HELLO! WELCOME TO THE VERY FIRST IN A LONG LINE OF SECTIONS THAT WILL AIM TO DETAIL IN FULL, THE HISTORY OF BREAKBEAT CULTURE IN JUNGLE AND DRUM AND BASS!
Now we’ve heard the original source of many of those analogue, hand crafted, studio recorded drum breaks we’ve come to know and love, and tasted some of the cultural influences from across the world, let’s deep dive into the real history of drum and bass, starting with the very first mutations in 1988 and moving forward until the present day.
As you will see, there really wasn’t a breakbeat genre to speak of in ’88, so we’re trying to take a look at records that either provided sounds that were later incorporated into the emerging UK sound, or that were big tunes in their own right across acid raves and the M25 orbital illegals.
Disclaimer: This is just our interpretation of the chain of events. During this and subsequent sections we’re simply trying to tell the story of how the music evolved by actually focusing on and listening to the music itself.
Shoehorning so much music into a list of 15 or 20 or 30 tracks is a challenge, but we will do our best to pick key tunes with key elements that provide as accurate a story as we feel is possible within the constraints of lists per year.
If you want to know more, deep dive for yourself. This whole project is meant to be a springboard for the curious mind, and not a debate on those who think they know more, or better. The whole thing is open to interpretation, and this is just ours. More than anything, start at the start and enjoy!
Disclaimer 2: This whole project from 1988 up to 1995 has its focus mostly on the use of the breakbeat within hardcore, jungle and very early drum and bass. We have provided separate sections for key years so that the listener can also build a picture of what else was happening alongside the breakbeat movement, and beyond.
Disclaimer 3: While a lot of this project has been/will be completed from memory, we also want to give credit to the fine people on the internet who have made such huge efforts to record and preserve the data and information that keeps this thing alive. If that includes you, BIG UP YOURSELVES. We are all in this together and there is no, one, definitive answer.
Disclaimer 4: I’m not trying to re-write history here. This is for the people who don’t know. Not the people who do. However! If you DO know, and you have a better version or some suggestions that I’ve missed, PLEASE get in touch.
There is more than one source on the web that state quite categorically that this track was written in ’88 but not released until 1991. It’s already an exceptional tune, but to think it may have been created in a year when there was next to no (or maybe none, our research will hopefully tell all) tracks in a similar vein is just mind-blowing. So yeah, we’ve stuck it in 1988 where we’re pretty sure it belongs. If we’re wrong, show us the evidence and we’ll move it. THE ORIGINAL BLUEPRINT!
DNB Dojo, an excellent drum and bass website currently taking a hiatus, posted this edited text in a ‘Classic Track’ feature back in 2020. The original text came directly from a comment made by Lennie on a YouTube upload of We Are I.E
“I’m glad this tune has inspired & invoked the feelings and some unforgettable memories. Having that moment together was a magical experience. It [We Are I.E.] was originally made in 1988, but sat on my reel-to-reel as an unfinished skeleton mix; it was heavily an instrumental, but something was missing until 1989 when I got my new Akai S950 sampler and put samples in to complete it in December.
A few months before Bank Holiday, May Alldayer performed live for Empathy State of Mind at Dungeons along with Ill Tempo, myself, and Kickski Love. Adamski was also on the bill—he played before us and did well. We played afterwards with less equipment: a drum machine, Juno 106, and MT8 sequencer. We kicked the granny out of it. The whole of the room upstairs kicked off. There was that moment during the performance that the penny dropped. Watching the crowd, we were one, on a mission. While still buzzing from the rave, I then encapsulated that moment in We Are I.E. I had played it a few times on Rave FM, which was the pirate station I was a part of.
I.E. is Latin meaning ‘example,’ [We Are I.E.] meaning “We Are Example of the Future.” This tune was made on a sequencer from the drum machines, programmed and recorded live with no computers involved. If it wasn’t for John at Reel 2 Reel Productions and Mikey at De Underground Records, picking that tune from out of 30 tunes I had to offer them, it might not have been the dance floor anthem it was.
That moment you had? We had it together! There is more to tell but that’s more for the book. I really appreciate you guys for being a part of the music revolution freedom to dance. When we raved under one roof! One sound! We became one. On a mission. Peace.”
RIEP LENNIE DE ICE – AN ARTIST OF UNDENIABLE FORESIGHT AND TALENT
Closely following up with what we think is the original jungle blueprint comes Frankie Bones. Not a lot has been said that we’ve found that really do what this guy was creating justice. Bare in mind that in 1988 hip hop was still only really starting to utilise the sampled drum break, while Frankie Bones was already speeding them up and adding them to dance tracks.
Frankie was getting bookings at the end of the 80s to travel over to the UK to play the big illegal parties, and even at this early stage he could see the power of using breaks in a dance music setting. For this we believe he must be placed at the very start of our journey through the history of drum and bass. Without Frankie Bones and his breaks, the UK (and Belgian) rave scenes would have looked very, very different. A true originator without question.
There are a lot of different stories out there about this Todd Terry production, but the one that is most important to us the that it seems to be one of, if not the first track to utilise that classic synth ‘stab’ sound that became synonymous with the hardcore sound the UK became famous for a few years later. We don’t have the finite details, but what we do know is that for 1988, this was a pretty radical release!
It’s almost impossible to imagine the landscape of drum and bass music without the prior existence of this record. Keven ‘Reese’ Saunderson (so called because his middle name is Maurice) allegedly created this iconic bass sound on a Casio CZ 5000 by adjusting the patch and oscillators.
That he did it back in 1988 is also difficult to imagine, given that the sound is still being used over 35 years later. First utilised (in jungle anyway – see our 1993 and1994 jungle sections) to devastating effect by the mighty jungle pioneers Grooverider and Ray Keith back in 1993 and 1994 respectively, this epic bass warble truly changed the face of DNB. A sonic milestone if ever there was one.
