Let’s prevent happy hardcore.
Obviously the simplest way is to trigger REFORGER and put one Soviet device each on Rotterdam and Amsterdam, resulting in less party gabber and highlighting the more negative themes of actual hardcore techno.
But this is a sledge for a nut.
Eliminating the 909 technically, or the sampler, or the Hoovers at the level of instrumentation is possible but fratricides most techno and a lot of electronic music. Copyright could be vigorously enforced to protect reputations, removing cheese samples for example.
Eliminating MDMA and party culture is possible. But again this fratricides house, or trance. While these phenomena exist the MDMA will become weaker (market, enforcement reasons) leading to increased BPM. Unless prohibition is effective—you may laugh—there will be a push for uptempo party music.
Simpler is to make another genre fill the role. I am thinking fast trance. It never takes on the gabber clap beat or kick. As cheese forces it’s way in perhaps it does so through MCs or callers instead of sped up samples. Mystical themes predominate over yellow smilies.
Hardening and fastening a house could also work, but my suspicion is that the space filler would need to come out of the 909 sound rather than the 808. So distorting house hard, and upping tempo could work.
My basic suggestion is that fast ecstasy cheese is going to hit someone’s genre; but, that it isn’t fundamentally hardcore that has to suffer.
Yours,
Sam R.