Modern club tracks are often dominated by musical, rather than lyrical content. Having said that, even the most stripped-back house tracks usually contain singing, even just a few short samples.
But what about tracks with no vocals at all?
It’s time to count down the 13 best instrumental 90s club hits.
Oh, and if you make it all the way to Number 1, you get a bonus.
TWO Spotify playlists of all the tracks.
List 1 – Radio edits.
List 2 – Extended club mixes.
13. God Save The Queer – Klatsch (1994)
God Save the Queer feels like a track that’s very much assembled from a number of other ones. The bassline is early 80s, apparently from a Hi-NRG pioneer by the name of Bobby O. And the final keyboard stab sounds like it’s straight out of Axel F from Beverly Hills Cop.
GSTQ was popular at both the Melbourne Metro and The Ritz (Renaissance) in St Kilda. One of my absolute fave tracks of 1995 – Runaway by Evoke – includes a remix that samples God Save The Queer. And in 2012 Fatboy Slim did an interesting mashup of this song with Life During Wartime by Talking Heads.
12. Universal Nation – Push (1998)
It’s a track that makes some brave choices, like having the initial drums fading away so soon… into a long layered synth intro. Then… an entirely new drumbeat begins.
Ultimately however, Universal Nation is a tune that never takes us anywhere new.
Hitz listeners liked it though. It polled at Number 25 in the top 40 of Broadcast 16.
11. Meet Her at the Love Parade – Da Hool (1997)
Ooooooooh I can hear the howls of protest. (“Number 13?!?!?!?!?”)
But hey, my chart – my taste.
Some people may consider ‘Love Parade’ to be the ultimate German rave/techno anthem. And it’s certainly distinctive, with that slithering synth whistle that snakes and squirms around the dancefloor. But to me that awful sawtooth melody sounds like an early Commodore 64 game, and not a very good one.
Having said that, Da Hool does score a few bonus points for the iconic music video (see above) with the hot dancers – male & female – on a truck, driving through Berlin.
And Hitz FM listeners disagreed with me at the time, voting over and over, helping MHATLP smash its way to Number 1 in the Hitz FM Broadcast 13 Top 89 requests.
10. Nightmare – Brainbug (1996)
If it was the early hours of the morning in 1996, and the DJ wanted to really push your paranoid buttons, there was only one song. Nightmare is a dark trance anthem full of unnerving pizzicato strings that dominated European and Australian club charts.
And Hitz FM smashed it in Broadcast 12, even using it in a promo to hire the Promotions crew for your party. And you couldn’t escape it at the cinemas either. Nightmare appeared in several soundtracks including Human Traffic, and A Night at the Roxbury.
Brainbug’s track was yet another big release on the Positiva label (known by the huge “+” on the CDs and vinyl.) It even managed to sneak into the Triple J Hottest 100 of 1997, hitting number 85.
The artist Brainbug returned with another track Benedictus but it sounded a little too similar and failed to reach similar heights.
9. Bellissima – DJ Quicksilver (1997)
Trance arrived in a big way in 1997, and this was one of the huge ones. A massive European crossover hit built entirely around a simple, infectious synth bell melody. If you havent picked it, Bellissima was based on a pun – Bell (the thing making the music) + Belissima (one L) being the Italian word for beautiful.
It was released as a Double A-side single with I have a Dream which sampled Dr Martin Luther King. And just like Brainbug above, Bellissima appeared the all-conquering Positiva label.
Looking back, Mixmag editor James Ball said that Bellissima is “soft at heart yet big in character, its glittery melody offset by thundering drums.”
And I’m inclined to agree.
8. Amphetamine – Drax (1994)
Oooooh this was a huge one. Thomas P. Heckmann’s legendary techno/hard-trance masterpiece features crazy buzzing synths that slither around your speakers. It sounds to me, like the German long-lost twin of Dreams by Quench… released around the same time. And Amphetamine has that dark, evil energy that Brainbug’s Nightmare ran with, later in the decade.
Hitz FM smashed it in broadcast 4 and it managed a respectable 8th in the Hitz 30 end of broadcast chart.
These days, Thomas releases his music on Bandcamp. And if you think ‘too much Amphetamine is still not enough’, he sells a compilation with TWENTYONE (21!) different remixes of it!
7. Out of the Blue – System F (Ferry Corsten)
Interesting track. Pure, high-energy Dutch trance driven by soaring synth stabs. Out of the Blue starts with a more aggressive sound than most of the tracks here.
Then it leans into a buzzy synth with a real vaporwave sound… echoes of ’84, purple neon and all! Lots of Bladerunner vibes. And then it heads in a traditional trance direction.
Out of the Blue has a fascinating release story too. Ferry Corsten realised he had a hit on his hands, so he only pressed 7(!) copies of the white label version. He scrached out the ID code on the vinyl so the producer couldn’t be traced. And the label was made ‘kidnapper style’ by cutting letters out of the newspaper.
All this ‘Scooby Doo’ mysterious stuff worked, and UK DJ Pete Tong soon signed the record to his label.
6. Plastic Dreams – Jaydee (1992)
The original was a mammoth 10-minute progressive house classic. Above is the radio edit, although you can find the full version in the playlist at the bottom of this post.
Plastic Dreams is easily the oldest track on this countdown, and a real outlier with its distinctive Hammond organ solo. And then there’s the drumbeat. Is it just me… or does The Bomb by The Bucketheads owe a little inspo here?
Plastic Dreams has been remixed by a tonne of producers including David Morales, and Fatboy Slim said that it was one of 3 tracks that turned him onto house music.
I couldn’t find any reference to this track appearing in a Hitz FM listener chart, but I’m sure that Paul Dowsley gave it a good push, onair.
