Music
Out of the melting pot: The origins and evolution of drum'n'bass
Hear some of the sound's pioneers tell the genre's origin story through Red Bull's expansive lecture series.
Something special happened in UK music in the early ‘90s. A new inner-city soundtrack was forming, fusing the last 20 years of Black music and youth culture. Reggae, rare groove, hip-hop, soul, acid house, funk, hardcore, Detroit techno and many other influences were all in the mix as what was then known as “jungle drum‘n’bass” began to take seed. Goldie describes it as “the bastard child” of electronic music. Fabio says “it’s never tried to be cool.” The sound has spent the last 25-plus years infiltrating and influencing club culture across the world -- and it’s done so on its own terms, by its own rules, at its own tempo.
Learn about some of the ways this happened, and how much the genre has evolved and mutated, through Red Bull’s extensive collection of lectures and conversations with some of the scene’s most important figures. Use the hyperlinks to jump to specific points of interest.
The melting pot
The early ‘90s was an incredible, accelerated period in the history of many foundational electronic genres in the UK, but few movements enjoyed such an explosive impact, rapid rise and sprawling diversification as the birth of jungle drum’n’bass.
By 1991, the original acid house free-for-all that had begun in ‘88 started to split into distinct sonic camps: house and techno had already been established, but hardcore was still spawning like a Gremlin munching after midnight. The tempo was getting faster and more and more ideas and samples were thrown into the genre’s largely breakbeat-based framework. By 1992, two directions were forming: the pitched-up vocals and big pianos of happy hardcore and the heavier, darker, more uncompromising and future-focused sounds of what would eventually become known as jungle drum’n’bass.
“It was a very rebellious state of England at that time,” explains Goldie, the architect of some of the genre’s most seminal records such as Terminator (under the name Rufige Kru) and the era-defining album Timeless. “It’s part of the underground fabric, New York has hip-hop, we have drum’n’bass…” [Listen to Goldie at 00:11:28]
Goldie had been in Miami during the dawn of acid house but he returned to the UK at a pinnacle moment and was invited to a clubnight called Rage by two friends. Kemistry and Storm would go on to form one of the most distinctive duos in drum’n’bass throughout the ‘90s (until Kemistry’s tragic death in April 1999) and play a major role running the Metalheadz label and clubnights.
One of the key nights that explored the burgeoning breakbeat sound, the weekly Thursday night Rage events were a huge influence in the genre’s development thanks to its two residents Fabio & Grooverider -- two of jungle drum'n'bass' foremost pioneers. Originally rare groove and soul heads, their sound was a fusion of tougher US house beats (by the likes of Frankie Bones and Masters At Work) and UK breakbeat sounds like Lennie De Ice’s We Are IE and releases on groundbreaking labels like Ibiza Records, Moving Shadow, and 4Hero’s Reinforced Records.
“Their story at that time was that you weren’t supposed to mix house with acid or mix house with techno, but they liked it and Carl Cox was like ‘it’ll never work’,” laughs Storm as she takes us back to the melting pot of early rave and d’n’b. [Listen to Storm at 00:05:40]
It’s part of the underground fabric, New York has hip-hop, we have drum’n’bass
But it did work, of course. In fact the scene’s core pioneers were making it work from multiple angles. DJ Hype and Jumpin Jack Frost had soundsystem roots. Others, such as Bryan Gee and Randall, Fabio, LTJ Bukem and Ray Keith were rare groove DJs or came from acid house. The same wide range of influences inspired other pioneers who were key to the genre such as Doc Scott, Nicky Blackmarket, Micky Finn, DJ SS, Kenny Ken, Brockie and MC Det, Simon Bassline Smith, DJ Rap, DJ Ron, and the Full Cycle Bristol collective comprising Krust, Roni Size, Die, and Suv.
“Gradually over time it progressed into this sound they called jungle techno at the time,” says Krust. “For me it was all about breaks, the attitude of hip-hop and the production on the beats.” [Listen to Krust at 00:10:15]
Pirates and weeklies
This early energy and fusion was captured and accelerated and developed a loyal community of fans in two very clear ways throughout the ‘90s and well into the 2000s: pirate radio, and raves (both legal and otherwise).
