Darren Styles
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Darren Styles (Darren Mew) came up in the Essex scene in the early 90s. He first made a name as one half of Force & Styles with Paul Hobbs, putting out tracks that became staples of the happy hardcore nights.
The sound
Melodic happy hardcore with big vocal hooks and piano lines. Tracks like Heart of Gold, Pretty Green Eyes and Paradise & Dreams were everywhere on the tapes and in the rooms.
Key nights / tracks
Residencies and regular bookings at Slammin' Vinyl, Helter Skelter and United Dance. Force & Styles were also the first hardcore DJs to do a mix for Pete Tong's Essential Mix on Radio 1.
Labels
UK Dance — Force & Styles set this up as their own label to put out their material. A lot of the mid-90s tracks came out on here.
Junk Box — Another outlet used for releases around the same period.
What happened to them
Continued playing and producing through the 2000s. Later moved into more commercial dance and hard dance, but the Force & Styles tracks from the mid-to-late 90s are still the ones most people remember from those nights.