Eurobeat
Eurobeat refers to two styles of dance music that originated in Europe: one is a British variant of Italian[3] Eurodisco-influenced[6] dance-pop, and the other is a hi-NRG-driven form of Italo disco. Both forms were developed in the 1980s.
Not to be confused with Eurodance or Eurodisco.Eurobeat
British Eurobeat:
Mid 1980s, United Kingdom
Contemporary Eurobeat:
Late 1980s, Italy, Germany and Japan
Producer trio Stock Aitken Waterman and pop band Dead or Alive made Eurobeat music more popular in the United States and Southeast Asia, where Eurobeat was historically marketed as hi-NRG (pronounced as "high energy"). For a short while, it also shared this term with early freestyle music and Italo disco.
Use of the term[edit]
British record producer Ian Levine's Eastbound Expressway, released the single "You're a Beat" in recognition of the slower tempo of hi-NRG music emerging from Europe. Many European acts managed to break through under this new recognition, namely the likes of Modern Talking, Bad Boys Blue, Taffy, and Spagna. The term "Eurobeat" was subsequently used commercially to describe the Stock Aitken Waterman–produced hits by Dead or Alive,[10] Bananarama, Jason Donovan, Sonia, and Kylie Minogue which were heavily based on the British experience with Italo disco. During 1986–1988, it was used for specific Italian 1980s Eurodisco imports, such as Sabrina Salerno, Spagna, and Baltimora but was also used in the United States as a catch-all term for UK-based dance and electropop groups of the time such as Pet Shop Boys, purported to have a "European beat", hence Eurobeat. By 1989, with the advent of Eurodance and Euro house, the term was dropped in the UK.