“They were a major influence,” says dBridge of the pirate stations responsible for broadcasting this new futuristic electronic style beyond the dancefloors. “I remember driving around south London at the time you could pick up 14 or 15 pirate drum’n’bass stations. They were a big part of creating the hype and buzz and feeling of belonging as well.” [Listen to dBridge at 00:16:46]
Goldie
© Tilman Brembs
Pirate broadcasters such as Kool FM, Weekend Rush, and Centreforce were key to the development of jungle and drum’n’bass in various ways. Not only did they provide a platform for many DJs and MCs to establish themselves, but they were also the only stations broadcasting the music. DJ Zinc discussed the lack of musical diversity on commercial and mainstream channels back in 2005, explaining how pirates had no agenda but to play what they loved and that “for the first 10 years of drum’n’bass, you couldn’t hear it [on commercial radio]” [Listen to DJ Zinc at 00:08:42]
Another major benefit of the pirates in the early days was to provide essential information on the illegal raves happening that night. But as the Criminal Justice Bill moved the rave from the fields to the clubs, d’n’b had found other ways to incubate and mutate. While arena parties such as Raindance, Helter Skelter and Dreamscape were instrumental in pushing the sound to thousands across the country, it was a number of weeklies in London that all caught a moment in time and pushed the genre into exciting new directions: Speed, Movement and the Metalheadz Sunday Sessions at Blue Note.
I remember driving around south London at the time you could pick up 14 or 15 pirate drum’n’bass stations
Fabio, LTJ Bukem and agent Sarah Sandy founded Speed in 1993, a regular Thursday weekly in London’s West End that championed the deeper sounds of drum’n’bass that would eventually become known as ‘intelligent drum’n’bass’. Fabio believes it was the midweek status that created the night’s reputation.
“Weekends have become quite mainstream, the real music people are going out on weekdays -- regardless of going to work,” he explained in 2008. [Listen to Fabio at 00:50:51] Fabio also enjoyed huge success with Swerve, another midweekly movement and collective of artists around the liquid drum’n’bass subgenre. The place where the latest dubplates from second generation pioneers such as Calibre, Artificial Intelligence, and Alix Perez would be heard first, Swerve was another historic event in d’n’b history. But if there’s one seminal event that truly pushed drum’n’bass to its sonic and dynamic limits, it was Metalheadz’ Sunday night sessions at Blue Note.
A breeding ground for drum’n’bass innovation, Marcus Intalex described it in 2003 as “a specific moment in time where it could not be bettered.” [Listen to Marcus Intalex at 00:11:20] while Fabio described it as “mad times, very punk, very electric. It was the start of dark drum’n’bass.” [Listen to Fabio at 00:51:48]
Dubplates and futurism
In his 2003 lecture, Marcus Intalex captured the most important essence of drum’n’bass: innovation.
“The main thing that’s excited me about d’n’b is the next thing,” he explained. “Going to hear DJs playing tracks that had been made literally in the same couple of days. The latest thing. I want to be blinded by science. It’s like ‘how the hell did he do that?’” [Listen to Marcus Intalex at 00:10:31]
During the mid-to-late 1990s, an ‘arms race’ style of technologic and sonic creativity characterised a lot of the genre and went on to set its infamously high production levels that still exist today. A competitive spirit between crews on labels such as Prototype, Metalheadz, No U-Turn, Virus, Moving Shadow, Full Cycle, Playaz, and Ram Records meant artists were constantly trying to push and manipulate machines to make more dramatic or groundbreaking sounds and arrangements. “That was a driving force and that’s where the classics came from,” says Krust. [Listen to Krust at 00:18:10]
The real music people are going out on weekdays, regardless of going to work
And all these classics would no doubt be played out first on dubplate. Like pirates and midweeklies, dubplates – one-off acetate pressings of tracks that typically last between 30 and 50 plays – were intrinsic to jungle and drum’n’bass. Dubplates allowed DJs to road-test tracks, creating a quality filter that allowed the music to build momentum and create hype before its release. Super exclusive, they would often start with one or two of the most influential DJs. Grooverider, Fabio, Randall, Jumpin Jack Frost, DJ Hype, or Andy C were often top of the list. “It was what you had in your bag as to how people would book you,” explains Storm. “What labels did you have in your bag? What artists do you have in your bag? Have you got the hottest tunes?” [Listen to Storm at 00:21:40]
The hottest tunes were almost certainly cut at a renowned Tottenham cutting house called Music House. Another hotbed of creativity, it’s where DJs from across the UK would converge, trade tunes and ideas, develop relationships, and hear each other’s latest creations.
“That was one of the highlights of the scene at the time, it was a great communications point,” says Krust as he explains how – during the pre-internet era – it was often a place where you’d meet your peers for the first time [Listen to Krust at 00:15:00]
But communications changed in the early-to-mid 2000s as the en masse digital switch happened across all forms of electronic music. AOL’s instant messaging service -- called AIM -- became the de rigueur means of sharing music and CDJs became more commonplace. The forward-looking nature of playing the most upfront and unreleased ‘dubs’ remains a key characteristic in the genre to this day, but vinyl sales plummeted throughout the 2000s and into the 2010s as drum’n’bass became one of the last of the big genres to fully embrace digital DJing. As many of these lectures were filmed during the mid 2000s, when this switch took place, the tension between physical and digital output is a popular topic.
