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  • Alright London Town

  • the next one's out to all the crew that loves it.

  • Hold' tight check the Michelle you know you like the next one.

  • Out to all the crew that' loves the next one.

  • Get on the case

  • 0961 749 867 London Town

  • What are you waiting for, Christmas is finished. You can't be waiting for that.

  • If your waiting for the next one, you got a long wait.

  • The early to mid 90s. The UK underground scene would be buzzing

  • off the dark sounds and deep bass lines of jungle, drum and bass.

  • In South London the established venue known as the Ministry of Sound

  • would be ending its night with the last tune being played.

  • Party heads would have needed to find another venue

  • that will continue to play the music and keep up the vibes on going

  • down the road from the ministry was a small pub and venue called the Elephant and Castle

  • which hosted an event called happy days on a Sunday

  • within the venue, resident DJ Matt Jam Lamont will be playing house records with the tempo increased

  • little did we know of how much of an impact this little venue created

  • a genre

  • a genre that will grow and impact the UKs music culture….

  • This is the Sound of

  • But Let's Take it back in time

  • During the Mid 80's across the Atlantic, in New York City in Kings Street, was a venue called Paradise Garage.

  • This venue was considered at the time to have had best sound system within the city.

  • A resident DJ and New York Legend, Larry Levan played New York style House records also known as garage

  • garage which was a style of house that focused more on Gospel riffs, Disco, R&B

  • vocals and groovin bass lines

  • Paradise Garage was always thriving, being such

  • a big part in New York's culture and house music, a place also known as

  • Saturday Mass

  • Unfortunately, in 1987 the venue was closed down and now has become a past icon

  • but little did we know of how much of an impact their

  • scene would influence the UKs' underground sound.

  • I was here and I will never forget it, it would change my life.

  • It was the place were, people would go to get their frustrations out...

  • and when you left that place, then you felt you were in Paradise

  • People who cared about you & people that you did'nt even know

  • My Sanctuary...

  • It meant freedom... that's what it meant to me meant freedom, to be who you wanted to be to do what

  • you want to do the way you wanted to do it.

  • House coming from the US was such a major influence in the UK music scene,

  • first coming into fruition during the 80's and its exposure within the UK Acid House scene

  • Played by such resident Clink Street DJs, Eddie Richards, Kid Bachelor and Mr C.

  • During the late 80s, Soul Music in the UK started to become more prominent on the charts

  • The fusion of these two styles of Soul and Dance would give us more of the

  • soulful RnB vibes within House music

  • During the same time back in the U.S. in the early 90s

  • a house and garage producer named Todd Edwards will be experimenting with the House records

  • Putting them on a remix with his sound experimentations allowed the creation of

  • that unique hi-hat shuffle sounds

  • In London the Happy Days event at the Elephant a Castle pub was considered as an after party for the Ministry Of Sound goers

  • They will usually playing a lot of US House and New York garage music

  • As we know the DJ's would have needed to increase the tempo to ensure and

  • maintain the positive vibes in order for the ravers to continue throughout the

  • night till day

  • Sunday's were lacking in music events.

  • Other establishments started to pop up during Sunday's creating iconic venues such as the Gass Club and

  • the Arches up in Charing Cross, playing US House and Garage

  • DJs started to get the dub mixes of the house trucks, dubs from MK,

  • Masters At Work, Todd Edwards and many many more without the vocals and with that were

  • able to sample it, creating its own unique style

  • By having a dub mixes of House tracks it allowed more opportunity for producers to experiment

  • and add their own touch to the tracks

  • Especially putting on a fat bassline

  • These new Tracks started to get released onto big old-school labels such asNice n Ripe”,

  • Swing City records and many more

  • During the time when UK Garage was still underground

  • Garage created a raving community not many people knew about and could have been

  • considered somewhat like a secret club, as it was truly about the music.

  • The Gass Club hosted an event playing US House in Garage known as the Spread Love Project

  • Hosted by DJ Dominic Spread Love, Norris Da Boss and Genesis Wayne

  • One day one of the ravers who was a regular at the Gass Club decided to pick up the mic

  • alongside Dominic and whith that was able to create a reaction with the crowd

  • His name was MC Creed aka

  • The Godfather

  • Rooting from the Junglist scene British MC culture was vital

  • The Junglist scene incorporated the Jamaican influences of toasting,

  • the rhyming over rhythms

  • and amping up the crowds

  • This Jungle influence would later become an important part within UK Garage culture

  • However the quick exposure of UK underground Garage will not have happened

  • significantly as it did without the help of the pirate radio stations.

  • As we know, Pirate radio had been such a big player within the UK underground scene.

