City Beats: Brussels
In our City Beats series, we explore underground scenes in cities worldwide, both past and present – and this week, we’re diving into how Popcorn in Brussels in the ‘70s defined the sound of European house and techno music today.
The Significance of Club Popcorn
Most will cite Berlin, Amsterdam, Paris, or London as the birthplace of Europe’s techno scene. But some will say it started in Ostend, Belgium, in the 1970s. Today, this small coastal town, located about 10 miles west of Antwerp, is known for its neoliberal architecture. But back then, it was synonymous with Club Popcorn, a converted farmhouse originally used for Sunday afternoon dance contests.
The club became so popular, and the crowds so lively, that it gradually expanded to occupy the surrounding outhouses and barns, eventually transforming into a sprawling cultural hub that attracted partygoers from all over Belgium. As the space grew, so did the music, and American soul tracks took on a distinctly Belgian twist when DJs started playing them 8 BPM slower than usual to encourage the dancers to keep grooving.
The DJs Championing the Sound
One of these DJs was Gibbe Govaert. A dedicated digger, Govaert spun his funk and soul discoveries every weekend at Club Popcorn to over 3,000 ecstatic partygoers. The atmosphere was sweaty, raw, and queer – and unlike anything else in Europe at the time. In interviews, he describes the energy at Popcorn as electrifying. The audience would lose their minds when he dropped tracks like “Comin’ Home Baby” by Mel Tormé or Sam Fletcher’s “I’d Think It Over,” so he played them multiple times a night. Unbeknownst to him, he was laying the groundwork for a new Belgian subculture that would come to define global club culture.
Popcorn in Brussels
Club Popcorn inspired a wave of clubs across the country, several of which opened in Brussels. Brussels is an open-minded city, so venues and party-goers embraced the slow groove and raw energy of Popcorn’s sound, which blended funk, soul, and experimental beats.
Despite its popularity, Popcorn had some competition, and in the mid-'70s, it was eventually overshadowed by the rise of disco. But it didn’t vanish entirely. It left behind a lasting influence for slow grooves and musical experimentation, so when the '80s arrived and punk and anarchist synth-pop bands like Telex and Pas De Deux began to push back against mainstream disco culture, Belgium’s underground scene was primed for the shift.
From Disco to New Beat
These bands introduced 4:4 dark-wave, anarchistic music, heavy on synths and reverb into Brussels’ psyche. The bright, optimistic ‘70s were over, and Europe was on edge. The Cold War was intensifying and people were eager to release their pent-up tension.
In 1985, the Belgian band Front 242 coined the term EBM (Electronic Body Music) to describe their No Comment EP, and just like that, a new genre was born. Bands like Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire, DAF, and Die Krupps helped propel EBM into the spotlight, merging industrial effects and synths with 4:4 beats to create music for people to get lost in.
New Beat seemed to emerge overnight. Even the key figures debate whether it began in Brussels, Antwerp, or Ghent, but one story stands out. In 1987, at Brussels’ Ancient Belgique club, DJ Dikke Ronny (aka ‘Fat Ronny’) played A Split-Second’s EBM track “Flesh” at 33 BPM instead of 45, and the crowd completely lost it. New Beat was in the building.
Popcorn's influence played a pivotal role in shaping the Brussels scene, particularly as it laid the groundwork for the New Beat and acid house movements that would soon take over the nation's capital. That’s how Brussels became a hub for the emerging electronic music culture of the late '80s and early '90s.
New Beat to House to Techno
Because New Beat had been Belgium’s most popular genre for close to a decade, by the ‘90s the Brussels scene was eager to receive the sounds of Detroit and Chicago as they made their way across the ocean. Musically speaking, it wasn’t a dramatic shift when New Beat evolved into house. Soon, Brussels was transformed into a hotspot for Europe’s emerging acid house scene.
In the ‘90s, a unique wave of Belgian techno began to emerge. Producers like Frank de Wulf, Maurice Engelen, Oliver Adams, and Nikki Van Lierop led the charge with a hard and fast sound that would set the foundation for modern techno.
Then Fuse opened in Brussels in 1994, which gave the city’s techno heads and artists a place to call home. Today, it’s one of the world’s longest-running and most prestigious clubs. Since opening its doors, the venue—a former 1920s cinema—has played a key role in shaping the European techno scene. A small "wall of fame" in one of its back rooms showcases a list of legendary artists who graced its stage in the 1990s, including Carl Craig, Richie Hawtin, Aphex Twin, Daft Punk, and even Björk in 1997.
The Underrated Heart of Europe’s Underground
Brussels is often overlooked on the European techno stage. It’s a laid-back city, which is perhaps the reason why so few people know of its rich musical history. But it’s played a pivotal role in global club culture, and shaped the sound of house and techno as we know it today.
