“Now I realize how little you really need to create good music when you just pick the right sounds - whether that’s on purpose or by accident”: How Darude created Sandstorm, the meme-worthy trance anthem named after a synth preset

Love it or hate it, Darude’s Sandstorm is undoubtedly one of the most memorable tracks in dance music. Recorded in 1999 by Finnish producer/DJ Toni-Ville Henrik Virtanen, its insistent, staccato lead synth echoed around the world following the song’s release, and 25 years on, it’s still reverberating.

Virtanen has opened up about how the song was made in an interview with DJ Mag, embedded below. “I actually got started with Sandstorm a year and a half or so before the release,” he says.