UK garage


UK garage, abbreviated as UKG, is a genre of electronic music which originated in England in the early to mid-1990s. It is defined by percussive, shuffled rhythms with syncopated hi-hats, cymbals, and snares, and may include either 4/4 house kick patterns or more irregular "2-step" rhythms. Garage tracks also commonly feature "chopped up" and time-stretched or pitch-shifted vocal samples complementing the underlying rhythmic structure at a tempo usually around 130 BPM. The genre was influenced by garage house, jungle, Jamaican soundsystem, ragga, dancehall, gospel music, R&B, and rave culture.
UK garage encompassed subgenres such as speed garage and 2-step, and was then largely subsumed into other styles of music and production in the mid-2000s, including bassline, grime, and dubstep. The decline of UK garage during the mid-2000s saw the birth of UK funky, which is closely related. The 2010s saw a resurgence in the genre, then in the early 2020s, a revival of UK garage, sometimes titled "new UK garage" or "NUKG", was widely attributed to London-based producer Conducta and his record label Kiwi Rekords.

Origins

UK garage emerged in London in the early 1990s from a blend of New York garage house, jungle, Jamaican ragga and dancehall music, and R&B. It was influenced by the pirate radio scene, rave culture, gospel, Baptist churches, and the Black diaspora. MJ Cole once stated, "London is a multicultural city... it's like a melting pot of young people, and that's reflected in the music of UK garage."

Relationship with jungle

In the United Kingdom, where jungle was very popular at the time, garage was played in a second room at jungle events. After jungle's peak in cultural significance, it turned towards a harsher, more techstep influenced sound, driving away dancers, predominantly women. Escaping the 170bpm jungle basslines, the garage rooms provided a more sensual and soulful sound at 130bpm.

Commercial UKG

American R&B influences can be heard in early UK garage intended for a commercial, rather than dancefloor, audience. Tracks like "Twentyfourseven" by Artful Dodger, a slower and simpler R&B-infused drum pattern can be heard, in contrast with the complex drum beats, heavy syncopation and more energetic tempo that usually characterised UKG. Garage producers then proceeded to churn out UK versions of US contemporary R&B hits, such as the Architechs' version of Brandy and Monica's "The Boy Is Mine". The Architechs sped-up the vocals through time-stretching and added sound effects to increase the competitive nature. The "B&M Remix" eventually sold twenty thousand copies as a bootleg.

History

1990: End of acid house

By the late 1980s, the house music played at DJ Larry Levan's New York LGBTQ+ club Paradise Garage was known as "garage house". In 1990, 15-year-old DJ EZ, who was inspired by rave music and New York garage house, began working at pirate radio station Dance FM while still at school in North London.
In 1990, Margaret Thatcher's government increased fines on unlicensed raves, causing the acid house scene to fracture. That same year, the Ministry of Sound opened, running until 9am on Sunday mornings. To provide a venue for revellers who wanted to continue partying, promoter Timmy Ram Jam opened an event at the Elephant and Castle pub across the street, starting at 10am. The DJs played sped-up versions of New York garage house.
Soon, similar after-hours events opened on Sundays, including an event at the nearby Frog & Nightgown, before spreading across London. Larger nightclubs, such as Heaven in Charing Cross, also began to dedicate space to garage DJs.
An early UK garage track, "Feel My Love" by Justin Cantor and Matt Jam Lamont, was recorded in 1991. It wouldn't be officially released until 1993.

1994–1998: Speed garage

In 1994, DJ EZ started working at Freek FM. That same year, while DJing in a Greenwich nightclub, he played American DJ Todd Edwards' garage house track "The Praise " at a speedier 130 beats-per-minute, instead of the 120bpm popular in the US, to make it closer to the tempo of the UK hardcore and jungle music popular in clubs at the time. This raised the visibility of garage house which, when played at 130bpm, became known as speed garage.
Edwards' distinctive sampling style, with chopped up vocals and complex rhythms, would continue to influence this emerging genre. Instead of having full verses and choruses, Edwards picked out vocal phrases and played them like an instrument. Often, individual syllables were reversed or pitch-shifted.
As British producers working in this genre began to create their own original tracks—incorporating elements of Black British, Caribbean, and rave music—they increasingly called their work "UK garage". The new genre became especially popular on pirate radio stations.
Over the course of the 1990s, new garage clubs opened across the UK, with large scenes in Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol, and other university towns. By 1996, the UK garage scene had spread to popular tourist destinations in Ayia Napa, Ibiza and Faliraki.