  • Taking it back to the Acid House and Jungle, Drum & Bass stations, the support from

  • record stores which the same also played a crucial role within UK garage

  • Transmitters was set up on the council block rooftops emerging new pirate radio

  • stations such as London underground, Flex FM and Freak FM and many more

  • Promoting the sounds of UK Garage.

  • If your record was to be power played by the pirate DJs,

  • your record will be selling at the record stores

  • This also resulted in the similar issues had by previous Jungle and Drum n Bass stations

  • as running an unlicensed radio station is illegal the runners of the pirate

  • radios would have to constantly change locations in order to bypass Ofcom and Police

  • Furthermore rival radio stations would try and be the champion radio

  • within the area and therefore sabotage any rival transmitters

  • This resulted in to all-out heated clashes and threats which at the times was dangerous

  • all due to interferences on their frequencies

  • During the 90s House Music was becoming mainstream within the UK music charts

  • and by the mid 90s commercial clubs would enforce this type of music to be played.

  • The UK had our own house artists in the scene creating classics such as the

  • Scottish House group Nightcrawlers.

  • At the same time within the UK underground, UK Garage started to become more known

  • Creating the realisation that this was the new British sound.

  • DJ's record boxes would of had a load of British produced tracks

  • from the likes of Booker T, Grant Nelson, Jeremy Sylvester and many more

  • The hosting of Garage events was still considered within the sunday scene

  • but the buzz that was going on more Garage events were starting to pop up

  • besides on the standard Sundays.

  • Alongside Jungle, Drum and Bass raves which was usually in the main dance rooms one

  • Room twos would have had the DJs play UK Garage

  • Furthermore garage events were now being introduced at legendary venues such as

  • the Club Colosseum hosted by Martin Larner for his Liberty nights

  • The end hosting Twice as Nice.

  • Bagley's Warehouse and many more

  • The popularity of UK Garage was growing and club owners started clocking on

  • As we know Garage was a Sunday scene and were not able to have events on Fridays or Saturdays

  • but when club owners noticed its potential on its profitability

  • it allowed the garage promoters to have Friday and Saturday nights to be fully rammed.

  • Even the Sun City events, they managed to have a mad turnout during New Year's Eve

  • Being the biggest Garage event at the time

  • Major legal radio stations could'nt ignore what was going on in the UK scene.

  • Kiss FM, one of the UK's top radio stations were playing UK Garage and was put into the forefront by

  • DJ Steve Jackson taking the risk of playing the tracks to the masses,

  • doing interviews and so forth. Without Jackson we wouldn't believe UK garage would have

  • had spread as quickly as it did

  • By 1997 a UK Garage track finally reached a top fourty of the UK Charts

  • 1997 will be the year demonstrating the impact of UK Garage and its potential to the masses

  • UK garage was evolving, the sounds were becoming more predominant

  • and was starting to get media attention

  • During UK Garage's evolution more Jungle and Drum & Bass producers started to jump in on the hype

  • Previously the increase upbeat tempo of UK Garage was usually associated with term Speed Garage

  • however as we know Drum & Bass produces incorporate a formulated

  • 2-step beat to their D&B tracks, therefore this influence will be put

  • into UK Garage as well put into the style of 2-step Garage

  • The fashion styles of the 90s were very unique.

  • Within UK Garage, hoodies, caps and dirty trainers would have had bounces not allowing you to get into the events

  • The ravers were now making an effort

  • It was all about the suits loafers and champagne bottles or brandy

  • Serious, we're talking about Moschino, Versace and Gucci brands being worn

  • The lads were looking slick

  • and the ladies were looking stunning

  • By 1998 producers such as Tuff Jam, Dreem Teem & MJ Cole

  • were creating tracks entering the UK charts

  • But UK Garage was not only stuck here in Britain

  • it was also going across holiday clubbing destinations such as Ayia Napa in Cyprus becoming big

  • in competition with Ibiza

  • Ibiza was focused on the House scene and did not cater much for UK urban music at the time

  • Ayia Napa wasn't always as popular

  • it was a small fishing village with a few restaurants and bars however it was

  • until nick power took over the iconic Kool club focusing on US Garage in the

  • mid 90s but by 98, DJ's would bring this to their ever-growing UK sound to the

  • holiday clubbers

  • With DJ S connections from London he was able to bring artists

  • and DJs such as DJ Spoony from the Dreem Teem and MC Creed

  • for their first Pure Silk event attracting to almost 1,000 people, evidently was a success and

  • therefore would later result into more rammed events create Ayia Napa the

  • iconic destination for UK Garage for the upcoming five years

  • Ayia Napa's economic growth during the late nineties went up due to the

  • increase in tourism from the UK Garage scene

  • local, ethical and land development improved.

