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Drum 'n' Bass/ Jungle

Drum and bass (commonly abbreviated to DnB or drum n bass) is a type of electronic dance music also known as jungle. more...

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Emerging in the early 1990s, the genre is characterised by fast tempo broken beat drums (generally between 160 & 180 beats per minute) with heavy, often intricate basslines. Today, drum and bass is still considered an underground musical style, but its currents of influence run throughout popular music and culture.

Drum and bass began as an offshoot of the United Kingdom breakbeat hardcore and rave scene of the late 1980s; and over the first decade of its existence there have been many permutations in its style, incorporating elements from dancehall, electro, funk, hiphop, house, jazz, metal, pop, reggae, rock, techno and trance.

History

For the history of drum and bass music, please refer to the history article which details the origins of this genre in UK rave culture alongside the origin of the name jungle, the appearance of junglist subculture, the change in name and musical evolution to drum and bass and its development through its short-lived mainstream popularity, subsequent crisis and post-millennial rebirth.

Summary

The late 1980's and early 1990's saw the development of a musical style and scene (referring to the social aspects around the music) known as acid house in the UK. The music of acid house combined regular beats alongside broken, syncopated, beats and strong basslines and fast tempos (faster than house music tempos). As time drew by, musical tracks containing only broken beats began to be known as "jungle" and began to constitute a separate and recognizable musical genre (circa 1991-1992) popular at raves and on pirate radio in urban Britain. These tracks often combined ragga vocal tracks, broken beats and basslines. By 1994 jungle began to gain mainstream popularity and junglists as fans of the music began calling themselves became a recognisable part of British youth subculture. At this time jungle began to be associated with criminal activity and perhaps as a reaction or perhaps independently of this, producers began to draw away from the ragga style and create what they labelled drum and bass. There is no clear point at which jungle became drum and bass, though most jungle producers continue nowadays to produce what they call drum and bass.

As the music style became more polished and sophisticated, it began to shift from pirate to commercial radio and gain widespread acceptance (circa 1995-1997). It also began to split into recognisable subgenres such as jump-up. As a lighter sound of drum and bass began to win over the musical mainstream, many producers continued to work on the other end of the spectrum, resulting in a series of releases which highlighted a dark, technical sound which drew more influence from techno music and the soundscapes of science fiction and anime films, this sub-genre became know as techstep (circa 1997-1998). Whilst evolving musically, drum and bass found itself suddenly upstarted by the garage/2step musical style, which drew part of its inspiration from drum and bass. This genre quickly eclipsed drum and bass in popularity and nearing the turn of the millennium, predictions and statement were being made that "drum and bass is dead". Drum and bass however survived this event and the turn of the millennium has seen a revival in its popularity and continuing development, i.e. the appearance of the liquid funk subgenre which draws its inspiration from house and disco alongside a new wave of artists, joining the "jungle" pioneers. It remains a fairly unknown musical style but makes frequent unrecognised appearance in the mainstream as well as being highly influential on other musical styles and some of its artists are widely known, perhaps none more so than Goldie. It remains most popular in its birthplace in the UK but has spread worldwide over the short period of its existence.