10 Essential Eurodance Classics

I think we've figured it out; Europeans have such a disdain for America's "EDM" phase because it reminds them of Eurodance... right? You do rememeber

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Complex Original

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I think we've figured it out; Europeans have such a disdain for America's "EDM" phase because it reminds them of Eurodance... right? You do rememeber Eurodance, don't you? That hugely melodic, mostly vocal-driven sound that originated in Europe and created some of the biggest dance hits of the 1990s? Even if you're not up on the name, you've definitely heard the songs before. And as cheese-y as some of the more popular Eurodance songs were, they also helped provide some basis on how dance music could work on a mainstream level, especially in America. We've already celebrated great American contributions to dance music, so let's take a look at one of Europe's biggest. Here are 10 essential Eurodance tracks.

Darude - "Sandstorm"

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What is there really to be said about this track? "YOU MUST BE A 90s KID TO KNOW THIS SONG." Okay not really, but seriously this is just one of those classics that everyone knows. Does it pass the mom test? Actually, yes. Parents from the '90s know this one, whether it was hearing this jock jam at Madison Square Garden where we cheered on the 1999 New York Knicks to a NBA Finals run or any other sporting event for the almost the last 15 years, this track is huge. Darude's "Feel The Beat" also received success, but not anywhere close to "Sandstorm" and despite many tries, no remixes have come close to beating the original. And although we're sure you androids already got this one, it bears repeating: you need to have this.

Basshunter - "All I Ever Wanted"

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We've singled out one track, but this really applies to anything and everything Basshunter has ever put his hands on. Don't get us wrong, we're guilty of loving some of his #EuroClassic material, but we also know what it looks like to people who don't understand it. Cheesed beyond belief, Basshunter's autotuned vocals and insanely catchy hooks made for some seriously fun music you could go wild to. That said, Basshunter's music has zero depth to it and everyone knows it.

Eifel 65 - "Blue (Da Ba Dee)"

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With it's horribly auto-tuned vocals and almost nonsensical lyrics, it's amazing this ever caught on. In fact, Eiffel 65's "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" is one of those songs where you're not sure why you like it. Perhaps it's with a hipster-inspired sense of irony? Maybe it's a nostalgia overload, because right now it seems to me there's no reason this should have ever been popular. That said, listening to it now, the melodies are far from terrible and the heavy low-end was different than anything else I my seven-year-old self was rocking out to. Despite all of its shortcomings, there's still something undeniably poppy, catchy, and infectious about this that defies any artistic snobbery. It's tracks like these that sowed the seed for what would become my love affair with electronic music (and made others hate it)!

Haddaway - "What Is Love"

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At least in an ironic way, "What Is Love" surely opened up people to a more European electronic sound. The 1998 Saturday Night Life-spinoff film A Night At The Roxbury featured the song heavily as Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan gyrated their hips and pumped their fists in theaters across America. Surely this song is rather cheesy and it represents the Eurodance sounds of yesteryear, but now as the re-tooled and re-branded EDM sound makes it's waves, many of these sounds must inspire a sense of intangible nostalgia. The movie surely helped reinforce the stereotypical club-goer and electronic music lover, but ultimately the short term embarrassment has spawned a generation of electronic music lovers. Today I think about this song and the hilarious movie, and it only brings smiles to my face.

Cascada - "Everytime We Touch"

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This German blonde hair/blue-eyed vocalist churned out two absolute dancefloor destroyers, first in 2005 with "Everytime We Touch," and again in 2008 "Evacuate The Dancefloor." With its hardhitting beat, euphoric melodies, and English vocals (a fact that can not be overlooked), both songs retained their European identity when they jumped to North American success. For many, Cascada's tunes represented some of their earliest exposure to dance music so the nostalgia values are high. These tracks also still hit hard even today, and you need them.

ATC - "Around The World (La la la la la)"

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You know what makes a catchy vocal? Something easy to sing! What's easier than learning actual words? Just making "la" sounds! Germany's ATC unleashed this insane virus of a song "Around The World"at the turn of the millennium and in doing so set back dance music another decade. An admittedly vapid number, ATC's "Around The World" is a simple-minded track with an undeniable hook, two things that seem to run rampant through Eurodance, for good or ill.

Alice Deejay - "Better Off Alone"

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Obvious cheese aside and nostalgia or not, this song just rocks. This track perfectly embodies the 1990s Eurodance/euro trance sound that took over clubs, and today we're hearing the big room house scene build upon what was started here. It makes sense too as two of Alice Deejay's primary parts, Eelke Kalberg, and Sebastiaan Molijn are now two-thirds of mega trance project Dash Berlin. To put it simply, If i'm throwing down a DJ set and it makes sense, I'll have no problems dropping this one. Put this one and go to your happy place; I'll meet you there.

Tiesto - "Adagio For Strings"

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Believe it or not, Tiēsto was once synonymous with trance. A simpler time perhaps, along with other names like Armin Van Buuren, Tiësto acheived superstar status before the term "EDM" had garnered so much hate. With marathon sets regularly extending to 8+ hours, Tiēsto helped usher in a new era in the modern trance sound with massive tunes like his remix of Samuel Barber's "Adagio For Strings."

The song itself was a milestone for trance and as I've grown older, I've grown to appreciate this song even more. While many of the songs on this list are enjoyed only with nostalgia and irony, I can honestly say I love this song for what it is, and I wish that Tiësto dropped it more often.With it's epic string sections, hardhitting and foreboding low-end, this song is an unforgiving tour de force. Songs like this are the reason I started focusing my interest in dance music as a whole. There's something ridiculously empowering abut a track like this. This sounded amazing in 2005 and it still does in 2013.

Scarf! - "Odysee"

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Now at this moment, I can't currently place where I heard this first but this melody is absolutely burned in my memory and my heart. It's strange thing how that happened, but this Eurodance classic has all the makings of '90s time capsule. Ever-so inspiring yet loving lyrics, autotuned performance, sweeping stadium-sized synths and scarce basslines, the sound eventually died out before coming back as part of hardstyle and big room progressive house.

DJ Mangoo - "Eurodancer"

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While probably the least notable track on this list, it's certainly not weaker than the rest of the lot. Crafting this at just 16-years-old, "Eurodance" put Swedish producer Mangoo on the map, and is definitely a classic part of the Eurodance canon.

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