The Very Essence of Disco Elysium is Hardcore
If you’re part of the ‘90s rave culture, you might have heard of the German techno band Scooter. The percussive thunks and swelling synths of their music, as well as the genre of hardcore techno, seems to be a direct influence on the, well, musical sensibilities of the Anodic Dance Crew in Disco Elysium. I’m referring to, of course, the four ravers you run into at a tent near the abandoned church in Martinaise: Andre, Noid, Egg Head, and Acele. But if Andre is the pragmatic leader of the four, then Egg Head, the smooth-headed speedfreak who liberally quotes Scooter frontman H.P. Baxxter with phrases like “I am the mic enforcer” and “The first page of the second chapter”, is the face of these speedfreaks. In one mission, you’ll even need to navigate through the chants of Egg Head’s “Hardcore to the mega!” and “HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARDCORE” to unlock a proper conversation with him.
Hardcore, as a subgenre of techno and punk, is about taking the ethos of these genres and dialling them to their extreme. Both hardcore techno and punk are faster, louder, rougher, darker, and more explicitly anti-authoriatrian than the genres they take liberal influences from. They are all about impact, about statements, about noise. Conversely, Egg Head may yell a lot about hardcore, but unlike his buddy Noid, he doesn’t seem to have internalised the meaning and ethos of the hardcore sensibility. Instead, his politics and beliefs seemed to be buoyed by how loud he can shout his catchphrases, as you, playing as Harry, can subtly nudge him towards the moralist or fascist ideology without him possibly realising it.
Related: Figuring Out The Meaning Of Names In Disco Elysium
But Noid is different. A fan of the hardcore aesthetic, music, and
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