Drum and Bass History
How breakbeat hardcore and jungle became drum and bass, the drum break behind it, and the artists and labels that shaped the sound.
Drum and bass is a fast British dance music that grew out of the UK rave scene in the early 1990s, first as jungle. Its central sound has stayed the same through every substyle: rapid, chopped-up breakbeats, usually somewhere around 160 to 180 beats per minute, over deep, rolling sub-bass.
From rave to jungle
Drum and bass originated in the UK rave scene, developing from breakbeat hardcore. As rave music got faster and more rhythmic in the early 1990s, producers took sampled hip-hop and funk breakbeats, sped them up and anchored them with bass patterns borrowed from dub and reggae sound-system culture. That sound was first called jungle.
As the decade went on, the name drum and bass came into wider use for music that kept jungle's breaks and bass but often dropped its ragga vocals and samples, in favour of smoother, more atmospheric or more technical production. Many fans still use the two names side by side.
The Amen break and the sound
One of the genre's signature elements is the Amen break, a few seconds of drum solo played by Gregory Coleman on "Amen, Brother", the 1969 B-side by the American soul group the Winstons. Chopped, rearranged and sped up, it became a staple of jungle and drum and bass in the 1990s and remains one of the most sampled drum recordings in music. Under the breaks sits the bass: a sub-bass line heavy enough to be felt as much as heard, which gives the genre its name.
Pioneers, labels and substyles
Goldie, Roni Size, LTJ Bukem and Bad Company are among the names most often cited as defining the genre. Goldie co-founded the Metalheadz label, and his album Timeless was a landmark for the genre in the mid-1990s. Roni Size and his Bristol collective Reprazent won the Mercury Prize with their album New Forms, bringing drum and bass to a much wider audience. LTJ Bukem's Good Looking Records championed a jazzy, atmospheric style, and his track "Demon's Theme" is widely cited as a blueprint for what became known as intelligent or atmospheric drum and bass.
Over time the genre split into recognisable substyles. Liquid drum and bass is smooth and musical, built on soulful vocals and warm chords. Neurofunk is dark and technical, with twisting, heavily processed basslines. Jump-up is bouncy and rowdy, built on simple, catchy bass hooks for the dancefloor. Most share a similar tempo; it is the mood and the bass design that set them apart.
The main things hold across all of them: a fast, busy break and a rumbling bass. To hear the story in order, start with classic jungle, move on to the landmark albums by Goldie and Roni Size, then explore liquid, neurofunk and jump-up to find the side of drum and bass that suits you.
