The Good Men – Give It Up (Remix)

How the hell are these 12" vinyl records so cheap I've never ed. But still collect.

Late 1992. So far, house music in its original form was a phenomenon from the United States, although the United Kingdom caused the genre to hit the charts successfully. Although the Netherlands also had a dance scene those days, it was hardly known outside the European mainland. The only well-known act was 2 Unlimited (albeit a Belgian act with Dutch front people) and yes, L.A. Style had its occasional hit ("James Brown Is Dead") but the cream of the crop in international quality house and garage did not take these efforts seriously.

It all changed when this came out. René Ter Horst and Gaston Steenkist initially did not intend "Give It Up" as a Brasil-flavoured track; a "Batacuda" version was issued as a B-side (the actual name of the music style was "batucada"). At the close of 1992, a new version of the track was made with the annual Dutch carnival festivities in mind (these are held February/March, 7 weeks before Easter) and labeled "batacuda refrescante". The track was heard all over the country, not only during the aforementioned festivities but also thereafter and on the radio; the track eventually peaked in the Dutch Top 10 (keep in kind that this is a mainstream chart).

The formula of house sounds with thunderous Brazilian beats was copied thereafter by The Bad Guys (a spoof named "Don't Give Up"), DJ Dero ("Batucada"), Latin Boom ("Cafe Con Leche"), FKW ("Seize The Day", some mixes) among many others. A similar idea was used for Capricorn's "20 Hz". Even 2 Unlimited's "Let The Beat Control Your Body" had a remix that was strongly influenced by the track.

But more important, "Give It Up" paved the way for many other Dutch productions when George Morel, Masters at Work and many other American DJs incorporated the tune in their sets. They more or less created awareness among them about where they were originally coming from, resulting in a number of afro-, samba- and salsa-flavoured house tracks, most notably on Strictly Rhythm (listen to their "Latin Thang" compilation to get an impression).

Since then, the Netherlands became a country to watch out for, concerning electronic dance music. Later on, Tiësto, Ferry Corsten and Armin van Buuren would achieve worldwide fame, and the story of success is continued by a next generation of artists such as Hardwell, Afrojack and Sander van Doorn at the time I'm writing this text.