Sandstorm (instrumental)

"Sandstorm" is an instrumental by Finnish DJ and record producer Darude. It was released as the lead single from his debut studio album "Before the Storm". It was initially released in Finland on 26 October 1999 by 16 Inch Records and was later re-released in many other countries in 2000. The track was uploaded to MP3.com where it gained global recognition. It has also gained recognition for its usage in sports and popularity in internet meme culture.
On 1 March 2010, over ten years after its original release, "Sandstorm" was certified Gold in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of over 500,000 copies. In January 2020, it was certified Platinum for sales over one million.
On the centenary of Finland's independence, 2017 was celebrated in Helsinki with Darude as one of the main performers with his "Sandstorm".
Background.
Darude first started making happy hardcore with a music tracker program on his computer, playing gigs as "Rudeboy". He then performed with Wille "Weirdness" Heikkilä as "Position 1", making light Eurodance tunes, and he paired with other DJs on other projects. In September–October 1999 as Darude he began collaborating with Jaakko "JS16" Salovaara, known as the producer of the Bomfunk MC's. "Sandstorm" was the first product of the collaboration, ready after about a week of work. JS16 signed Darude as the first artist on JS16's new label 16 Inch Records.
Darude had been uploading various pieces of his trance experimentation on the website MP3.com, where he was building a following, and he also uploaded the full-length demo of "Sandstorm". This exposure was responsible for worldwide interest in "Sandstorm". In 2000, Darude reported on his mp3.com artist's page that he had "removed the full-length tracks" of "Sandstorm" at the request of his record company.
The title of the instrumental originates from the Roland JP-8080 synthesizer used in the song, which displays the text "sand storm" on startup.
In a 2016 Reddit AMA interview, Darude admitted that he had never experienced an actual sandstorm but had experienced a dust devil.
Composition.
"Sandstorm" is an instrumental trance composition. According to Darude, the hardware and software used to make the track are as follows: P2, Cubase VST 32, FastTracker 2, ReBirth, Korg TR-Rack. Then with JS16 in his studio: Cubase on Atari ST1024, Ensoniq ASR-10 sampler, Roland JP8080, NordLead2, Roland JV2080, Ensoniq DP4, Mackie 24/8, Behringer rack compressor.
Music video.
The video for "Sandstorm" features Darude with headphones viewing two armed security guards (a man and a woman) chasing a woman with a case. Darude seems to appear at every place where the pursuers and the pursued go. Near the end, the woman with the case stumbles and one of her pursuers (the other woman) betrays her partner, knocking him out. The two women take the case onto a boat with Darude. As of April 2021, the music video uploaded on YouTube via an official channel has garnered over 204 million views.
The video was directed by Juuso Syrjä, a.k.a. Uzi, and was shot in various places in Helsinki, including the Helsinki Cathedral and the Senate Square. It became the first Finnish music video shown on MTV in the US and it received several awards in Finland and on MTV.
Usage in media.
In film and television.
"Sandstorm" appeared on the pilot episode of popular Showtime series "Queer as Folk", which first aired on 3 December 2000. "Sandstorm" was also used in the 2001 Finnish film "Tango Cabaret" ("Tango Kabaree"). In the third part of the "Johnny English" film series, "Johnny English Strikes Again", the title character played by Rowan Atkinson dances to the beat of "Sandstorm" in a dance club scene.
In sports.
In 2009, "Sandstorm" was played for the first time at the University of South Carolina's Williams-Brice Stadium during a Gamecocks football game. While it was actually played by accident during the waning minutes of the Gamecocks' victory over Ole Miss, it has become a rallying anthem for South Carolina fans.
Professional wrestler Toru Owashi, mixed martial artist Wanderlei Silva, and baseball pitcher Koji Uehara use "Sandstorm" as entrance music. It was also played at the 2006 Winter Olympics, and during the Ice Hockey World Championships. Nike used the composition in an advertisement series featuring the basketball opponents Kobe Bryant and LeBron James.
Internet phenomenon.
The popularity of "Sandstorm" as background music for those who stream their video gaming on the Twitch platform led to a meme that any question asking for the name of any song was replied to with the comment "Darude – Sandstorm."
As an April Fools' Day joke on 1 April 2015, YouTube displayed the message "Did you mean: Darude – Sandstorm by Darude" for all video search queries involving music, in addition to adding a button which played the tune during a video.
Charts.
Soon after release, "Sandstorm" became popular on pop radio stations, reaching number one in Norway. Its sales worldwide eventually reached 2 million, and it was featured on 200 compilations.