That last part - was trance/prog house always like that? Or did it start more underground and organic in 1989 onward until the mid-90s where it became very commercial and then went to the next level with someone like Tiesto?
When those forms became distinguished as separate genres, basically yes. I think there was a vein of maybe more interesting "trance" in 92, 93 timeframe (I'm thinking about Oliver Lieb's stuff and maybe Rabbit in the Moon and some other stuff) that was a bit more techno-ish, but with some of the hallmarks of what came to be the "trance" form. But by the time people were specifically carving out "trance" it had basically the drum rolls and drug rush thing going on. By 96 when I started paying attention to that, it was already unbearable (to me).
