Gabber Isn't a Trend

To preface: I know I probably don't seem like the person to know much abt this stuff, given that I mainly post about MySpace and its associated subcultures. While I don't label myself as anything else, a gabberina is the only thing that I will ever label myself simply because it's what I believe in and what I love. I don't talk about it as much simply because of 1, people not caring or knowing abt the subculture until now, and 2, because frankly, I have been gatekeeping it for this exact reason.

You think that's evil? Maybe read the blog first.

What IS Gabber?

Taken from the Google Arts and Cultures article by The Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision archive: 

Gabber was the first truly Dutch style of electronic music. In the Netherlands in the 1990s, gabber wasn’t just a sub-genre of hardcore techno, it was one of the country’s most significant youth culture movements. Throughout the decade both the music and subculture transitioned from the fringes of society into mainstream popular culture.

(I highly suggest reading the article; it's a pretty good summary of the subculture.)

Gabber is a subculture that originated in the Netherlands. It was a rebellion against mainstream EDM that was more mellow and "acceptable" by the general European public, ie. Eurodance, trance, and house music (and no im not gonna list out all the subgenres that'd take a decade).

Gabber was a rejection of the mainstream. Many original gabbers came from an industrial life background or from low-income areas, and thus were extremely anti-establishment, hosting their raves in abandoned locations [aka, hosting illegal raves].

The word "gabber" has its root from the Hebrew word חָבֵר, "chaver" (pronounced Ha-ver). Many European slang words for "friend" or "buddy" stem from this word (including in Hungary where I lived, "haver" was used!). In the case of gabber though, it was also coined from this word, but a g is used (pronounced like a throaty h). (ɣA-bər). It was originally a joke, but it was quickly used to describe those active in the 90s Dutch underground hardcore scene because simply put, it was just a bunch of friends dancing (or DJing) to music they loved. 

[and also doing a LOT of hard drugs. so much so that police raided a buncha these illegal raves.]

Associated with the subculture was also a dance called the "hakken" or "hakkûh" (taken from the Dutch word "hakken" that means "to chop/hack away at"). There's not really one specific way to do it, but it involves a lot of quick foot and leg movement, usually accompanied by coordinated arm movements. The goal is to make your movements as quick and streamlined into each other as possible; chaotic but also making sense at the same time.

It is MUCH more difficult than it seems. Trust me, even though I've been trying for years, I still can't perfect mine. 

(Also it's just really difficult to describe in words.)

This is one of my favourite vids on the dance style lol

At one point in the subculture's history, a few neo-Nazis & racists tried to appropriate the music and use it as an unofficial "anthem" to their beliefs (hence why sometimes, ppl confuse gabbers with boneheads). However, this made no sense at all, given that a lot of pioneering DJs were people of colour and some famous DJs were even women! (ie, Paul Elstak, Gizmo, Loftgroover, Darkraver, DJ Lady Dana to name a few notable POC or woman DJs). Many artists and labels revolted against the growing association of their culture with Nazis. Record labels like ID&T pushed to keep extreme imagery and speech from their events and venues. Mokum records and associated artists even went as far as to make their official slogan "Hardcore United Against Fascism and Racism"! Many artists made songs denouncing Nazis and racists, and if at an event, someone were to be found to be one, they'd most likely get beaten up. Gabbers nowadays agree that you cannot be a gabber and be a racist/Nazi, as it goes against the core idea of brotherhood in the subculture.

There was also a rivalry between Rotterdam and Amsterdam and their respective hardcore scenes (as well as general football rivalries) in the 90s. I won't really be talking about it as much because that's a whole other thing in and of itself.

Many gabbers sported tracksuits and various sports shoes (Nike Airmaxes were probably the most popular, but Adidas was also pretty common). Men shaved their hair bald, and women would wear braids and shave either the front or sides of their hair (some women even rocked bangs in the front, a braided ponytail in the back, and shaved sides of the head!).

HOWEVER! It's important to note that unlike many other alternative subcultures, a lot of current-day gabbers agree that you don't have to drastically change your look to be a gabber! Hell, some of the most famous gabber producers and DJs don't look like your typical gabber!

Gabber is a feeling and a state of mind, not a brand.

(keep this slogan in mind... keep this slogan in mind... woooooo i am the ghost of Christmas future...)

As the 90s drew to a close, gabber slowly began to inspire other genres in Europe, most notably happy hardcore, which developed in the UK, Germany, and of course, the Netherlands.

