A Trance Hall of Fame, only 20 make the cut. Who makes it in? Who is the GOAT?

[Spacetime]

A hall of fame with all the Trance legends, but only 20 can make the final selection. Who would you pick? To do 15 is fairly easy, but the last 5-7 not as obvious to complete. Still not sure about a few. I put a * next to my top 5

I probably forgetting a legend but here is mine, in no order;

Oliver Lieb*
Ferry Corsten*
Solarstone
Armin Van Buuren
Above & Beyond
Paul van Dyk
Tiesto
MIKE*
Airwave
Orkidea
Paul Oakenfold
Matt Darey
John 00 Flemming
Astral Projection
Art of Trance*
Thrillseekers
Benno de Goeij*
Sasha & Digweed (cheating?)
Digital Blonde
James Holden

Bonus question. Who is the GOAT? Ferry for me.

 

[Andre Maier (aka NuroGL)]

Hard between Astral Projection and Thrillseekers

 

[Exodom]

I can do my top 5 and 10 easily

Armin Van Buuren
Above & Beyond
Ferry Corsten
Paul Van Dyk
Tiesto
Solarstone
Airwave
MIKE
Oakey
Thrillseekers

Would have to think about the next 10, also I don't know much before 2004 or about the noted pioneers like Darey. Oakenfold the only one really I followed out of the originals.

Above & Beyond my GOAT

 

[Jetflag]

personally i wouldn't give james Holden a place in the "trance" hall of fame. minimal, prog sure. but not trance.

my 2 cents.

 

[dmgtz96]

personally i wouldn't give james Holden a place in the "trance" hall of fame. minimal, prog sure. but not trance.

my 2 cents.

Facts. I've rather give Transa that spot.

 

[Magdelayna]

personally i wouldn't give james Holden a place in the "trance" hall of fame. minimal, prog sure. but not trance.

my 2 cents.

His peak was Progressive Trance imo...tracks like Horizons. And for a brief moment in time,it was just one of the best,unique and original sounds done by any producer.

 

[Archon]

I personally wouldn't include Transa, The Thrillseekers or even James Holden (with all due respect and love of their work). Simply because their output and influence was limited (even if great), compared to others. That is, if we look at this objectively.

 

[Magdelayna]

I personally wouldn't include Transa, The Thrillseekers or even James Holden (with all due respect and love of their work). Simply because their output and influence was limited (even if great), compared to others. That is, if we look at this objectively.

I dont think volume of work has an importance..you could make a handful of legendary tracks over a few years and still be in the hall of fame. Id have Darren Tate,Lange and Matt Darey high up there...even though their best years spanned only a short time. In fact id include PvD in that category...all his best stuff was early in his career.

 

[Archon]

Ok, I get that line of thinking.

But just like in sports, there must be some (objective) acceptance criteria. For me, that might be: If you tell the story of trance - the most important bits - can you tell it without the artist in question? Can you imagine trance without them, would trance stay largely the same without them? If the answer to all of these is NO, then they rightfully belong in the HoF. And it might not be *just* tracks, there has to be something in what they did for the genre and its popularity, the labels/agencies they ran etc.

In that regard, I would rather include The KLF (which perfectly applies to your line of thinking as well).

That said, I do think 20 is a bit high for voting purposes. 10 is more than plenty, and we would mostly get the same few names thrown in.

 

[trancedanne]

There are only a few names who objectively should be on a list like this, the rest is up to each of their own to decide

Oliver Lieb
Push
Airwave
Tiesto
Paul Van Dyk
Armin Van Buuren
Ferry Corsten
Above & Beyond

These names are a must

 

[Spacetime]

James Holden was a curve ball I put in on impulse, but yes not the right man for the list. Trance producer he certainly is though.

That said, I do think 20 is a bit high for voting purposes. 10 is more than plenty, and we would mostly get the same few names thrown in.

Top 10 can be done with only little discussion, with one name maybe up for debate. Top 20 requires more thought and there are enough artists who could make that cut.

