TranceHits.com

So we're all into House, Trance, DnB, Breaks.... EDM as many people would collectively categorize these sub-genres into 1.

But before you got into it, what were you into?
What's your story before you got into EDM?
What was your final destination in EDM (could be House, Trance, DnB... etc.)? And how did you get there?

I'll start!

1998: The time where the UAE introduced the Star TV, and then Showtime channels package, and MTV was around. Everything was available! Rock, pop, hiphop, rap, r&b. I got into them all, except I only knew the ones that showed up on MTV, and then on the local radio station.

At the end of that year, BOOM!! 9 PM "Till I Come" hit the stations. That was the shit!! And a competitor arouse later on with the name Alice DJ.... And then Darude came along....

I remember getting stuck to these melodies for a while, even though I was still into other genres. Usher, Dr. Dre and many other similar artists were idols for me. Their music was GOOD! I also had a craze for Bon Jovi, Michael Learns to Rock, Sugar Ray, and similar bands. And of course, no one could forget Michael Jackson. Now he was a different genre on his own back then... Well to me. And thanks to him, the pop-culture appeared massively!!

I was into Backstreet Boys, Boyzone, Take That!, Spice Girls[/b], Janet Jackson, Britney Spears, and so on... I also remember having a HUGE crush on Posh Spice haha. Beckham's current wife. DAMN YOU BECKHAM!!!!!

*ahem*

After getting into high school, Linkin Park's music hit the stores, and to many people, that was a huge hit and influence on how rock was to become. It's funny that I later on got heavily into rock music.

When I started my university years - specifically 2002 - I got into Death/Black metal. Oh God! Those solos! Those screaming voices!! Beautiful!! I LOVED IT!! Metallium, Avalanche, Unleashed, Dark Tranquility... All those bands were a few of what I listened to back then. I still had an ear for any electronic music, though my current love, was simply rock. Then I found Nightwish, and to the people that don't know that band, they are categorized as some sort of Symphonic Metal or something like that. AWESOME!! And then Evanescence showed up. Moving downwards slowly here! No more screaming, just plain guitar melodies and some solos here and there...

Until the Cultural Clubs Signup day came... And I witnessed a DJ... A DJ using his laptop... *heavenly chimes play in the background* I was in love.... with the software!!!
"TEACH ME! TEACH ME!" I begged
"No, you need to learn on your own!" He said

And so I did. I slowly got into Hard Trance from then onwards because that was the shit at the time in the UAE. I never had internet in my dorm room, but a friend of mine did, and so I visited him daily to check out the Trance Energy 2001/2002 videos, where the likes of ATB, Blank & Jones, Jam X & De Leon spun Hard and NRG Trance. Ah yes! Those were the days!

*plays Cosmic Gate's Exploration of Space*
MAN THAT TRACK GOT ME HOOKED UP!

And there it started!
From Cosmic Gate, to Blank & Jones, to Dumonde, to Pulsedriver - cheesey hard dance - , to Svenson & Gielen, to Tiesto, to Matt Darey, Judge Jules, and then finally.... *heavenly chimes play again* FERRY CORSTEN!!
WOOOOOOOTTT!!!!
And who was that tall, skinny, blond dude with the show called A State Of Trance?! WHAT?! HE'S 25?! ONLY?! LEMME LISTEN TO THAT SHIT! DAMN IT HE'S GOOD!!! But Ferry still rocked!!




And that's pretty much it in a NUTSHELL people haha.

So what's YOUR story?

I was raised to the music of Jean-Michel Jarre and it was pretty much most of what I listened to until 1999, in addition to some modern music like 2 Unlimited, Dr. Alban, and all the other "Radio EDM" of the 90's, plus some of the classics like The Beatles, but JMJ took most of my listening time.

1999, a friend of mine who was into Hardcore and Techno passed me his Rio (early MP3 player) asking me to listen to a track. I immediately refused since I used to hate his music. He insisted so I eventually put on the earphones and started listening. It was William Orbit - Samuel Barber's Adagio For Strings (Ferry Corsten Remix). I remember we were on the gates of the cinema theater going in to watch a movie. I ended up repeating the track all throughout the movie, continuously. We went out, I asked him what the fuck I just heard, he said "Trance", and my life took a 180 degrees turn right there.

2 other major turning points later on occured:

May 2006: Nick Warren @ Old Train Station, discovered Progressive House and began playing it.

April 2007: Michel De Hey @ Biel, discovered Melodic Techno and began playing it.