ALERT ALERT ALERT ALERT ALERT! COMMON MISCONCEPTION! NOT ALL GABBERS HATED HAPPY HARDCORE! In fact, many og gabber producers went on to be famous happy hardcore producers! As some ppl say, everything had its place and time. Some producers left the gabber scene for something that suited their evolving styles. 

But, as happy hardcore broke into the mainstream, so did gabber culture, and because of their strange looks, dance, and music, some individuals made parody projects to ridicule gabbers and make them marketable. This genre was more adjacent to happy hardcore and "pop gabber", BUT it had its own name: parody gabber. Some of the more notable parody artists and bands were Hakkûhbar and Gabber Piet. They were very hated by gabbers for their capitalisation off of the subculture. While yes, some of them were big gabber producers earlier (ie, Gabber Piet was on the ID&T label), their later disrespect of the subculture led them to be hated.

You probably wouldn't be hearing Party Animals or Charly Lownoise & Mental Theo be played at a gabber rave, though. They were respected, but they were not considered gabber by the 90s Dutch hardcore scene.

(I have a soft spot for happy hardcore though :^) I don't discriminate when it comes to EDM. unless it's house music; that shit is so boring to me, no offence.)

Other genres also evolved out of 90s hardcore such as terrorcore, speedcore, and frenchcore. Now, all of these genres fall under the "hardcore" umbrella.

A lot of modern news places and archives and whatnot say that gabber died in the early 2000s. However, I really don't think that's the case. Instead, people just made it underground again after realising the damage done to the subculture when people could capitalise greatly off of it. Of course, stuff like Thunderdome still happened regularly. (it officially ended in 2012 but ID&T revamped it after some fizzling in and out in the late 2010s, and it's now hosted at an almost annual basis.)

Gabber never died, it just wasn't in the public eye anymore because it stopped being profitable.

Gabber is a Music-Based Subculture.

To be a gabber, you must like the music. What is "the music"? Well, it depends on the era.

Gabber music has evolved over time. Even through that though, there are some things that need to be followed within the music itself for it to even be considered gabber:

> 140–220 BPM

> Distorted kicks (usually "mainstream" hardcore distorted 909 kicks that are tuned to either loosely harmonise or mirror the key the song is in (serves both as the thing to keep the rhythm AND a bassline!). Piep kicks are usually used more in modern gabber music, but it's more used in uptempo and genres that grew out of gabber, not necessarily IN gabber. (there's different types of kicks. I'm not gonna get into those because they overlap w/ other types of hardcore subgenres and I'm focusing on gabber/"mainstream" hardcore in this blog.)

> Sped-up samples from cult-classic films, songs, and even famous political events/speeches

> Spoken vocals, if any, are usually an MC or DJ saying stuff to the audience or saying something edgy and cool. I genuinely don't have a better way to phrase this; you'll see in the examples portion.

> GABBER MUSIC IS USUALLY EXTREMELY REPETITIVE! If a melody is introduced, it'll be repeated over and over and over and over and over and over and over... and then maybe a new melody will come in later at about 3 minutes and then that will repeat over and over and over and over...

Over time, gabber HAS shifted in its sound; technology has gotten better, production has gotten better. But, all of these things are still usually kept in mind and are present in modern gabber music.

90s-associated: Neophyte/Bodylotion, DJ Isaac, Nosferatu, DJ Chosen Few, 3 Steps Ahead (rip absolute god), DJ Lady Dana, The Masochist/The Prophet, DJ Buzz Fuzz, Bertocucci Feranzano, Marshall Masters, DJ Weirdo, DJ Sim, Strange Food, The Viper, DJ Rob, DJ Gizmo, DJ Dano, The Stunned Guys, Painbringer, Ruffneck/Juggernaut/Diss Reaction, Paradise, The Fucking Lauzen, DJ Roes, Ferocious, Bass-D (rip; literally a legend), Predator. Paul Elstak and Flamman & Abraxas 's earlier stuff was gabber, but they all moved onto happy hardcore later. 

(some of the old-school artists still make songs today, but be aware that it's a much different sound from their 90s stuff!) 

2000s and Beyond: Angerfist, Peckerhead, Amon-Ra, N-Vitral, Hysta, Evil Activities, Miss-K8, DJ Promo, DJ Bountyhunter, D-Fence

a lot of these newer artists have a lot of overlap with uptempo, a subgenre of hardcore that drew inspiration from gabber.

