After seeing Darude play this song live last weekend, I just had to focus on Sandstorm for this Throwback Thursday. Released in late 1999, Darude’s first ever single smashed the charts throughout Europe and North America as soon as it was released. It is often played at sports games in the United States to hype the crowd up, and more recently has become an internet meme, where if someone doesn’t know the name to any song it is customary to reply with “Darude Sandstorm”. It has also recently become the unofficial anthem for ecstasy memes, with remakes of well-known videos featuring Sandstorm along with other editing suggesting that the subject of the video is on drugs.
The extended mix begins with a fast, trance-y beat while the lead synth and the signature percussion hits build up to a sudden silence. The other well-known key synth fades in, and it builds up together with the first synth to the drop. The fast beat kicks in as well as the famous hook, and a minute of pure bliss ensues until it suddenly cuts out. The synth fades in again, with hard percussion hits adding to the hype for the second drop. The lead synth comes in again, a lone voice before the storm, and the beat drops for the second time. Another minute and a half of bliss and the song breaks down into the beat that it first began with, then it’s all over. Seven and a half minutes of one of the most well-known trance tracks is a quality listen, and will get your Thursday going. Watch the music video below for the radio edit, which is the same as the extended mix but without the basic beginning and ending beats.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6120QOlsfU&w=560&h=315]
It’s also worth mentioning Darude’s second single, Feel The Beat, which sounds just like Sandstorm and did very well in the charts on principle. This is classic trance as well and the music video is well worth a watch.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLZQ-0dHbiU&w=560&h=315]
[…] been around for 3 years already). If you’ve heard it, it will most likely have been in a mix with Sandstorm and Blow Ya Mind from the Blade movie – possibly the defining rave mix from the […]