I wasn't into anything. It all started with EDM (and will end with it!)
Back in the early 90s i was into Dr Alban, Ace of Base, Technotronic, Culture Beat, 2 Unlimited, Depeche Mode, and certainly other Dance bands that i don't remember their names now.
Then i moved to Techno when my cousins used to give me their radio cassettes. I always thank them for getting me addicted to this genre!
Then in 1996, like i said in nicksterx's topic, my ears discovered [glow=red]Trance[/glow] when i watched the video clips on VIVA Channel. BBE - 7 Days & 1 Week was the most beautiful track i've ever heard back then. It was exactly the kind of music i wanted to listen to on a regular basis and i told myself that Techno really sucks compared to this.
But i hadn't heard anything Tranzy until 1998 when For An Angel, 1998 (then 1999), Communication, Carte Blanche, Toca Me, Dear Jessie, Sandstorm, Feel The Beat, Better Off Alone, etc etc... were played on MixFM radio. I spent every night before sleeping listening to it and fell asleep while listening to music Also in 1999 my cousin bought the album Future Trance Vol. 9, full of beautiful Trance and Hard Trance tracks! (Outta Space, Follow Me, Toca Me, Dear Jessie, 7 Days & 1 Week, Braintalk, Acid Save Your Soul, Mind, etc...). He gave it to me 4 years ago and i'm keeping it as a souvenir
So in 1999 i got internet access, installed Napster and started downloading tracks and, most importantly, Tunnel Trance Force series, the album that collected the best of Hard Trance Cosmic Gate, Dumonde, Voodoo & Serano, Blank & Jones (they were my favorites for 2 years), DJ Scot Project, that was the shit! I also found the website www.mp3.com and became a very heavy user by downloading Trance tracks. Trance[]Control, Aura, Space Planet, PPK - Resurection, Johan E, The Cynic Project, etc... made me fall in love with Melodic Trance (it wasn't called Uplifting back then). But i also discovered Psychedelic Trance with the 2 bands Goa Syndrome and Imperial Project. Same goes with Acid music thanks to DJ Dust (my favorite track till today in Acid is Highway To Hell). Kai Tracid also showed me how amazing TRACID style can be! It's much better than the boring Tech-Trance. MP3.com was a mine of gold, silver, diamonds, crystals... i loved it!! I LOVE INTERNET!! Cuz without it, living in Lebanon where you had no albums stores and no gigs, i'd be uneducated today!
Virgin Megastore opened in 2001 and i became a very loyal customer buying twice or 3 times per months albums. Feels good to discover new tracks, support the artists and hold original albums in your hands! But later on Virgin started importing those albums much later after their release...

Unfortunately, for obvious (geographical) reasons, the first gig i ever attended was in June 2004 (Paul Van Dyk @ BIEL Beirut). I wished it was much earlier.

EDIT: and how could i forget Samuel's Adagio For Strings?! Both the William Orbit and the Ferry Corsten Remix

I was into soft rock .. still lsn to it tho..
Stained..G&R..Goo Goo Dolls..Snow Patrol etc..

I started with pop and soft rock cause back then it was hard to explore different music genres so i picked up whatever used to be on MTV,and obviously a part of the 90s was dominated by boybands so it was hard to avoid people like TakeThat Or The BackStreet Boys (Hides).
My major influences were the likes of Bon jovi,Michael Learns to Rock,Savage Garden,Robbie Williams,Michael Jakson, before he went too freaky and who can deny the success of Haddaway's What Is Love? haha
I was never into hard rock/death metal stuff,it just didn't make any sense to me.

Until one day i asked my bestfriend how could he bare a full length song with nothing but melodies and beats,from there i was introduced to EDM and listened to whatever he gave me then started picking my own tracks.

Well i grew up bumping to 33-45 rpm vinyls from my dads collection, including Micheal Jackson ( huge legend although his shit things ) , Nat King Cole, Louis Armstrong ( What a Wonderfull World) , Frank Sinatra and even Elvis, that was when i was like 6, but then shifted to soft rock for like 4 years listening to Staind, Metallica, 3 Doors Down, a bit of alternative like Linkin Park (who i still listen to at times ) , Limp Bizkit ( some of the songs) .....

And then at age of 11, began exploring with Darude , ATB , Oake and Kaitracid...and here i am no, a 6 year trancer ...

Kamil it seems we shared the same favorite artists on mp3.com! Don't forget Astral Projection, Lightworks (now Icone), and Airbase!

I spent all my childhood teenage year listening to the 90’s grunge (Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice in chains, Soundgarden, Screaming trees…) but I also listenend to Jazz, Blues, softer & harder rock. I went thru very different style, (varying from Nina Simone to Sepultura)

pheww..the subject is full of nostalgia! it took a while to trace back my EDM roots, I'm thanksfull for:

Getting used to the Gloomy Radiohead sound → made me appreciate Portishead, Massive Atack, Depeche Mode..
Listening to Iggy Pop → made me buy both Trainspotting soundtracks → I discovered Underworld

Phew...it is a huge question...it all started with some classical music (mostly Mozart and Beethoven) before jumping on the pop train with the likes of Madonna and Michael Jackson (before his 4th face change)...after that came the rock and alternative era...I listened to a lot of rock bands both new and old...and I miss out on a quite a few details...