1999–2001: UK chart success

With the continued support of pirate radio stations such as Rinse FM, Ice FM, Déjà Vu, and Flex FM, the soaring popularity of UK garage saw 1999 take the genre into the mainstream, breaking into the music charts. Venues such as Scala, The Colosseum, The Gass Club, Ministry of Sound and Fabric became especially associated with garage. Besides being popular in UK clubs, venues in Aiya Napa and Ibiza were also dedicated to garage.
Production duos Shanks & Bigfoot and Artful Dodger were very successful with the tracks "Sweet Like Chocolate" and "Re-Rewind", respectively. Both songs reached platinum status and became anthems for the 2-step scene. Other huge hits in 1999 include the #1 house/garage anthem "You Don't Know Me" by Armand van Helden.
Da Click had a #14 hit with "Good Rhymes", while musical trio the Dreem Teem had a #15 hit with "Buddy X 99", a garage remix of Neneh Cherry's 1992 song "Buddy X". DJ Luck & MC Neat also had a chart hit with "A Little Bit of Luck" in late 1999 into early 2000.
Many more UK garage acts followed into the new millennium by releasing commercially successful singles, thus making UK garage and 2-step a stable fixture on the UK charts for the next couple of years. Debut singles of various UK garage artists were hitting the number one spot on the UK charts. Craig David's debut solo single "Fill Me In", a mix of R&B and 2-step, with single formats containing various garage remixes of the track, hit number 1 in April 2000, while Sweet Female Attitude's "Flowers" was number 2.
A month later, Oxide & Neutrino's "Bound 4 Da Reload " debuted atop the charts. Other top 10 hits in 2000 include Artful Dodger's "Movin' Too Fast", "Woman Trouble" and "Please Don't Turn Me On", True Steppers' "Buggin" and "Out of Your Mind", B-15 Project's "Girls Like Us", DJ Luck & MC Neat's "Masterblaster 2000" and "Ain't No Stoppin' Us", MJ Cole's "Crazy Love", Wookie's "Battle", Lonyo's "Summer of Love", Architechs' "Body Groove", and Oxide & Neutrino's "No Good 4 Me". Another huge hit in 2000 was the Timo Maas remix of the song "Dooms Night" by German producer Azzido Da Bass, which was heavily associated with UK garage at the time, having become a major club hit and appearing on several UK garage compilations. It was also remixed by garage duo Stanton Warriors, titled "Dooms Night ".
In 2001, DJ Pied Piper and the Masters of Ceremonies's sole number one record "Do You Really Like It?" was released in July. Two months later in August 2001, South London collective So Solid Crew hit the top spot with their second single "21 Seconds". Daniel Bedingfield's debut single "Gotta Get Thru This" also hit number one the same year.

2002: 2-step and grime

2002 saw an evolution as 2-step moved away from its funky and soul-oriented sound into a darker direction called "grime", now a genre in its own right. During this period, MCs also became more visible in UKG, bringing the genre closer to its rap influences than its soul influences. At this time, traditional UK garage was also being pushed back underground amongst the bad publicity emanating from the tougher side of the genre, including a high profile shooting at a So Solid Crew gig and the subsequent informal banning of UK garage acts from the West End.
During this time, there was also a strong division of class in UK garage. In the heyday of garage, the late 1990s, it was a highly aspirational genre. When people went to the club to hear garage, they dressed up. Clubs such as Twice as Nice enforced a dress code with no tennis shoes, jeans, or baseball caps. The dress codes were meant to "encourage people to make an effort", but also to "keep trouble out." In time, Twice as Nice installed a metal detector to screen for guns.
Eventually, when groups like So Solid Crew attracted more urban, lower-class audiences to raves, garage began to transition to grime because previous audiences were less likely to listen.

Subgenres

Speed garage

tracks were characterised by a sped-up house-style beat, complemented by the rolling snares and reverse-warped basslines that were popular with drum and bass producers of the time. Speed garage already incorporated many aspects of today's UK garage sound like sub-bass lines, ragga vocals, spin backs, and reversed drums.
Armand van Helden's speed garage remix of Sneaker Pimps' "Spin Spin Sugar" in 1997 further popularised the genre and is sometimes credited with breaking speed garage into the mainstream. Speed garage duo Industry Standard scored a top 40 hit with "Vol. 1 " peaking at #34 in January 1998, and the 1997 XL Recordings release of Somore featuring Damon Trueitt's "I Refuse " reached #21 also in January 1998, containing mixes by Industry Standard, Ramsey & Fen, R.I.P. Productions and Serious Danger. Serious Danger obtained a chart hit in his own right with "Deeper" which debuted and peaked at #40 in December 1997, and the Fabulous Baker Boys scored a chart hit with "Oh Boy", which peaked at #34 in November 1997 and samples Jonny L's 1992 rave track "Hurt You So".
Early promoters of speed garage included the Dreem Teem and Tuff Jam, and pirate radio stations such as London Underground, Magic FM, Upfront FM, and Freek FM. During its initial phase, the speed garage scene was also known as "the Sunday Scene", as initially speed garage promoters could only hire venues on Sunday evenings. As dancers were often tired by Sunday, the faster beats were intended to keep them energised.