20th-century club dance music. It developed out of Disco and the invention of the synthesizer into a major worldwide force, eclipsing rock; unlike most others genres, it has developed at a very fast rate, aided largely by the continual invention of sub-genres and frequent artistic collaborations.
The roots of dance music can be traced to the early Hip hop crews of the New York streets in the late 1970s. Hip hop was the fusion of early DJ techniques (see DJ (ii), Mix and Scratching), Rap, break dance and, significantly, graffiti culture. The DJ's use of specially extended versions of tracks (on 12-inch singles) had begun in the last days of disco with records by the New York Citi Peech Boys, D Train and others. Artists such as Kool Herc and D.J. Hollywood began mixing and scratching records at block parties in the south Bronx. They were then joined by early rap artists, who gave the Jamaican art of toasting a more contemporary, political and lyrical vitality. Afrika Bambaataa further developed hip hop with Planet Rock (Tommy Boy, 1982), a record which, instead of scratching and mixing, incorporated the synthesizers and drum machines then being exploited by Germany's Kraftwerk and early UK synth-pop artists.
As rap and hip hop gained wider appeal, Blondie – an established white rock act – introduced the styles to a mainstream audience with their US number one single, Rapture (Chrysalis, 1980). In the same way, scratching and break dance was highlighted in the UK by the white artist Malcolm McLaren, with Buffalo Girls (Charisma, 1983).
In the late 1980s, hip hop developed into House when Derrick May, based in Detroit, combined it with funk and soul grooves, the use of 4/4 beat-based drum machines and early sampling techniques. Other early instigators of house included Carl Craig and Todd Terry. The first house records to achieve mass appeal in the UK were Love can't turn around (1986) by Farly Jackmaster Funk, followed by the UK's first number one house hit, Jack Your Body (DJ Int., 1986) by Steve Silk Hurley (based in Chicago), and later by the UK's first home-grown house number one, Pump Up the Volume (4AD, 1987) by M/A/R/R/S, which was also one of the first Indie music-dance music crossover tracks.
The term ‘house’ is said to have developed from the Warehouse club in Chicago, where the pioneer of the style, Frankie Knuckles, was the resident DJ. At the same time, New York's Paradise Garage club was gaining an equal reputation for attracting crowds of all types. Unlike disco or rock before it, people of all races and sexual orientations mixed in the new dance clubs. The Paradise Garage is also one possible origin of Garage music, which has co-existed with house ever since, most notably spawning ‘speed garage’ in the late 1990s.
House has remained a consistent area of experimentation and generated many other genres, most notably ‘acid house’ and Techno. Acid house was the term used to describe the sound of the ‘squelchy’ Roland TB-303 synthesizer bass effects achieved by the Chicago-based pioneer Marshall Jefferson and Phuture (the band he produced) on their inspirational single Acid Trax (Trax, 1987). The style combined with the drug ecstasy and illegal rave parties in the UK, and began a transformation of dance music with an impact reminiscent of 1960s' psychedelia. This coincided with the rebirth of rap, which now ranged from the highly political (Public Enemy) to the intentionally irreverent (De La Soul). Acid house exponents in the UK included S Express, D-Mob, Jolly Roger and a host of imitators. The style also led to some of the mainstays of British dance music including Bomb the Bass, DJ Mark Moore (of S Express) and Liam Howlett (of the Prodigy).
The ‘anything goes’ attitude of acid house also inspired the ailing UK jazz scene, resulting in Acid jazz (ii). Consequently, live bands such as Corduroy, Brand New Heavies and JTQ (the James Taylor Quartet) acted as an antidote to the entirely synthesized doodlings of acid house. Over a couple of years, acid house transformed into the Rave scene, which was fought by the UK establishment and influenced the Criminal Justice Bill in a bid by the authorities to outlaw outdoor dance events and the increasingly widespread use of ecstasy.
With acid house parties and then raves came the need for ‘chill-out areas’ to coexist with huge, often-outdoor dance events. Chill-out DJs originally played anything from Brian Eno, Jon Hassell and other ambient music innovators to environmental sound effects and Motown soul. These were soon combined on record and merged into the new form Ambient house, whose prime exponents were the Orb. Although the Orb have continued to develop the ambient house sound, other artists who can be considered early pioneers of the style, such as 808 State, Orbital and Future Sound of London, have since taken a more experimental, techno-oriented direction.
Ambient house and acid house converged in the Balearic islands soon after to create ‘Balearic beats’, which has continued to act as a testing ground for new styles and clubs. The ‘Balearic beats’ scene of the early 1990s included remixes of anything from teen pop (Mandy Smith) to industrial music (Nitzer Ebb). It was transformed in the late 90s into the Ibiza scene which regenerated Trance.