*im sorry if i miscategorised any of these; pls lmk if anything should be fixed! I went by what time period their most notable songs were & the relevancy to gabber in their respective times. Also, as you can tell, I'm more of a 90s gabber fan. I love the noisiness & unclean feeling :^)

Snippets of Songs

*im not gonna sort by time period cuz im a lazy mf. just click the play button to listen to a portion of the song. if the embeds arent loading, wait a bit. if they dont load at all, lmk.

see if u can try and guess what eras these songs are from! (and dont believe what you see on google search results; some of these songs were originally released in the mid 90s but were later re-released as well as featured on later collections.)

Gabber is a mindset.

Poser-calling wasn't really a thing. There's no such thing as a "poser" gabber. You're either a gabber or you're not a gabber. Simple as that. You can't "pose" as a gabber because it will be VERY apparent to those around you that you aren't interested in the culture at all & that you are not respecting the subculture. If you're not a gabber, you will know because you'll probably find yourself kicked from the venue, banned from a venue, on the ground all bruised up, or all three. Or, you will be bored the fuck out of your mind. That's usually the sign that perhaps the subculture is just not for you.

If you love gabber music and aren't a piece of shit to other gabbers, you're a gabber. If you aren't in it for the fame, the money, the clout, you're a gabber.

It's built on a love for the music and a love for one another. It's cliche but beyond all the tough guy stuff that is associated with this movement, again it's in the name. Gabber means friend.

Why is it trendy all of a sudden?

Multiple reasons, but all fall under the same umbrella: internet trends. 

The overall "trendification" of rave cultures (spanning various genres) has done irrepairable damages to a lot of parts of the greater EDM community. Maybe this will be my next blog. There's just general disrespect & ignorance about raves. Raves span all kinds of genres, and raves of different genres can have different etiquettes.

Joost Klein, Party Animals, & Pop-Gabber/Early Happy Hardcore

Joost Klein became a more mainstream celebrity online for his music this year during the 2026 Eurovision after people began to show renewed interest in his disqualification in the 2024 Eurovision. A lot of his music is influenced by pop-gabber and early happy hardcore music (and he's even collabed with Paul Elstak!).

Earlier this year, Have You Ever Been Mellow by the Party Animals became an animation trend in the art community, drawing the online art communities towards the pop-gabber and early Dutch happy hardcore scene too.

With both of these things occurring lately, people from both the mainstream internet as well as the "weird kid" part of the internet have put gabber back into the limelight. While there are individuals who are genuinely interested in the subculture and are making attempts to dive deeper into the subculture, there are tons of influencers out there who are trying to profit off of the subculture.

Lot of new "gabber" clothing brands have been made, people suddenly switching up their content to be mostly "how to hakken!" and "how to be a gabber" themed, WHEN THEY LITERALLY DO NOT KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THE SUBCULTURE, ITS HISTORY, OR EVEN ITS MUSIC.

And, this is a complaint I've seen in a lot of online forums where gabber raves & festivals are discussed, but there's a ton of people who go to festivals and raves and they AREN'T THERE TO DANCE! They're not there to have fun and meet other gabbers and enjoy the music; THEY'RE THERE SIMPLY FOR THE CLOUT. Like they will just post it on their social media, attempt to get photos with DJs they don't even listen to, and not do anything and just stand around. That's literally one of the only necessary things to be a gabber. To enjoy the music and the company =')

No hate to Joost Klein or Party Animals. It isn't their fault that they went big lately. It's not their fault that people are watering down this subculture. Instead, it's just modern social media doing its thing, hopping from one obscure thing to the next and doing damage to the communities and not bothering to research beyond the surface level.

Absolute Slop & Mislabeling of Music

Goreshit made a song in in 2005 called "Hey Gabberena" and another one later on called "Gabberzon!" that became big trends in the animation meme community. these are lolicore songs. they are not gabber.

Mailpup's song "I REALLY REALLY REALLY HATE THE WORLD BUT THAT'S OK AT LEAST I'VE GOT MY GABBER DRUM" also broke into the animation meme community in 2023, and has seen a resurgence in animations lately with people labelling the music itself as gabber as well. it's not gabber, it's breakcore.

People online are extremely quick to jump on any type of label. if the title of a song contains the word "gabber" at all, they think that it's immediately gabber. People online have began to associate artists like femtanyl, Sewerslvt, goreshit, brn1ng brain sound industries, fem&m, and mailpup with gabber, even though again, they are NOT gabber. Though lolicore, digicore, breakcore, and all these genres did originate from og 90s Dutch hardcore through a wiggly path, they are COMPLETELY SEPARATE GENRES. THESE ARTISTS/BANDS DO NOT MAKE "GABBER" MUSIC.