5. Greece 2000 – Three Drives On A Vinyl (1997)
“Choooooooon.“
Greece 2000 is a progressive trance club classic built around a hypnotic, uplifting acoustic guitar/synth lead. The bassline gives me that galloping Motiv8 vibe. And as far as I’m concerned, it’s a beautiful track that never gets old.
Greece 2000 managed to sneak into the ARIA Top 100 in Australia. It hit number 1 on the UK dance chart. And Hitz FM listeners were also pleased, voting it into the No.3 position in the Hitz FM Top 10 of June 23, 1998.
4. Da Funk – Daft Punk (1995)
Released in 1995 (and included on their 1997 debut album Homework), Daft Punk’s breakout anthem is a true classic. It relies entirely on its iconic acid synth line, heavy drum beat, and sampled funk groove.
For fans of Melbourne’s long-lost Metro nightclub, my strongest memory of this track was descending the stairs near the DJ booth when suddenly Da Funk came on. First that scratchy looped keyboard, then that driving drumbeat.
Incredible.
3. Offshore – Chicane (1996)
Offshore is perfect soundtrack for cocktails on the rooftop of your swanky club. The definitive Balearic sunset trance instrumental with lush, cascading synth pads.
English electronic music producer Chicane released Offshore as the lead single from his debut album, Far from the Maddening Crowds.
Trivia: in an interview, the artist mentioned that the main synth-hook of “Offshore” is based on Don Henley’s 1985 hit, “The Boys of Summer”.
And Hitz listeners liked the sound of it, voting it in at Number 71 in the Hitz FM Broadcast 10 “Top 89”.
2. Sandstorm – Darude (1996)
Well it had to appear eventually, didn’t it?
A huge track, that’s lived on for decades thanks to memes and internet jokes. There’s more than one internet music forum where “Track ID” questions are often answered with “Is it Darude, Sandstorm?” regardess of what question was asked.
But despite the meme-y-ness of the track in recent years, it’s still a banger. The video (featuring a chase and a mysterious suitcase) was just damn cool. And when the song celebrated its 25th birthday, people in Helsinki held a ‘Sandstorm Run‘ retracing the steps of the video for charity – complete with Darude by the sidelines cheering on the participants.
Even so, Australia really didn’t embrace the track on release. Or at least, the kids buying CD singles didn’t. It only managed to sneak into the No. 40 position on the ARIA charts. But elsewhere it was a smash, becoming the world’s biggest selling 12-inch single in 2000.
And now, it’s time.
1. Children – Robert Miles (1995)
Ordering the top 5 tracks was tricky. Choosing my Number 1 was not.
I love this track. It’s the definitive dream-trance anthem that topped charts worldwide. And a piece of music with two fascinating – and sobering – inspirations.
Miles said that Children was written to help combat drug-related driving deaths in his home country of Italy. He thought if calmer records like Children were played at the end of a set, it might lead to less aggressive post-club driving. His other inspiration led to both the name – and the sombre tone. Children was party composed after Miles saw some photos his father brought back, after a humanitarian trip to war-torn Yugoslavia.
There were some incredible songs featured in Hitz FM’s broadcast 7, and this was one of the best. Listeners agreed, voting it in at Number 7 in the top 20 of Summer 1995/1996.
Now, before we get to the playlists – there were 5 tracks I wanted to include in the countdown… but couldn’t.
Why? Read on.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
These songs are very-nearly-instrumental, except for a tiny vocal sample or two. So close! But they still get a mention, just outside my main countdown.
A) Seven Days and One Week – BBE (1996)
This was a massive European progressive trance hit featuring a clean, hypnotic synth lead. But alas, there’s a short female vocal sample ‘Oh ahhh’ once or twice. So it couldn’t appear in the main list.
1996 was the year of dream house and this one was loved by the Hitz listeners, coming in at Number 2 in the Top 89 of Broadcast 9.
B) Gouryella – Gouryella (1999)
Epic, symphonic uplifting trance. Alas – the name of the song appears WITHIN the song… so it’s not quite instrumental. Two big Dutch names [Ferry Corsten & Tiësto] worked together on this track in 1998, before deciding to go separate ways in 2001.
And Hitz FM fans loved Gouryella too, pushing it to Number 18 in the top 40 of Hitz FM’s Broadcast 16.
C) Lemon Project – Peppermint Lounge (1994)
Now here’s a track that sounds more ‘late 90s’ than its release date might suggest. A real European house/trance gem. Wooshing synthesisters chug away, reminding me a little of train-themed tracks like The Night Train by Kadoc (although thankfully not as annoying)
Alas, despite remaining instrumental for most of its runtime, there’s a tiny female sample that pops up near the end – so this doesn’t quite make our main chart today.
D) For an Angel [E-Werk Club Mix] – Paul van Dyk (1998)
Oh so catchy. A track built entirely around one of the most famous, uplifting synth melodies in dance music history.
Yep, its more sunset trance – with umm, is that a Cowbell build? Hell yes, bonus points for that. And its certainly a distant cousin of Chicane’s Offshore.
But alas the female vocal keeps jumping in to say the name of the song. Maybe that’s where David Derulo got the idea.
E) Higher State of Consciousness – Josh Wink (1995)
Oh WHAT IS IT with tracks being almost instrumental EXCEPT FOR NAME-DROPPING THE NAME OF THE TRACK? Sigh.
Despite this, ‘Higher State’ is the definitive 303 acid-techno anthem- pure synth modulation and raw drum machines.
And it took over our brains… smashing its way to Number 5 in the top 20 of Hitz FM Broadcast 7.
OK, let’s get to those playlists!
Here’s both a RADIO EDIT and EXTENDED CLUB MIX playlist.
Enjoy!
So, how was the top 5?
Did I get Number 1 right?
Did I forget any bangers?
Let’s start those comments…
