Paul Elstak

Paul Elstak is the rare artist who is foundational to two genres at once: the man who built hardcore’s first Dutch institutions and then became the chart-conquering face of happy hardcore, and who, thirty years later, helped write a Eurovision entry.

Building Rotterdam’s sound

Born in The Hague in 1966, Elstak was DJing professionally by 1987. After early success with Holy Noise (‘James Brown Is Still Alive’, 1991), he founded Rotterdam Records in 1992 under the flag of the Mid-Town record shop: the first Dutch hardcore label, and ground zero for the gabber sound that would define the city. Its first release came under the Euromasters banner, the notorious Rotterdam alias he shared with his Holy Noise partners. His Forze DJ Team (a trio with DJ Panic and DJ Lars) and its ‘Wanna Play’ bear clothing line became gabber-culture icons in their own right.

The happy years

In 1995 Elstak did the unthinkable for a gabber pioneer: he went pop. ‘Life Is Like a Dance’, ‘Luv U More’ and above all ‘Rainbow in the Sky’ stormed the Dutch charts, defining happy hardcore for the Netherlands. ‘Rainbow in the Sky’ topped Q-music’s Top 500 of the 90s for 13 straight years. Purists grumbled; the country sang along. In 2001 he founded a new label, Offensive Records, and kept releasing on both the hard and happy ends of the spectrum.

Elder statesman, still current

Elstak’s legacy went fully mainstream again in 2024, when he co-wrote and co-produced ‘Europapa’, the Eurovision entry by Joost that carried happy hardcore DNA to Europe’s biggest television audience. Meanwhile he remains a fixture at every major hard dance festival, a living link between eras alongside fellow veterans like The Prophet.

Every new Paul Elstak release lands on the Hardcore Release Radar or Happy Hardcore Release Radar the day it drops. His full tracked catalogue is listed above.