Anyways. Rant over, I'll be more professional now. Because of these misconceptions about the genre, a bunch of people who want to make a quick buck off of this new trendified version of gabber will make music that again, doesn't even follow the characteristics of gabber music, and call it gabber. There's a bunch of quickly-produced and thoughtless (and even AI generated) music that artists who want their share of fame post and label as "gabber" so it will get more views.

Just because the word "gabber" is trending does not make your music gabber.

While I am not a fan of most actual modern gabber music, I will say that there is a CLEAR distinction between it and the other genres I talked about above. Modern gabber is still gabber, but there is still a definite sound that is attributed to the overall mainstream hardcore genre.

Take a listen to this song by Angerfist, one of the most notable "nu style" gabber artists:

Now, take a listen to some songs that many people in online art, animation, and alt communities seem to think that gabber is:

Either I am deaf or these do not sound like any of the prior examples I've shown. No hate if you like this type of music. It's cool in its own way, but it is not gabber.

"Oh! That's... that's so elitist...let people listen to what they want, it's not that deep."

I dont care what the fuck you listen to, that's not what I'm saying.

By labelling shit that has nothing to do with the subculture as "gabber", actual producers are flooded over by a bunch of people who do not have any actual passion or knowledge about the subculture and just want a quick buck. Gabber is a TREND right now. The more people label non-gabber related shit as gabber, the tougher it gets for gabbers to find REAL, HARDCORE GABBER MUSIC.

If you can't wrap your head around that, I'll restate it in more simple terms:

By labelling things that has nothing to do with the genre as "gabber" music, it makes it tougher for actual gabber artists to find an audience. It makes it tougher for gabbers to find new artists that are familiar with the sound and culture.

also not to mention that sometimes I'll see recent comments on actual 90s gabber producers' videos and songs saying stuff like "this doesn't sound like gabber" or "what the fuck is this music" lol it just sounds liek the whole scenecore vs scene shit all over again

The mainstream is what "killed" gabber in the 2000s, and it's happening all over again with people who just want. to. make. a. quick. BUCK.

(for the record, a lot of the popular artists i listed by name above never claimed to BE gabber producers and they never intended to make a profit off the gabber subculture. it's not their fault that they made a song with the word "gabber" in it and the general internet public doesn't care about anything enough to not make an assumption immediately.)

Gabber's a mindset, and a part of that mindset is a love for the music. I mean this as kindly as possible, this isn't gabber music. If you go to a gabber rave, do not expect for them to play artists like those I mentioned above; save yourself from disappointment.

People Trying to Cause Drama for No Reason

A while back, probably like a couple months ago, I saw some people online fighting about whether or not someone was a "poser" gabber. I've seen people say stuff like "you can't be a gabber unless you ______" (most common arguments I see are: wear Aussies, wear Nike Air Maxes, have a shaved head, or do drugs). 

You aren't REQUIRED do drugs to be gabber, for the record.

Poser gabber is a fucking oxymoron. It does not exist. You are or you aren't. There are no posers, only those who love hardcore and its community, and those who don't. People who create pointless infighting in the subculture for the sake of creating drama and chaos are not gabbers. Community, my guy.

There's also been a resurgence in "Nazi Gabber" and "Dutch Nationalist Socialist Gabber" artists, mainly hailing from the tänzelcore/keller synth spheres of the music community. and like. If you read the rest of this blog, you understand how fucking stupid that is as well. Also half the time their music isn't even remotely close to actual gabber music. I'm not gonna waste any brain cells on them.

There's no reason to make competition for the title of "most gabber" because gabber is about community as well. Sure, comparing your hakken to someone else or watching a noob fail at the dance can be funny, but that's not the core of the subculture. At the end of the day, you are there to dance, enjoy the music, and be around likeminded people.

If you've scrolled this far, thanks for reading my blog :^) again, it's slightly different from the usually stuff I post, but it's something I've been meaning to get off my chest for a while because it is REALLY annoying to me as someone who has been interested in hardcore before it exploded on social media. And I'll just repeat these one last time for good measure.

Gabber is a feeling and a state of mind, not a brand.

Hardcore United Against Fascism and Racism.

Have a good day/night! :^) if you ever want some recs feel free to reach out!

(creds to ID&T's old forum/webpage for the graphics used for this blog layout! They were taken directly from wayback machine on their site.)