DnB Publication

A BRIEF INTRODUCTION Jungle and Drum and Bass have been growing steadily as an underground party scene since the late 80s in the UK. Nowadays, the popularity of British festivals has made it one of the most beloved and controversial genres in the country. Despite its success and mainstream influence, few people know of its short but rich history. To those who are aware, Bristol’s Drum and Bass scene in the 80s and 90s represented the cultural melting pot of the city, mixing a diverse variety of music with the early pioneering of electronic music production. With all of this in mind, Drum and Bass seems to be a style and a scene which could have only developed in a city like Bristol.

David Bowie One of the artist’s lesser known musical ventures is Earthling, a DnB record released in 1997.



REBEL MUSIC Before Drum and Bass, there was MCs like DJ Ron, DJ Hype, DJ Dextrous Jungle. Inspired by a mix of and Rebel MC (better known now as predominantly black genres such as Congo Natty). Reggae, Dancehall and Hip Hop, Jungle music emerged in the UK in the 1990s as The loud bass sounds and repetitive an underground music world for the looping samples of acid house, the 80s disenfranchised black youth – a post- rave genre of choice, carried over into Thatcher rebellion of sorts. Music the next decade in the form of Jungle, journalist Simon Reynolds described it only it was much faster (150-170bpm), as “Britain's very own equivalent to US and focused on rebellion and political hip-hop”, as the sound was constantly and cultural struggles rather than the evolving through a variety of pioneer “peace and love” message of previous rave genres. Drum and Bass noun Drum and Bass is a genre of electronic music characterised by fast breakbeats with heavy bass and sub-bass lines, sampled sources, and synthesizers. The music grew out of breakbeat hardcore. The popularity of drum and bass at its commercial peak ran parallel to several other homegrown dance styles.

THE CITY OF BRISTOL In Bristol, the new electronic genres started growing in areas like St Paul’s, where a large array of cultures lived in the early 90s and continue to today. A lot of these families came over from Jamaica, Trinidad and other Caribbean islands during the Windrush in the 1930s. This particular melting pot of cultures, combined with the rapid growth of popularity and accessibility of electronic music production, is what birthed Drum and Bass music and it’s many subgenres. The music exploded in Bristol as it was something new and exciting for the party and rave scene of the city’s next generation. As British music producer DJ Die said in an interview for Red Bull regarding Bristol’s history of the scene: “It really was a melting pot. You had this massive black Jamaican community here mixing with the hippies and the cider drinkers and the soundmen…loads of DJs, Hip Hop, and Acid House.” Clubs like Lakota and Thekla have been running Jungle and Drum and Bass events since the 90s, and have become hotspots for teenagers across the country to attend raves and big nights out there in their summer break.



ST PAUL’S, BRISTOL

Title here However, in the past year the financial pressure applied by the coronavirus pandemic may be the straw that breaks the camel’s back, when combined with landlords’ pre-existing plans to renovate many of these venues into bigger money-making businesses, especially student accommodation. One of the city’s major nightclubs, Blue Mountain, closed earlier this year due to these circumstances. Within the community that’s built up around this music scene, many are praying that other venues don’t meet the same fate.

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