Saturday, July 2, 2011

Drum and Bass History

By Freddy Fender


It was within the late 1980s along with the early 1990s that the UK nightclub culture began to grow along with the tendency to celebrate at organized outdoor events (read as outdoor parties). Cultural influences brought about a brand new style of music - Rave music, which was like marrying hip-hop with breakbeats after which with other music clips from other music genres after which perhaps with dialogues from movies and Tv shows thrown in. Rave moved at a faster pace than hip-hop at 127-140 BPM (beats per minute) and it honestly took the excitement and reveling quotient up.

It was in 1992 that high-gusto breakbeat music tracks that featured heavy basslines and clips of old Jamaican music were recognized by their uniqueness and people started referring to these as "Jungle." The term Jungle was inspired from the Bob Marley song, Concrete Jungle. People at clubs, rave parties, or wherever, lapped up this new form of music because its sheer aggressiveness excited their senses and made them hit the dance floor with a vengeance - and it was different from rave music.

By 1994, Jungle got more popular with the masses and its fans were called Junglists. Jungle music became a part of British youth subculture. It was at this time that Jungle music started mixing elements from many other musical genres like Ragamuffin sound, Dancehall, MC Chants, Breakbeat percussion, and more. Though Jungle was famous, it started picking up a reputation because of two factors - one, its violent and aggressive sounds, and two, its association with criminal activity (because of the gangs who were active on the UK hip-hop circuit). Though it is not documented that Jungle was ditched by producers because of its association with criminal gangs, Jungle music producers started moving away from its reggae-based sounds and started producing, what is now called, Drum and Bass.

Drum and Bass then began evolving - it improved technically and started gaining mass popularity, and that helped it move from pirate radio station to mainstream channels. It got so popular that it even spawned subgenres such as Jump-Up, Techstep, Hardstep and Soundscapes. Its popularity kept on increasing until 2000 when the UK Garage music genre appeared on the scene with many hit singles. UK Garage featured high tempos and heavy basslines and merged them with House Music. It was just a step in the evolution of Drums and Bass.

Even right now, Drums and Bass music is frequently played in mainstream media, movies and tv. It also serves as a benchmark for music genres like Grime and Dubstep. It really is acknowledged as a new genre of dance music. It is actually quick and groovy and that's why people today still enjoy it. And, should you ever desire to get started on Drums and Bass, just pick up a mix CD or hit the club along with your pals and appreciate the ride.




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