Drum And Bass

This page is about the music genre. For the UK d&b duo, see Drum And Bass (2)
Drum And Bass (also abbreviated to Drum 'N' Bass or D&B) is a style of electronic dance music played at speeds of 150-180 bpm. As the name suggests, the outstanding features are: the use of looped drum solos Or breakbeats, usually bearing the names of the tracks from which they are sampled, such as Amen Break and Funky Drummer, and the samples are used to create new rhythms; and a heavy bassline normally created using sampled sources or synthesizers. It evolved from hardcore and thence into jungle in the early 1990s and the two are often confused: artists frequently work in both genres. Likewise, attempting to pinpoint the earliest drum and bass track is akin to trying to identify the first rock 'n' roll record. However, Meat Beat Manifesto's 1989 track 'Radio Babylon' (which featured in their one and only Peel session) has a reasonable claim to being one of the earliest with an identifiable d&b sound.
===Peel's Influence===
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"I do have difficulty, I think I may have mentioned this before, in separating out where jungle begins and ends, and drum and bass begins and ends, and even intelligent drum and bass ..."(John Peel, 10 June 1995 (BFBS))
"It seems ages since John Peel observed that the best thing about 'intelligent' drum'n'bass was that it implied the existence of 'stupid' drum'n'bass, which would be fantastic...."(NME, 12 Sept 2005)
JP's odyssey through the various genres of dance, from funk to hip hop and house had always originated in the States, but drum and bass was a UK phenomenon on which he avidly seized. the 07 April 1995 show is typical in that he is excited by a large quantity of material that has just arrived and programmes much of it into his show, although he also lamented that much of it would remain unheard on his show:
"I tell you what, for every one of these jungle or drum and bass tracks that I play you, there's about five or six more that I'd like to be able to. A lot of astonishing stuff around." (19 May 1995) 
The genre's popularity peaked around 1995, when Goldie broke into the album charts with Timeless and cracked the UK top 40 chart with a remix of 'Inner City Life.' It is significant that the Ministry Of Sound's Anthems compilation began with this track, although Wikipedia dates the first flood of material at around 1992. In 1997, session artist Roni Size won the Mercury Prize with debut LP "New Forms". However, it was a genre that prompted little consistent interest from major record companies, with most aggregations releasing a few 12 inches and then moving on. As Ben Gilman notes:
The style seemed to be heading for emergence into general popularity a few years back, with every pop act wanting a fashionable jungle remix on their B-sides and every "trendy" advertising agency putting 160+BPM breakbeats (in) their TV commercials. However, fortunately a genre so embedded in the underground was destined to remain that way, and it probably saved it. To be widely accepted would have killed the cutting-edge nature of the drum and bass scene and destined it to a commercial onslaught that would have ultimately destroyed the most forward-thinking of music. 
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John's relentless championing of d&b did not win over everybody, and on 28 January 1995 (BFBS) he responded to a man who announced he was intending to cease listening due to the amount of dance music on his show...by playing a track by a group called Drum And Bass. Nevertheless, the Sonic Subjunkies' album 'Molotov Lounge' took the breakbeats to a manic level and 'Do You Even Know Who You Are?,' with its ominous movie sample, exposed Peel's audience to a sub-genre known as darkside. It made number 16 in the 1999 Festive Fifty. Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys averred Ken Garner, The Peel Sessions, p.174. that it was John's playing of these genres in the 'lost years' of the mid-90's for which he would be remembered. It was therefore a matter of some conflict between the DJ and the BBC when in 1996, as Sheila relates, he lost an hour of his programme to accommodate a new d&b show (One In The Jungle): he pointed out to Matthew Bannister that he had been playing this before anybody else. Margrave Of The Marshes, Corgi edition, p.417-9. He had become the victim of his own success.
Attempts to shift D&B into the mainstream fell foul of JP's radar. When the Fall attempted to experiment with the genre on the 1998 LP Levitate, JP was less than enthusiastic, and this was arguably the reason for a temporary rift between him and Mark E. Smith: he presumably felt that it was a genre better suited to other groups.
John continued to play the music into the 21st century and in the final year of his life became consumed with yet another discovery: grime.
===Peelenium===
The track 'Arkine's Lost' by Canopy & Matrix represented the sole acknowledgement by Peel in the retrospective to D&B's influence. It was an even more underground track than usual: pressed in a limited edition of 500 and as John himself admitted, nearly disappeared entirely into the mountain of unheard material at Peel Acres. It has come to be known as an early example of ambient drum and bass, possessing a bleak outlook that looked forward to darkside.
===Compilations===
	
	
(Plays by Peel of v/a compilations of drum and bass. Please add more information if known.)
