Publication

THE HISTORY OF IN

The brief for this project was to create a publication based around a certain subculture of Bristol, and explore both its positive and negative aspects.

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 his lesser known musical ventures is Earthling, a DnB record released in 1997.



REBEL MUSIC 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. 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.

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.”



ST PAUL’S, BRISTOL

Modern day Clubs like Lakota and Thekla have been Within the community that’s built up running Jungle and Drum and Bass around this music scene, many are events since the 90s, and have become praying that other venues don’t meet the hotspots for teenagers across the same fate. country to attend raves and big nights out there in their summer break. If Bristol were to lose these clubs, a large chunk of the city’s history would go However, in the past year the financial down with them. In such a youth- pressure applied by the coronavirus oriented place, nights out at rave caves pandemic may be the straw that breaks are some of the most unifying events for the camel’s back, when combined with the young people of Bristol and the landlords’ pre-existing plans to renovate country as a whole. 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 after 28 years of service.

The case for bass While some look down on DnB for the reputation its gathered around drug culture and noise pollution, there are huge positives this subculture brings to the table for young people today that are often overlooked. The clubs that run these events are as much of a social space for teenagers as pubs, parks or cafes. They provide a safe space for complete escapism for a night, which is a rare and treasured trait to have, and the reason people keep coming back. It’s nothing new, though – raves and music gigs have been loud and obnoxious since loud, obnoxious music came to be. DnB seems to get a particularly negative treatment by older generations using the “It’s Just Noise” argument. It certainly is a lot of noise, but this is nothing unique to DnB, and the argument of whether something is music or is musical has and will continue forever. Drum and bass is part of a long heritage of genres which have aimed to unite their fans while annoying and offending everyone else. From acid house to hip hop to punk rock – all have served the younger generations as a means to express themselves when they couldn’t find any other way to let it out. Loud music gets rid of an itch that nothing else can scratch.