Drum and bass
Drum and bass, also known as drum 'n' bass, is a genre of electronic dance music that emerged in the United Kingdom in the early 1990s. It is characterised by fast breakbeats with heavy bass and sub-bass lines, samples, and synthesizers.
Originating in the UK jungle scene in the early 1990s, drum and bass drew on elements of reggae, dub, hip hop, breakbeat hardcore, techno, and house. By the mid-1990s, it had become one of the most distinctive and technically innovative styles within the broader electronic dance music movement. The style of drum and bass often incorporates an array of influences from other genres including ambient, funk, jazz, soul, rock, and pop. The genre has since developed multiple subgenres and maintains both an underground and mainstream presence worldwide.
The popularity of drum and bass at its commercial peak ran parallel to several other UK dance styles. A major influence was the original Jamaican dub and reggae sound that influenced jungle's bass-heavy sound. Another feature of the style is the complex syncopation of the drum tracks' breakbeat. Drum and bass subgenres include breakcore, ragga jungle, hardstep, darkstep, techstep, neurofunk, ambient drum and bass, liquid drum and bass, jump up, drumfunk, sambass, and drill 'n' bass. Drum and bass has influenced other genres such as big beat, dubstep, trip hop and has been influenced by hip hop, house, ambient music, techno, jazz, rock and pop.
Drum and bass is dominated by a relatively small group of record labels. Major international music labels had shown very little interest in the drum and bass scene until BMG Rights Management acquired RAM in February 2016. Since then, the genre has seen a significant growth in exposure. Whilst the origin of drum and bass music is in the UK, the genre has evolved considerably with many other prominent fanbases located all over the world.
File:Adam-F at Listen-9-3-2k6.jpg|thumb|Adam F performs at Listen at Club Alchemy in New Haven, Connecticut, on 3 September 2006.
History
Origins (late 1980s – early 1990s)
Drum and bass traces its roots to the UK rave scene and breakbeat hardcore of the late 1980s. Tracks such as Lennie De Ice’s We Are I.E. combined breakbeats with reggae-influenced basslines and are often cited as precursors to jungle and drum and bass. Early producers including 4hero, Doc Scott, LTJ Bukem, Goldie, and Grooverider began shaping the sound by stripping away elements of hardcore rave music and emphasising bass and complex drum patterns.Mid-1990s: Jungle and mainstream recognition
By 1994, jungle — a style closely related to and often overlapping with early drum and bass — had entered mainstream UK youth culture. It was associated with sound system traditions, MC culture, and samples from reggae and dancehall. The genre further developed, incorporating and fusing elements from a wide range of existing musical genres, including the raggamuffin sound, dancehall, MC chants, dub basslines, and increasingly complex, heavily edited breakbeat percussion. Despite the affiliation with the ecstasy-fuelled rave scene, jungle also inherited associations with violence and criminal activity, both from the gang culture that had affected the UK's hip-hop scene and as a consequence of jungle's often aggressive or menacing sound and themes of violence. However, this developed in tandem with the often positive reputation of the music as part of the wider rave scene and dancehall-based Jamaican music culture prevalent in London. By 1995, whether as a reaction to, or independently of this cultural schism, some jungle producers began to move away from the ragga-influenced style and create what would become collectively labelled, for convenience, as drum and bass.Late 1990s: Expansion and subgenres
Additional subgenres emerged in mid-1990s including techstep, influenced by techno and science-fiction aesthetics. Parallel to these, more melodic and accessible forms like liquid funk emerged, pioneered by artists such as High Contrast and Calibre. Drum and bass became more polished and technically sophisticated in the mid-late 1990s. Subgenres such as hardstep, jump up, ragga, jazzstep and what was known as intelligent drum and bass emerged. Roni Size & Reprazent’s album New Forms won the Mercury Prize, signalling wider critical recognition. Drum and bass began to expand its reach from pirate radio to commercial stations and gain widespread acceptance in the late 1990s, when darker styles such as neurofunk developed.The 2000s saw drum and bass spread globally, with scenes developing in continental Europe, North America, Australia, and Brazil.
The emergence of related styles such as liquid funk in the 2000s brought a wave of new artists incorporating new ideas and techniques, supporting continual evolution of the genre.