Rave music was such a widespread phenomenon that for a period it merged with traditional rock and guitar music. Such performers of indie music as Primal Scream worked with dance producers, and some bands (such as the Beloved, the Shamen and, latterly, Everything but the Girl) even converted to become completely dance based. This lead to the ‘baggy’ era, characterized by bands that included both guitarists and DJs or some element of dance production. Its notable bands included the Happy Mondays, the Farm, Inspiral Carpets and Stone Roses. Largely a UK development, some achieved massive success in the USA, notably EMF.
Although rave gained more commercial success than acid house (with artists such as Altern 8 and Praga Khan), it quickly was seen as a novelty and disappeared underground to transform into the even more pounding and unexpurgated sub-genres of ‘happy hardcore’ and ‘gabba’. At the same time, techno became visible on a large scale. The term had originally been coined in the late 1980s by Derrick May, taken from the ‘Techno Rebels as agents of the Third Wave’ in Alvin Toffler's novel, The Third Wave. The style began as a harder, more funky and edgy version of house music, which then spiralled off in one direction as May spiralled off in another with the more subliminal ‘deep house’ sound. By the mid-1990s, techno was being explored by Europeans with the Berlin-based ‘Teutonic beats’ collective and the Belgian label R&S.
With commercial acceptance of all styles of dance music increasing, commercial flavours of techno became increasingly common, and acts such as 2 Unlimited and Snap (both featuring singers and dancers fronting the music of unseen producers) enjoyed huge success. In fact, some new sub-genres of dance music, such as the disco style ‘handbag’, existed only in the commercial space.
With such increasing commercialism, rebirth from the street level that had produced rap and hip hop was imminent and much needed. In Bristol, Trip hop was created in the mid-1990s when the slow, dark indie attitude was mixed with dance breaks, beats and samples in the work of Portishead and Massive Attack. As numerous other artists (including Morcheeba) developed the trip hop sound, it – like ambient house – became a key sub-genre of dance music which was not actually made for dancing.
Soon after in London, producers and DJs began sampling and playing at breakneck speed records saturated with a sense of rhythm, so creating Breakbeat and Jungle. Artists such as Goldie and record labels such as Movin Shadow defined a rhythmic renaissance which lost little of its original style or appeal after development into the widespread and more commercial genre, drum ‘n’ bass. The up-tempo onslaught of jungle was echoed with the next development of the indie music-dance music crossover, as witnessed by the ‘big beat’ sound of artists such as the Chemical Brothers and Bentley Rhythm Ace. ‘Big beat’ combined hardcore drum machine theatrics (inspired in part by early Art of Noise records such as Beatbox, 1984) with rock vocals and arrangements. At the same time, garage music was experiencing a rebirth with the equally hardcore ‘speed garage’.
By this time, the USA had undergone a hard-fought battle to bring rap into the mainstream (via the ‘Parental Advisory’ campaign in the late 1980s to outlaw, or at least to highlight, explicit lyrics). With it, the R&B label had become a major force with artists such as TLC and R Kelly and producer-artists such as Puff Daddy and Babyface gaining national and international prominence. The label managed to combine street credibility with a multi-million-dollar industry, as did several other parts of dance music, notably the UK ‘superclubs’. The superclubs' success was helped by the increasing fascination of the media and public with DJs who, through remix and production work, had permeated into most other areas of pop music. DJs including Sasha, Paul Oakenfold, Carl Cox and Paul Van Dyk were able to command huge salaries and celebrity status. The superclubs of Cream, Ministry of Sound and Gatecrasher (based in Liverpool, London and Sheffield respectively) used aggressive marketing through such products as compilation albums and magazines to become brand names that far exceeded the prominence of many record labels and certainly many of the by now faceless dance music artists they played. All owed a debt not only to Paradise Garage and the Warehouse, but also to Manchester's Hacienda club, one of the first UK clubs to devote whole nights to dance music and one which was part owned by one of the UK's early synth bands, New Order.
A.M. Jones, ed.: Technoart: Chromapark Issue (Berlin, 1996) [pubd to accompany exhibition at E-Werk, Berlin, April 1995]
M. James: State of Bass: Jungle – the Story So Far (London, 1997)
M. Collin: Altered State: the Story of Ecstasy Culture and Acid House (London, 1998)
S. Reynolds: Energy Flash: a Journey Through Rave Culture (London, 1998) [US edn Generation Ecstasy: Into the World of Techno and Rave Culture, Boston, 1998)
D. Sicko: Techno Rebels: the Renegades of Electronic Funk (New York, 1999)
IAN PEEL