM acts such as Front 242 and The Neon Judgement, as well as new wave and dark wave acts such as Fad Gadget, Gary Numan and Anne Clark. Mega-nightclubs such as the Boccaccio soon made the genre a major underground success.
Hey baby, what's your game?
I ask you the question and the answer's still the same
How can you go on day to day
Without someone to care
If I wanted to take that chance
If I wanted to be your man
You tell me that you feel lonely
But you won't love nobody
You tell me that you got a big heart
But you won't love no one
You lie and you moan and you bitch and you groan
But you won't let nobody in to love
What am I gonna do?
Hey there baby, you're not shy
We talk for hours and you seem just fine girl, but...
Every time I bring up love
You run for cover
Suppose I told you something that's true
Suppose I told you that I want you
You tell me all the guys want you
But you won't love nobody
You keep your heart in seclusion
And you won't love no one
You game and you flirt and you talk a lot of dirt
But you don't want nobody to love
What are you gonna do?
Heart feels empty, there's no one home
Nights are longer when you're alone
You tell me that you feel lonely
But you won't love nobody
You tell me that you got a big heart
But you won't love no one
You lie and you moan and you bitch and you groan
But you won't let nobody in to love
What am I gonna do?
You tell me all the guys want you
But you won't love nobody
You keep your heart in seclusion
And you won't love no one
You game and you flirt and you talk a lot of dirt
But you don't want nobody to love