House Music History
  > Electronic Music History > House Music History
    ELECTRONIC MUSIC                
    > Late 19th cent. early
    20th cent.
    > 1940s to 1950s
    > 1960s to late 1970s
    > Late 1970s to late
    1980s
    > 1980s to early 2000s
   
     
  In Britain, further experiments in the genre boosted its appeal (and gave the opportunity for new names to be made up).  
   
  House and rave clubs like Lakota and the original C.R.E.A.M began to emerge across Britain, hosting regular events for people who would otherwise have had no place to enjoy the mutating house and dance scene.  
   
   
    The idea of 'chilling out' was born in Britain with ambient house albums like the KLF's Chill Out. A new indie dance scene was being forged by bands like the Happy Mondays, The Shamen, Meat Beat Manifesto, Renegade Soundwave, EMF, The Grid and The Beloved. Two distinctive tracks from this era were the Orb's "Little Fluffy Clouds" (with a distinctive vocal sample from Ricky Lee Jones) and the Happy Mondays' "Wrote for Luck" ("WFL") which was transformed into a dance hit by Paul Oakenfold.  
     
     
ELECTRONICA
   
    > Post-rave fusions
    > Growing commercial
    interest
   
   
    The Criminal Justice Bill of 1994 was a government attempt to ban large events featuring music with "repetitive beats". There were a number of abortive "Kill the Bill" demonstrations. Although the bill did become law in November 1994, it had little effect. The music continued to grow and change, as typified by the emergence of acts like Leftfield with "Release the Pressure", which introduced dub and reggae into the house sound. In more commercial areas a mix of R&B with stronger bass-lines gained favour.  
     
AMBIENT
   
    > Styles of ambient :
    music
   * Organic ambient music
   * Nature inspired
     ambient music
   * Isolationist ambient
     music
   * Ambient electronic
     music
   * Ambient dub
   * Ambient groove
   
   
   
  The music was being moulded, not just by drugs, but also the mixed cultural and racial groups involved in the house music scene. Tunes like "£10 to Get In" from Shut Up and Dance used sped-up hip-hop break-beats. With SL2's "On A Ragga Trip" they gave the foundations to what would become drum and bass and jungle. Initially called breakbeat hardcore, it found popularity in London clubs like Rage as a "inner city" music. Labels like Moving Shadow and Reinforced became underground favorites. Showing an increased tempo around 160 bpm, tunes like "Terminator" from Goldie marked a distinct change from house with heavier, faster and more complex bass-lines: drum and bass. Goldie's early work culminated in the twenty-two minute epic "Inner City Life" a hit from his debut album Timeless.  
   
   
   
   
   
     
     
DRUM & BASS
   
    > History
    > Musicology
  UK Garage developed later, growing in the underground club scene from drum and bass ideas. Aimed more for dancing than listening, it produced distinctive tunes like "Double 99" from Ripgroove in 1997. Gaining popularity amongst clubbers in Ibiza, it was re-imported to the UK and in a softened form had chart success: soon it was being applied to mainstream acts like Daniel Bedingfield and Victoria Beckham.  
   
     
     
         HOUSE MUSIC    
    > Late 1960s to early
    1980s
    > Early 1980s-Late
    1980s : Chicago years
    > Late 1980s-Early
    1990s : British
    Connection
    > Social aspects of
    raves
    > Late 1980s to early
    1990s : United States
    > Early 1990s to mid
    1990s : " Summer Love"
    > Mid-1990s & beyond
    > The rise of the UK
    "superclub"
  4 Hero went in the opposite direction - from brutal breakbeats they adopted more soul and jazz influences , and even a full orchestral section in their quest for sophistication. Later, this led directly to the West London scene known as Brokenbeat.  
   
   
   
   
     
   
     
  Back in the US some artists were finding it difficult to gain recognition. Another import into Europe of not only a style but also the creator himself was Joey Beltram. From Brooklyn his "Energy Flash" had proved rather too much for American House enthusiasts and he need a move to find success. The American industry threw its weight behind DJs like Junior Vasquez , Armand van Helden or even Masters at Work who appeared to churn out endless remixes of mainstream pop music. Some argued that many of the formularic remixes of Madonna, Kylie Minogue, U2, Britney Spears, the Spice Girls, Spiller, Mariah Carey, Puff Daddy, Elvis Presley, Vengaboys and other bands and pop divas did not deserve to be considered house records.  
   
   
   
     
     

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