Happy Hardcore in its original incarnation, it was often characterized by piano riffs, synth stabs and spacey effects. This genre of music is closely related to the typically Dutch genre of Gabber. Happy hardcore evolved from rave music around 1991–1993, as the original house music-based rave became faster and began to include breakbeats, evolving into breakbeat hardcore.

Happy Hardcore grew out of the early 1990s rave scene as the music became faster and adapted more cheesey 'fairground' style and breaking away from Jungle which was built around heavy breakbeats & basslines. Some artists started to take the Jungle sound further and turned their back on the happier sounds which had been blamed for the 'commercialism' of the scene which would see the scene split into two different styles.

It is often argued which was the first 'Happy Hardcore' track but it is often stated that DJ Slipmatt's SMD#1 being thought of as one of the first attempts at a Happy tune which although being breakbeat had a mixture of piano and techno stabs. A number of artists such as Slipmatt, DJ Vibes, Force & Evolution & Billy 'Daniel' Bunter started to follow this formula and thus by 1994 the scene broke in two, Happy Hardcore & Jungle (later becoming Drum and bass).

In the UK, happy hardcore was at its peak between 1994 and 1997. The London pirate radio station Dream FM was instrumental during this period in both the development and support of the scene. For a while, the station also produced a monthly high-street music magazine dedicated to the music. By this time there was little breakbeat left although there were a number of verities in style.

In The Netherlands, Gabber had grown out of Rotterdam around 1992 and was becoming harder by the mid 90s although a happier sound had also been put out also known as 'Happy Gabber'. Scottish Hardcore, usually known as Bouncy Techno, had a big impact on both the English Breakbeat & Dutch Gabber scenes which led to Dutch artists producing a number of happier tracks & English artists moving away from breakbeat towards a more kickdrum centred, harder yet still bouncy sound.

In 1996, it was suggested these two styles had merged although Bouncy Techno had different origins, by the late '90s the style had given way to Happy Hardcore or Gabber which would take a darker route by the end of the decade. By the late '90s, Happy Hardcore was being produced in a number of countries, mostly the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, Australia, United States, Canada and Germany.

In 2002, the compilation series Bonkers was relaunched after a three-year hiatus and has proved to be successful, releasing eight compilations between 2002 and 2005. The 21st century sound of the genre is notable by the lack of the bouncy synths and piano lines that were trademarks of the genre in the 90s.

The genre now has a more euphoric trance feel to it not too dissimilar to the sound of the late 90s trance that was popular in Ibiza at the time, albeit at a higher tempo. The music now has more ties between mainstream dance music and genres such as 'Bouncy House' than the original rave music that it grew out of.

2001–2003 saw a revival of a more Trance oriented sound. New clubs (In the UK) and DJs including HTID (Hardcore Til I Die). Most was really made within the bedrooms and studios of DJs and producers.

During the revival, the original sounds of Happy Hardcore were somewhat lessened, as some of the music had transformed to be strongly Trance-influenced music under the name of Hard Trance. By mid 2003 however there were elements of Happy Hardcore returning into the genre & remixes of older tunes in the new style & even some 'Old Skool' Style tunes. New genres such as Freeform & Hardcore Breaks broke off the mainstream leading to even more new styles of Hardcore. A large number of compilations have emerged such as the return of Bonkers (as of 2009, reached its 17th instalment).

The exact definition of the new-born genre of UK Hardcore from Happy Hardcore, is best described under the Clubland series which includes the Clubland X-Treme Hardcore (which was an off shoot to the already established Clubland series which was originally based on commercial dance & club music), Hardcore Heaven (another return series), Hardcore Nation, Hardcore Adrenaline, True Hardcore & Hardcore Underground to name a few. A number of Old Skool style compilations have also come out in recent years featuring mixes of classics from the 1990s which has also brought a number of younger people into older style of Hardcore & in some ways, old tunes are as popular now as they were during their heyday.

A variety of compilations have arisen under the UK Hardcore genre, a genre very similar, or one could say a new genre born from Happy Hardcore, that is quite similar to Happy Hardcore, this would include, The Helter Skelter CD series has seen a number of Old Skool mixes as well as Hardcore Breaks mixes of new versions of old tunes and old style mixes of other well-known tunes. Best of Bonkers from 2007 wasn't actually just the best tracks on Bonkers but had a number of classic tracks that even predated the first Bonkers!

Happy Hardcore has not only been influenced by Trance however. More recently some Happy Hardcore has grown more similar to Hardstyle with its harder stompy sound. In other countries besides the US and UK there have been many new Happy Hardcore anthems and artists coming out after 2002.

Happy Hardcore featured heavily in the Scottish events run by Fantazia in the period 2006-2010.