(2xLP, CD - Drum & Bass Selection 1) Breakdown 
*21 October 1994: Engineers Without Fears: Spiritual Aura 
*29 October 1994: D’Cruze: Watch Out 
(2xLP, 2xCD - Drum & Bass Selection 2) Breakdown
*26 November 1994: DJ Hype: Rrrroll Da Beats 
*03 December 1994 (BFBS): DJ Hype: Rrrroll Da Beats 
(2xLP - Grooverider Presents Hardstep Selection Volume 1) Kickin' 
*21 January 1995: L Double: Retreat Compilation 
*27 January 1995: DJ Slipmatt: Breaking Free 
*04 February 1995 (BFBS): DJ Slipmatt: Breaking Free
(12" - Enforcers Volume Eight) Reinforced
*19 May 1995: Manix: 'Turn Away Skull Special Request (Tek 9 Remix) 
(2x10" - Subplates Volume 4) Suburban Base 
*22 July 1995: Solution: What Can I Do 
(3x12", CD - Music Box: A New Era In Drum & Bass) Full Cycle
*13 April 1996: Scorpio: Welcome The Drummer (Year 2000 mix)
*13 April 1996: Roni Size, DJ Krust & DJ Die: I Remember
*27 April 1996: Roni Size, DJ Krust & DJ Die: I Remember
(2xLP, CD - Storm From The East) Moving Shadow
*12 May 1996: E-Z Rollers: Believe 
(2xLP, CD - Hidden Rooms) Certificate 18
*10 April 1997: Studio Pressure: Jump MKII
(5x12", 2xCD - Breakbeat Science 2) Volume
*24 April 1997: DJ Rap: Fury
(3xLP, 2xCD - Platinum Breakz II) Metalheadz
*09 December 1997: Rufige Kru: Dark Metal (Remix)
(5x12", CD - Enforcers (The Beginning Of The End)) Reinforced
*17 February 1998: Procedure 769: J.V.4 
*26 February 1998: Seiji: Buggin' Out 
(2xLP, CD - Kemistry & Storm: DJ-Kicks) Studio !K7
*20 February 1999 (BFBS): Jonny L: Uneasy 
*25 February 1999: Unknown Artist: unknown track
*03 March 1999: Bill Riley: Closing In 
*04 March 1999 (Radio Eins): Bill Riley: Closing In
*04 March 1999: Jonny L: Uneasy 
(3x12" / CD - Hidden Rooms Vol. II.) Certificate 18
*30 March 1999: Black Science Labs: Light Between Two Moons
*April 1999 (FSK): Lexis: Irrampent
*28 April 1999: Klute: Leo 9
*29 April 1999: Paradox & DMR: Discordant
*12 May 1999: Black Science Labs: Light Between Two Moons 
(3x12", CD - 3 The Hardway) Renegade Hardware    
*April 1999 (FSK): Marcus Intalex: Plastic 
*22 April 1999:  Marcus Intalex: Plastic
(4x12", CD - Rollcage Stage II The Soundtrack) Moving Shadow
*26 April 2000: Dom & Roland: Spooks
(7x12” – Aftermath (Essential Rewindz)) Renegade Hardware
*27 September 2000: Digital: Lockdown
*01 November 2000: DJ Reality: Tunnel Vision
(CD, 5x12" - Drum And Bass Arena) React
*14 August 2001: Total Science: Yvon Is On 
*22 August 2001: Accidental Heroes: Dub Wise
(2x12” / CD- Hidden Rooms, Volume Three) Certificate 18
*22 August 2001: Teebee: Black Rain
*27 September 2001 (Radio Eins): Teebee: Black Rain
(2x12" EP - TOV 50) Trouble On Vinyl
*09 May 2002: Total Silence: Bogarts
*26 June 2002: Capone: Hooligan 
*11 July 2002 (Radio Eins): Capone: Hooligan
*07 August 2002: Total Silence: Bogarts
(5x12", CD - Enforcers (Battle of the Breaks)) Reinforced
*13 December 2001: Randall & Flex: One Way
*30 January 2002: Bug Nyne: Demolition 
*17 February 2002 (BBC World Service): Bug Nyne: Demolition
(2x12" - Renegade Chronicles Vol. 1) Renegade Hardware
*April 2003 (FSK): Raiden: It's All Out War
*03 April 2003 (Radio Eins): Raiden: All Out War
(CD - Skool Of Hard Knocks) Renegade Hardware
*11 May 2004: Pendulum & Bulletproof: Mind's Eye
*12 May 2004: Digital: Ego 
== See Also ==
*Record Boxes: Mala
==Links==
*Wikipedia (general article)
*Wikipedia (history)
*History of d&b 1990-2000
;Footnotes
Category:Genres
Category:Compilations