A musical genre known as Acid House was born in the UK during the late 1980s to early 1990s. Acid House music mixed regular House music beats with other broken beats that had quicker tempos and accentuated basslines. In the early 1990s some music producers were putting together complete musical tracks made-up solely of broken beats. This was the birth of ‘Jungle Music’ and also the rave era.
These Breakbeat tracks began to incorporate raga vocals and tribal sounds. By the mid-1990s Jungle had become extremely popular with British youths with 100s of thousands of club-going fans. Shortly after, Jungle music’s reputation was smeared as people began to associate Jungle music with crime and criminal behavior. This was perhaps due to the rave and associated drug scene that flourished around this time.
At this time, Jungle music producers started to retract from the tribal style associated with Jungle and created what we now know as ‘Drum & Bass’. Whether or not the evolution/relabeling of Jungle happened in order to clean up the scenes reputation is not known for sure.
As Drum & Bass advanced and became more refined, commercial radio stations started to air more and more tracks, to the point where Drum & Bass tracks could be found in the UK charts.
These Breakbeat tracks began to incorporate raga vocals and tribal sounds. By the mid-1990s Jungle had become extremely popular with British youths with 100s of thousands of club-going fans. Shortly after, Jungle music’s reputation was smeared as people began to associate Jungle music with crime and criminal behavior. This was perhaps due to the rave and associated drug scene that flourished around this time.
At this time, Jungle music producers started to retract from the tribal style associated with Jungle and created what we now know as ‘Drum & Bass’. Whether or not the evolution/relabeling of Jungle happened in order to clean up the scenes reputation is not known for sure.
As Drum & Bass advanced and became more refined, commercial radio stations started to air more and more tracks, to the point where Drum & Bass tracks could be found in the UK charts.
The wide scale success and popularity of Drum & Bass was relatively short-lived at this time. A new genre was about to upstage the UK dance music scene. This was known as Garage Music and although classed as a new genre, musically, it was still closely related to Drum & Bass.
Drum & Bass was by no means dead. It still had a sizeable underground following and the music genre experienced a revival period in the early 2000s, where once again drum & bass tracks could be spotted in the charts and frequently heard on the radio.
Today, in global terms Drum & Bass, as a genre, isn’t widely known or listened to. However, many other music genres still look to Drum & Bass for inspiration. In the UK, Drum & Bass still enjoys significant popularity, with many night clubs having Drum & Bass only nights.
Drum & Bass was by no means dead. It still had a sizeable underground following and the music genre experienced a revival period in the early 2000s, where once again drum & bass tracks could be spotted in the charts and frequently heard on the radio.
Today, in global terms Drum & Bass, as a genre, isn’t widely known or listened to. However, many other music genres still look to Drum & Bass for inspiration. In the UK, Drum & Bass still enjoys significant popularity, with many night clubs having Drum & Bass only nights.