Jungle - Probably the Best Music Ever Made In the UK


Posted November 7, 2016 by alexaz91

Jungle famously popularised the use of dubplates in modern dance music.

 
Jungle is a form of electronic dance music that originated in the United Kingdom in the early 1990s. It was designed to be played on large sound systems in nightclubs or at festival parties. Although the jungle scene in the UK was mainly underground there were a number of jungle songs (called “tracks”) that achieved commercial success in the top 40 music charts. The jungle scene was born out of the UK’s Rave scene and in turn jungle gave birth to what in now known as Drum and Bass. In fact many people consider Jungle and Drum and Bass to be essentially the same thing. The influence Jungle Music had on electronic music within the UK and around the world cannot be overstated. Some notable examples of famous Jungle tracks are: Burial by Leviticus (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5NMTyAuPMk), The Helicopter Tune by Deep Blue (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaWmjJNG9o0) and Renegade Snares by Omni Trio (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nbVsorrCEg)

The people who made the music were referred to as producers and usually only had small home recording studios with limited budgets. As a result a lot of innovation was required and many new and creative music production techniques were developed by Jungle producers trying to get the most out of the limited technology they had. For this reason Jungle gained a reputation for being cutting edge and ahead of its time compared to other forms of electronic music at the time.

Jungle was made by sampling loops of live drum recordings, known as breakbeats, usually taken from old funk or soul records such as the drums found in James Brown songs. The drum loops would be chopped up and reprogrammed in the recording studio to make new and innovative drum patterns that sounded characteristically fast and choppy. Under the drums would be a very heavy and low bass line that was designed to be felt as much as heard. It is for this reason that a large sound system was usually necessary to experience Jungle the way it was intended. The music would be distributed on to 12 inch vinyl records and made for DJ’s to play at Jungle parties using two or more turntables. The DJ would match the tempo of the records so multiple jungle tracks could be blended into one long DJ set. Each track was deliberately made with an intro that made it easy for the DJ to hear the beat and “beatmatch” the tracks together. Jungle parties were called “Raves” and would consist of a large room or arena with a DJ on a stage usually with dancers, pyrotechnics, smoke and lasers. Each DJ would play for about an hour and around 10 or so DJs would perform at each event. Also on stage would be an MC who would have a microphone and announce each DJ and also keep the crowed hyped up and energised. At the height of its popularity Jungle raves and festivals regularly attracted crowds of over 20,000 people.

Jungle was influenced by many other forms of music such as Jazz, Hip Hop, Techno, House and also Jamaican Reggae music. It was quite common for jungle tracks to contain sound clips called “samples” that were taken from old reggae records and records of other styles. This led to much diversity in the music. Record labels had their signature sound, for example: Metalheadz was known for following a Jazz and techno influence while Congo Natty was influenced strongly by Jamaican music and culture. Due to its relationship with Jamaican music, Jungle became known as a type of black music and while some people involved in the scene were of Caribbean decent (living in the UK), the fan base was just as diverse as the music itself.

The popularity of Jungle music in the UK was helped by pirate radio stations. Frustrated that jungle was ignored by most commercial radio stations at the time, DJs and music fans setup unlicensed radio stations in and around major UK cities. This was how many people got to hear the music for the first time and information about Jungle parties (some of which were also illegally organised) was also distributed by pirate radio stations. The UK authorities put a lot of effort into closing down pirate radio stations and a constant game of cat and mouse was played. As soon as a pirate radio station was shut down it would be setup again somewhere else using equipment to mask its true location. Many pirate radio stations gained legendary status and are still around today such as Kool FM in London which continue to promote the jungle sound, albeit legally via the internet these days.

Jungle famously popularised the use of dubplates in modern dance music. These were special one off records that DJs used to play music that was so new it hadn’t yet been mass produced for distribution to shops. Dubplates were not cheap, they cost around £35 each and could only be played about 20 times before they degraded and wore out. Only a few specialists in the UK had the equipment make dubplates, such as the legendary Music House in London. There are stories of some famous DJs spending hundreds of pounds cutting dubplates of brand new and unreleased music allowing them to maintain their reputation as the best DJ playing music very few other DJs had. Now DJs have the option of using CDs or even laptops in nightclubs and festivals so the use of dubplates has fallen sharply in recent years.

Although the popularity of Jungle was at its peak in the early 1990s it has never disappeared and many music producers continue to make new jungle tracks today. The formula is the same but the technology used to make the music has got better and the music is promoted via the internet and social media.

Visit http://junglemusic.org/ to learn more about jungle, discover the scene and check out the most famous and iconic examples of jungle ever produced.

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Issued By Jungle
Website Jungle - Probably the Best Music Ever Made In the UK
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Last Updated November 7, 2016