THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

941-Lock ‘n’ Load-Blow Ya Mind. (Club Caviar Remix.)

2000-Number 6 single.

Best Bit-At 3.15. ‘Oh is this the way they say the future’s meant to feel? Or just 20,000 people standing in a field, and I don’t quite understand just what the feeling is, but that’s okay, cos we’er all sorted for ‘E’s and ‘Wizz.’

‘Lock ‘n’ Load’ was the stage name of the Dutch ‘Electronic Dance Music’ duo Frank van Rooijen, and Niels Pijpers, who charted twice in the UK, first with ‘Blow Ya Mind,’ which was released in 1999, but didn’t reach the top 40 until 2000, when it peaked at Number 6, and then later on in 2000, the very similar sounding ‘House Some More,’ stalled at Number 45. Both Rooijen, and Pijpers have worked together as ‘Lock ‘n’ Load,’ jointly providing remixes for artists as diverse as Freddie Mercury, to the ‘Vendaboys.’ They have also done remixes separately, with both artists working under several different pseudonyms, Rooijen has also worked as ‘DJ Francis,’ and ‘Stylizztix.’ as well as other names, while Pijpers as worked as ‘Nilz,’ and also in groups with other artists, including the collectives ‘DC Chant,’ and ‘United DJ’s Of Utrecht.’ In 2011 Rooijen, and Pijpers were joined by the South African music producer Andre Frauenstein, who together produced new remixes of ‘Blow Ya Mind,’ Frauenstein became an official member of the group, but at the time of writing ‘Lock ‘n’ Load’ are no longer active.

‘Blow Ya Mind’ can be filed under the ‘Dance Music’ banner, in particular in the genre of ‘Hardcore.’ ‘Hardcore Techno,’ or ‘Hardcore House’ as it is also known, is a genre of ‘Electronic Dance Music’ that originated in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany in the early 1990’s, it is distinguished by faster tempos, generally 160 to 200 BPM, or more, and often with shouted vocals. The term ‘Hardcore’ is not new in the world of ‘Pop Music.’ It was first used in the mid 1970’s within the ‘Punk Rock’ movement to describe American Punk bands like ‘Black Flag,’ and ‘Minor Threat,’ and then again in the 1980’s, it was used to describe the ‘harder side’ of ‘Hip-Hop,’ and ‘Rappers,’ such as ‘KRS-One,’ and ‘Public Enemy’ (see also best songs 578 and 35.) Early examples of ‘Hardcore’ dance tracks, include the German producer Marc Trauner, who is also known as ‘Mescalinum United,’ he claimed in 1990 to have released the first ‘Hardcore Techno’ track, with “We Have Arrived.’ Also in 1990 the London, England, based ‘Electronic/Rave’ group ‘Together,’ released the track ‘Hardcore Uproar,’ which reached Number 12 in the UK top 40, in August of that year.

‘Blow Ya Mind’ heavily samples the vocals from the 1991 Electronic/Hip-Hop song ‘Take Me Up,’ by ‘Sound Source featuring M Rock & Zemya,’ with lines including ‘Blow Ya Mind with the rocking crowd, now I’m keeping on with my word and soul,’ being constantly repeated throughout the track. ‘M Rock’ whose vocals were sampled for ‘Blow Ya Mind,’ is a Swedish artist who was born Emrik Larsson, he was a member of the Swedish ‘Funk/Hip-Hop’ group ‘The Stonefunkers’ between 1987-2001, and again since their reformation in 2009.

‘Blow Ya Mind with the rocking crowd, now I’m keeping on with my word and soul. So I’m pure perfection from the beginning to the end, I’m here once again.’