Melt - Radioactivity [1989]

[TheTranceHistorian]

Kraftwerk is generally considered a pioneer in electronic music, and a formation that paved the road for the eventual birth of genres like trance music. Their fifth studio album, called Radio-Aktivität came out in 1975, featuring the titular track, Radioactivity, which was a big hit and gained a second life thanks to radio broadcasts following the 1986 Chernobyl incident. The track probably works best as a live performance though, as demonstrated by this clip.

In 1989, German formation Melt released their first and only single Sex-O-Matic, including a cover of Kraftwerk's Radioactivity on the vinyl's B-side. The track includes brand-new vocals, extensive guitar riffs, and a mesmerizing, electronic soundscape that elevates the track into the realm of trance music. It slowly builds layers upon layers to create a sense of movement and progression and to achieve its desired hypnotic effect, and while the track overall still feels very minimalistic in some sense, it never feels boring or unengaging.

I would confidently call it a superior version of Kraftwerk's original, and I would almost call it the first true trance record (so not the KLF-style proto-trance stuff), if it wasn't for its slightly slower tempo (compared to trance tunes in general). Credit goes to @juracid for recommending this release on the forums.

Discogs

 

[Hensmon]

That is quite epic.

What do you consider the first trance track again?

 

[TheTranceHistorian]

That is quite epic.

What do you consider the first trance track again?​

I would probably say these six (that are good):​

• Bassrace - Futurama (Final Dream Mix) [1991] (Pure trance)​
• Eden Transmission - I'm So High (Ubud Mix) [1991] (A trance track mostly masquerading as a techno track in its first 9 minutes... as it's 12 minutes long)​
• Moby - Go (Subliminal Mix) [1991] (Pure trance, but completely main melody focused, without the usual buildup etc.)​
• Zyon - No Fate (Struggle Continues Mix) [1991] (Pure trance)​
• God's Groove-Prayer Five (We Can Fly) [1991] (It's a techno-trance hybrid, but the trancey side probably outweighs the techno stuff)​
• Datura - Yerba Del Diablo (Shagras) [1991] (Just to be clear, I'm still not fully sure about its inclusion yet)​

This is my personal conclusion based on my current understanding of the genre and after listening to all tunes from 1988-1994 that have the trance genre tag on Discogs (which is around 20 thousand tunes). These are first and foremost melody-centric tunes that are driven by a strong forward momentum/energy, have electronic instrumentation, feature hypnotic and atmospheric elements, and have a sense of journey-like quality due to the layering and progression of the sounds and melodies.

The KLF stuff from the late '80s (What Time Is Love, Kylie Said Trance, etc.) are early proto-trance tunes, there's a good video that goes into detail about them. The early Dance 2 Trance tracks from 1990 (Dance 2 Trance, We Came In Peace) feature too many non-trance elements next to their trancey sounds and they rather feel like genre hybrids. He Chilled Out by Liasons D from 1990 has all the trancey stuff in it, except the tempo (similarly to Melt's Radioactivity) – this was later "addressed" by Phenomenia with a remix, but only in 1993. So I think the few tracks listed above are the earliest ones I can think of that have enough trancey sounds in them to be considered trance.​

 

[juracid]

Interestingly, German trance pioneer DJ Dag - one half of Dance 2 Trance - featured 'Radioactivity' frequently in the past. Thats the point how I discovered it in the first place.

And yes, one of the first pure trance tracks ever, doubtless.