 

[HTY]

Armin
Lieb
MIKE
Ferry
A&B
Simon Berry
PVD
Tiesto
Airwave
Solarstone

Thats the definitive 10. Rest I would say JOOF, Thrillseekers, Darey then I struggle

 

[dmgtz96]

Top 11-20 are going to be difficult to come up with. I would say subjectivity here makes more sense than objectivity. If we go by:

I dont think volume of work has an importance..you could make a handful of legendary tracks over a few years and still be in the hall of fame. Id have Darren Tate,Lange and Matt Darey high up there...even though their best years spanned only a short time. In fact id include PvD in that category...all his best stuff was early in his career.

then you have a situation like:

In that regard, I would rather include The KLF (which perfectly applies to your line of thinking as well).

I would never in 100 years put The KLF in a top trance producers list. What Time is Love? is a multi-genre track, even if it has trancy elements, and from this one song you can't say that The KLF are trance producers (in the strict sense).
I still think it makes sense to include at least one producer from Hook Recordings, whether that is Transa, Chris Cowie, Christopher Lawrence, or anyone else you can think of (but those 3 are the strongest, IMO). They had a fairly unique sound that's not covered by the traditionally top producers, and that is important to include even if we disregard objectivity.

 

[Magdelayna]

People saying JOOF - i dont understand that one,hes made a few decent tracks - but much better known as a DJ and for his label.

 

[Quethas]

As mentioned, there are ten producers or so which are probably in everyone's list. Then it goes very much to personal preference. Like The Digital Blonde or Orkidea which I absolutely love, but I am not sure if their importance is all that great in a grand scheme.

I also think Hall of Fame should include some more love to the very origins. Sure, many producers from the golden age of trance belongs to the list but before that, we had early pioneers of the genre. Of course Lieb, Simon Berry, PvD and Oakie have been mentioned but I cannot highlight enough the importance of Rolf Ellmer (part of Dance 2 Trance and Jam & Spoon for an example) or something from Eye Q / Harthouse like Sven Väth or Cygnus X guys.

 

[Magdelayna]

My Top 20 Producers ever...

Ferry Corsten
MIKE
Airwave
Matt Darey
Lange
Darren Tate
'DJ TIesto'
Armin
PvD
Signum
Solarstone
Chicane
The Thrillseekers
Mauro Picotto
James Holden
Dumonde
The Space Brothers
Aly & Fila
Rank 1
Above & Beyond

There would be a slight difference in my 'Hall Of Fame' where id put Oliver Lieb in there,simply because he had some important records at important times,im thinking historically - but hes not in my favourite producers list.

 

[Magdelayna]

Ferry,MIKE & Airwave are the three DEFINATES in any Trance hall of fame - just for the sheer amount of quality they produced,over a long time. No one else really did that.

 

[Magdelayna]

As mentioned, there are ten producers or so which are probably in everyone's list. Then it goes very much to personal preference. Like The Digital Blonde or Orkidea which I absolutely love, but I am not sure if their importance is all that great in a grand scheme.

I also think Hall of Fame should include some more love to the very origins. Sure, many producers from the golden age of trance belongs to the list but before that, we had early pioneers of the genre. Of course Lieb, Simon Berry, PvD and Oakie have been mentioned but I cannot highlight enough the importance of Rolf Ellmer (part of Dance 2 Trance and Jam & Spoon for an example) or something from Eye Q / Harthouse like Sven Väth or Cygnus X guys.

You mention Oakie - but he never really produced? So is this Hall Of Fame on DJ merit aswell?

 

[Quethas]

You mention Oakie - but he never really produced? So is this Hall Of Fame on DJ merit aswell?

I suppose we can debate what is really required for being Hall Of Fame...

I agree, Oakenfold's biggest achievements are from his DJ side where you can't deny his influence and importance. One could argue he was a superstar DJ before anyone knew what a superstar DJ is. As a producer he has never been my favourite, but there are Perfecto stuff (like Bullet in the Gun), Grace and of course his own stuff and remixes. Some of which are trance, some of which are... something else.

 

[Magdelayna]

I suppose we can debate what is really required for being Hall Of Fame...

I agree, Oakenfold's biggest achievements are from his DJ side where you can't deny his influence and importance. One could argue he was a superstar DJ before anyone knew what a superstar DJ is. As a producer he has never been my favourite, but there are Perfecto stuff (like Bullet in the Gun), Grace and of course his own stuff and remixes. Some of which are trance, some of which are... something else.

Well yeah,if you expand the spectrum beyond producing,and base it on DJing and influence - he has to be in there.