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Elements of what would become trance music were being explored by industrial artists in the late 1980s. Most notably, Psychic TV's 1989 album Towards Thee Infinite Beat, featuring drawn out and monotonous patterns with short but repeating voice samples, is considered by some to be the first trance album, but this claim is widely contested. The intent was to make sound that was hypnotic to its listeners.

These industrial artists were largely dissociated from rave culture, and their trance albums were generally experiments, not an attempt to start a new genre with an associated culture -- they remained firmly rooted culturally in industrial and avant-garde music. As trance became to take off in the rave culture, most of these artists abandoned the genre.

As a genre in its own right, trance is said to have begun as an off-shoot of techno in German clubs during the early 1990s. Arguably a fusion of techno and house, early trance shared much with techno in terms of the tempo and rhythmic structures but also added more melodic overtones which were appropriated from the style of house popular in Europe's club scene at that time. (Interestingly enough, that style of house was referred to as "club" or "Euro.") However, the melodies in trance differed from Euro/club in that although they tended to be emotional and uplifting, they did not "bounce around" in the same way that house did.

This early trance tended to be characterized by the anthemic qualities described above, and typically involved a break-down portion of the song in which the beat was dropped for a few bars to focus on the melody before bringing the beat back with a renewed intensity. The sounds used in trance tended to be produced by analog synthesizers (especially using triangle or sawtooth wave forms) (or recently, digital simulations of analog synthesizers, often called virtual analog synthesizers), with lush "strings" providing the basis for the melodies and pads, while similar analog equipment was used to produce basic bass notes and the regimented "four-to-the-floor" drum loops. This style became instantly popular in Europe and spread very quickly. Before long, trance was spawning sub-genres such as dream trance, acid trance or hard trance. (NOTE : Goa and psy-trance are arguably older, with their characteristic sounds purportedly emerging in Western Europe and Israel as far back as 1991.)

The basic formula of trance became even more focused on the anthemic qualities and melodies, moving away from predictable arppegiated analog synth patterns (aka acid synth lines). Acoustic elements and spacey pads became popular, compositions leaned towards incremental changes (aka progressive structures), sometimes composed in thirds (like Brian Transeau frequently does), buildups and breakdowns became more elaborate and intense. The sound became more and more ethereal and heavenly in sound. This sound came to be known as epic trance (sometimes called melodic trance or anthem trance), and became the foundation of what the modern progressive trance sound is today.

By the mid-1990s, trance, specifically progressive trance, had emerged commercially as one of the dominant genres of EDM. Immensely popular, trance found itself filling a niche as edgier than house, more soothing than drum-n-bass, and more accessible than techno. By this time, trance had become synonymous with progressive house and both genres essentially subsumed each other under the commercial banner of "progressive." Artists like Brian Transeau (BT), Paul Van Dyk, Ferry Corsten, and Underworld came to the forefront as premier producers and remixers, bringing with them the emotional, "epic" feel of the style. Meanwhile, DJs like Paul Oakenfold, Sasha, and John Digweed were championing the sound in the clubs and through the sale of pre-recorded mixes. By the end of the 1990s, trance remained commercially huge but had fractured into an extremely diverse genre. Some of the artists that had helped create the trance sound in the early and mid-1990s were, by the end of the decade, branching out with more experimental work (artists of particular note here are BT and Underworld). Perhaps as a consequence, similar things were happening with the DJs as well; for example, Sasha and Digweed, who together had helped bring the progressive sound to the forefront, all but abandoned it by 2000, instead spinning a darker mix of the rising "deep trance" style pioneered by bands like Future Sound of London, Eat Static, and Sven Väth (as marked by the duo's 2000 release, "Communicate").

Contemporary trance culture is heavily intertwined with recreational drug use. Many of the music's characteristics such as frequent breakdowns, easily accessible melodies and fast tempos could be argued to be specifically implemented to complement or even enhance the sensations of taking ecstasy - a drug that is near-ubiquitous at trance events across the world.

At present, and as alluded to earlier, trance is as much about who plays the music as it is about what it sounds like. Many artists described as producing a very powerful trance sound (e.g., Underworld's "Cowgirl" from 1994 remains a floor-filler) have most recently released tracks more suggestive of techno (Underworld's "Moaner" from 1998); DJs like John Digweed, known for spinning scintillating trance anthems in 1996, turned to a darker, housier sound in 2000. All the while, new artists and DJs enter the fold, either taking over the vacancies left in the anthemic, "progressive" arena (e.g. DJ Tiësto and ATB), or else introducing new forms, modes, and themes (e.g., Sander Kleinenberg and Steve Lawler). In recent years, the Netherlands have been home to leading trance DJs such as Armin Van Buuren, Ferry Corsten, Marco V, and DJ Tiësto. Tiësto has transcended the underground scene to become a figure in the realm of popular music.

For more concrete examples, check out any number of purported trance Compilations; perhaps the most highly recommendable source would be the Global Underground series, including its "Nubreed" sub-series, because it captures the diversity of the genre as expressed through many of its brightest DJ talents. Also recommended as source material would be the Tranceport/Perfecto Presents... series, any of Sasha & Digweed's Northern Exposure mixes, and any of the mixes in the Renaissance series. The Labels to reference would include 3Beat, Bedrock, Devolution, Fluid, Fragrant, Hooj Choons, Hook, Perfecto, Vandit, Armada, Positiva, Yoshi Toshi and ATCR Trance Music.

Information taken from www.answers.com