It was what you had in your bag as to how people would book you: What artists do you have in your bag? Have you got the hottest tunes?
Function Records boss and Metalheadz alumnus Digital lamented the loss of the personal touch, back in 2004. “People will hit me up and say ‘you got any tunes?’ They don’t know me from Adam. I’m like who the hell are you?” [Listen to Digital at 00:27:25] dBridge, meanwhile, considered the flipside in a lecture the following year and found the cheaper cost of burning a CD allowed DJs to be more experimental.
Fabio & Grooverider in the rave, 1988
© Fabio & Grooverider
“If I’m cutting this [acetate dub]plate, I better make sure I’m playing it,” the Exit Records boss says. “Whereas nowadays, because of the advent of CDJs, I can try things out before I commit. I can be a bit more open and diverse in the directions I can go.” [Listen to dBridge 00:36:48]
Zinc discussed similar issues the same year. He warned of a much higher proliferation of poor productions, but agreed that the digital transition was ultimately a vital catalyst for d’n’b to spread around the world. “There are kids in Eastern Europe and Brazil where they’ve got no money and they can make music and make amazing music…” [Listen to Zinc at 00:44:26]
The international movement and the next generation
Brazil would become one particularly prominent international outpost, as Bryan Gee championed the likes of DJ Marky, XRS, and Patife and presented the Brazilian sound to the UK. Elsewhere Teebee brought his Nordic Black Science take on d’n’b and launched Subtitles, a label which almost exclusively released international acts. Germany, France, America and Russia all have deep pockets of d’n’b support, The Netherlands has had a thriving scene since the early 2000s while, further afield, Australia gave the world Pendulum, and New Zealand spawned acts like Shapeshifter and The Upbeats and Concord Dawn who were first championed and released in the UK by Digital.
In the 2000s, entry points into drum’n’bass were becoming much wider. Krust explains how “slowly it was starting to spread out,” and that people “from different walks of life, people form hip-hop, house, jazz, they recognised elements of it.” [Listen to Krust at 00:46:20]
This was certainly the case for Tokyo-based Makoto who explained in a 2007 lecture how he had discovered d’n’b entirely by chance through Gilles Peterson. [Listen to Makoto at 00:12:10] Coming from a classically trained background, and with strong influences of acid jazz, his luxuriant musical signature is one (of many) great examples of how the world added to the drum’n’bass range throughout the 2000s -- and even more so to this day.
“We’ve got some great guys from Australia, New Zealand, America, China, everywhere,” said Fabio in his lecture. “[On] the worldwide level, the young cats are doing it, they’re shaking up the game.” [Listen to Fabio at 01:15:29]
This was back in 2008 and he goes on to highlight “a new slew” of artists who are keeping the older figureheads on their toes and adding at least another 15 years of energy and life to the scene. While those artists he cites (Alix Perez and Breakage specifically) are now prominent and influential scene headliners themselves, Fabio’s thoughts on the future remain just as relevant: drum’n’bass has continually regenerated and developed during its 30-plus year lifespan, constantly looking for that exciting next new thing.
There are kids in Eastern Europe and Brazil where they’ve got no money and they can make music and make amazing music…
This is also perhaps why the sound comes with so many subgenres: jump-up, liquid, neurofunk, dancefloor, minimal, deep and all substyles in-between require their own separate chapters in any drum’n’bass history book. But it’s these fundamental traditions and attitudes that have reinforced drum’n’bass music’s entire longevity and sustained a fiercely loyal community of artists and fans: that quest for newness and sharp eye on the future, the constant influx of influences from around the world, its insistence on high production traditions and extreme sonic dynamics, and its independence from the mainstream and major labels.
For dBridge, it’s the DIY ethos that’s the most important. “You’ve just got that ultimate control and there’s no answering to anyone,” says the erstwhile Bad Company member. He sheds light on how strong the genre’s independent spirit is and explains how much artists have fought for the music over the years. With major labels mis-marketing the sound and the UK press treating it like flavour of the month “it could have quite easily died, but there are producers out there who are like ‘no it’s too good to let go.’” [Listen to dBridge at 00:14:40]
Fifteen years later, at the start of a brand new decade, these words remain truer than ever. Regardless of its presence in the larger world of electronic music, d’n’b does its thing and those who are into it are part of it, contribute towards it, and are fully committed to it. “It gets tagged with this thing about not being trendy enough, or it’s this odd music that no one really gets,” concludes Fabio. “It’s quite grimy, it’s quite freestyle, it has its phases, but I like that.”
He’s not alone…