2010s – 2020s: Digital era and resurgence
With the growth of digital distribution and streaming platforms, drum and bass continued to evolve in the 2010s. Artists such as Pendulum, Chase & Status, and Netsky achieved mainstream chart success while maintaining ties to the underground scene.In the 2020s, the genre has experienced renewed popularity. In 2021, Pitchfork noted a "rising zoomer affinity" for the genre in the 2020s. Streaming in the UK grew by approximately 94% between 2021 and 2024, with a majority of listeners under age 34. Emerging artists such as Nia Archives, Bou, and goddard., alongside established acts like Chase & Status, Sub Focus, and Hybrid Minds, have brought drum and bass to wider audiences through festivals, collaborations, and viral tracks. Purple Sneakers described a "drum n' bass Renaissance" occurring at the time of the publication of their articles in 2023.
Musical features
Drum and bass incorporates a number of scenes and styles, from the highly electronic, industrial sounds of techstep to the use of conventional, acoustic instrumentation that characterise the more jazz-influenced end of the spectrum. The sounds of drum and bass are extremely varied due to the range of influences behind the music. Drum and bass could at one time be defined as a strictly electronic musical genre, with the only "live" element being the DJ's selection and mixing of records during a set. "Live" drum and bass using electric, electronic and acoustic instruments played by musicians on stage emerged over the ensuing years of the genre's development.Influences
A very obvious and strong influence on jungle and drum and bass, thanks to the British African-Caribbean sound system scene, is the original Jamaican dub and reggae sound, with pioneers like King Tubby, Peter Tosh, Sly & Robbie, Bill Laswell, Lee Perry, Mad Professor, Roots Radics, Bob Marley and Buju Banton heavily influencing the music. This influence has lessened with time, but is still evident, with many tracks containing ragga vocals.As a musical style built around funk or syncopated rock and roll breaks, James Brown, Al Green, Marvin Gaye, Ella Fitzgerald, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, the Supremes, the Commodores, Jerry Lee Lewis, and even Michael Jackson acted as funk influences on the music. Jazz pioneer Miles Davis has been named as a possible influence. Blues artists such as Lead Belly, Robert Johnson, Charlie Patton, Muddy Waters and B. B. King have also been cited by producers as inspirations. Even modern avant-garde composers such as Henryk Gorecki have received mention. One of the most influential tracks in drum and bass history was "Amen Brother" by The Winstons, which contains a drum solo that has since become known as the "Amen break", which, after being extensively used in early hip hop music, went on to become the basis for the rhythms used in drum and bass.
Kevin Saunderson released a series of bass-heavy, minimal techno cuts as Reese/The Reese Project in the late '80s, which were hugely influential in drum and bass. One of his more famous basslines was indeed sampled on Renegade's Terrorist and countless others since, being known simply as the 'Reese' bassline. He followed these up with equally influential tracks in the UK hardcore style as Tronik House in 1991–1992. Another Detroit artist who was important to the scene was Carl Craig. The sampled-up jazz break on Craig's Bug in the Bassbin was also influential on the newly emerging sound. DJs at the Heaven nightclub on "Rage" nights used to play it as fast as their Technics record decks would go, pitching it up in the process.
By the late 1980s and early 1990s, the tradition of breakbeat use in hip hop production had influenced the sound of breakbeat hardcore, which in turn led to the emergence of jungle, drum and bass, and other genres that shared the same use of broken beats. Drum and bass shares many musical characteristics with hip-hop, though it is nowadays mostly stripped of lyrics. Grandmaster Flash, Roger Troutman, Afrika Bambaata, Run DMC, Mac Dre, Public Enemy, Schooly D, N.W.A, Kid Frost, Wu-Tang Clan, Dr. Dre, Mos Def, Beastie Boys and the Pharcyde are very often directly sampled, regardless of their general influence.
Clearly, drum and bass has been influenced by other music genres, though influences from sources external to the electronic dance music scene perhaps lessened following the shifts from jungle to drum and bass, and through to so-called "intelligent drum and bass" and techstep. It still remains a fusion music style.
Some tracks are illegally remixed and released on white label records, often to acclaim. For example, DJ Zinc's remix of Fugees' "Ready or Not", also known as "Fugee Or Not", was eventually released with the Fugees' permission after talk of legal action, though ironically, the Fugees' version infringed Enya's copyright to an earlier song. White labels, along with dubplates, played an important part in drum and bass musical culture.