Jay
I have more to say, but since I have work in the morning, I'll leave you with this final thought. If HRG and all the other labels are doing everything perfectly as you say they are, why are we in this situation now where we've just experienced a ~2 year hiatus with no new material and having new albums released every 2 months (as opposed to 1)? You may not have noticed since you're still stuck in 1986, so I thought I'd better point that out.
My answer? I'd say it's a nexus of $$$, the genre's popularity and the labels' creative juices - all three of which are intimately entwined. In other words, if one suffers, so do the rest, and I'd argue that it's the latter of those three (labels' creative juices) that's seriously hampering the genre's popularity and economic survival.
1986? Seems you just pulled that year out of a hat? Shows you don't pay attention. From what I wrote, that year would be more like 1992, don't you think?
I was actually gonna write something about that final point you made in my original post. That answer is plain ans simple. I truly belive that more than 50% of the reason the labels are srill producing music is because of the fans. We ask for it, so they create it.
And I stand by this claim not only because of Eurobeat, but because of 80's artists in general. In this day and age most of them are no longer powerhouse money makers as they were back then, but still a great number of them released new cds these last couple of years. Kiss, Van Halen, Human League, Night Ranger, The Cars, Duran Duran and most recently , Aerosmith and Bon Jovi. They know they are up against some stiff competition from todays youthfull pop artists, but they still make the music. A big part of that is for the fans. SO in the end this also applies to Eurobeat. You know Eurobeat's not that marketable and really never was, so I truley belive one of the main reasons ,the labels still produce it is for us; the fans and that's all the more reason to appreciate it.
BTW, during these two year hiatus, some of the labels were still releasing songs. Old(unreleased) and New material, but still releasing songs. HRG Attack, Dima, Delta. even Blast and Saifam and since AVEX couldn't make a stinking penny of it; they(Lables) mainly did it for the fans.
Jay
So you're saying that the reason I'm not appreciating the Hi-NRG Attack rehashes much is because I'm not as well versed as you are in the older Disco, Hi-NRG, Italo, etc. material? That sounds really snobby and elitist. I may not have listened to as much older eurobeat material as you, but that doesn't mean that I don't have a right to an opinion about the direction that certain labels are headed in now (we're in 2013, not 1986).
Again with 1986? Anyway. It might sound snobby as you say,but what I'm really saying is that, if you love that sound, then you will accept it for what it is. Eurobeat and all it's forefathers is 50% rehashed melodies. Back in the 80's , a well known Hi NRG producer;Bobby O, rehashed practically every popular Hi NRG song's melody of the time. Freestyle was Disco melodies just at slower bpms. One song ; in particular "Boom Boom Dollars" is the basic melody for 100s of songs during the late 80's and throughout the 90's. This is what Eurobeat is. Eurobeat has only so many variations. The magic is how they(Composers) can even make a song sound remotely different from the next by just changing One key, one phrase,ect... That is the illusion of being a completely diiferent song.
One point; that proboly hasn't even been taken into concidration, is that maybe the labels; are rehashing thier sound for a reason. It's supposed to be a Eurobeat revival, so why not go back to the melodies we are most familair with? The melodies and phrases they are most remembered for?
This is what I mean by understanding the genre and not just attacking it for "not bringing anything new to the table".
@jay
My original post wasn't specifically aimed at you. Nor was it a cry out to defend HRG Attack. I didn't quote you at all. It was a general observasion I've been makining these last past years by reading reviews and comments about the genre as a whole. As most of you know by now;I don't give a flying f**K what AVEX thinks or wants. They are in it for the money, not the love of the music. I'm talking about us, the fans. SO why does it seem that it's getting harder and harder to appease the fans with a style, that for all honesty, hasn't changed much since it began. All that's really changed is the bpms.
What I'm asking is what is it that you(members) want from the genre? If you are that discontent with the popular mlodies and synths, then you might as well look for another genre to satify your creative desires, because Eurobeat ,in all it's glory ,has it's well known sound. I'm not exempting myself when it comes to complaints about Eurobeat either. But my biggest complain is really just That I want extendeds instead of edits? Other than that, I'm super hyped when A new release comes out and enjoy a better percent of the disc. In fact ;the songs that really throw me off, are those that expirement too much.
Bottom line.Eurobeat has it's sound. If you change the bassline, Percussion, even the synth melodies; then you pretty much won't have Eurobeat anymore. You have the common top 40 EDM sound of today. The lables can and do expiriment with different sounds here and there on certain songs. SCP even tried something a little different with Irene's vocals and her song is being shot down accross the board.I can safely say that the labels will not be changing the structure of every song to appease those who are or have grown out of Eurobeat. These producers have been doing what they do since the beggining of TIME and they know what Eurobeat is supposed to sound like.
So like it or not; the rehashed melodies and synths are a big part of the Eurobeat structure and they are here to stay.