  • UK Garage was running Ayia Napa, creating divides and clashing with opposing clubs

  • the connections and family with the Napas scene was evident

  • George, when we running from late for the airplane and my man called and actually made the airplane wait

  • for us, thats how much we had Ayia Napa on lock them times, remember like

  • it was a different level of ting there man

  • Ayia Napa was iconic

  • Creating a culture, a sense of escape and unity

  • which many wish they can go back and experience again

  • With the rising awareness of the scene, the new 2 step sound and with a new

  • with a new wave of crowds getting involved,

  • It was just a matter of time that the scene was going to be commercial.

  • By 1999, British producers started getting more of the contemporary RnB tracks coming from the US

  • and remixing them with the UK Garage sounds.

  • And with that, our MCs contribution gave us more MC led legendary tracks such as the iconic

  • DJ Luck and MC Neat “A Little Bit of Luckpeaking at number 9 in the UK Charts.

  • By the new millennium it would become more regular that the UK Garage tracks would become more common.

  • The Artful Dodger's albumIts all about the stragglershad 5 top tens in the UK Charts

  • demonstrating the success of UK Garage

  • And with that introduced a new artist coming in from the Garage scene

  • and in result, would become a big name in the music industry.

  • Craig David

  • Furthermore, other garage producers such True Steppers was bringing Pop stars into the sound

  • such as Victoria Beckham

  • having a positive response from the commercial public

  • and many more pop type styles started to emerge

  • At the same time, the UK Garage sound was changing becoming more MC led and lyrically focused

  • with artists such as Oxide & Neutrino

  • Ms Dynamite

  • and one group of artists in particular, a group that made a huge impact in the UK Garage and urban scene

  • was South Londons' 'So Solid Crew'

  • Originally a 19-member group consisting of 'Megaman, Asher D, Harvey and many more

  • becoming an iconic group representing the urban scene

  • This group shaped the future of UK Garage

  • The impact of So Solid Crew allowed for the group to win awards.

  • Furthermore, can be spoken on this group and its importance but we won't focus it fully in detail here

  • that will be for another episode

  • however it is important to keep in mind that this group was an influence in the development in our UK sound

  • As UKG has become more darker and MC focused, the lyrics by MC start to get

  • mass attention this included the media as they believed

  • it glamorised violence

  • not only that because of the new generation coming in

  • it caused tension with other old-school garage players of the scene

  • they weren't liking the new style being introduced

  • DJs were banning certain tracks being played and

  • not only that rave started to become dangerous with club shootings occurring at

  • Garage events and because of this, it shut down all Garage events

  • All the club's they were working at were told you can't have anything you can't

  • have any in UK Garage people in your club

  • In the end what they done the band Garage raves from all the clubs like

  • in London definitely you could not get a club, if you told him you gonna put on Garage night

  • no way....

  • With the negative press and violence coming out of the UK carriage raves

  • It was thought at the time that Garage would stay a London thing eventually

  • die out...

  • Up in the midlands, another style was emerging

  • As we know during the 90s, the UK Garage beginnings' were always 'Four To The Floor' style beats

  • also known as Speed Garage due to the increase in upbeat tempo

  • But there was this one venue in particular that contributed to this

  • one of the norths greatest impacts on the UK underground music scene

  • In the backstreets within the City of Sheffield was,

  • Niche Nightclub

  • Opened in 1992, This nightclub originally played underground House and UK garage

  • By the new millennium, DJs of the Nightclub started to fusing together

  • the Speed Garage, RnB, the 4x4 element

  • and their unique sound of basslines

  • This club venue had an atmosphere and community like no other within that city at the time

  • One of the resident DJs there was Jamie Duggan, a legend within the bassline scene

  • being one of the pioneers of the sound

  • Before the term 4x4 & bassline, the sound was called NICHE music as it originally started from there

  • and eventually its popularity grew

  • The Bassline sound was spreading all over north, and with that, a growth of Bassline events started to emerge

  • such as in Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham and many more

  • Another venue that was important in the scene was in Dewsbury

  • this small town in Yorkshire hosted the second big Bassline nights

  • the club called Sheridans

  • Clubs like these gave the north opportunity for new upcoming producers the chance to get heard

  • Giving us big Bassline names such as DJ Q, TS7 and many more

  • Bassline started to become the sound of the north

  • By the mid-2000s, Bassline finally had its first tune to become commercial, gaining national success

  • T2 – Heartbroken reached number 2 in the UK Charts

  • Demonstrating the success Bassline was within the UK Mainstream

  • And many more followed breaking into the top 40 UK Charts

  • unfortunately the original Niche Nightclub was closed down by authorities

  • after following a 300 man police raid at the club

  • And the same happened with the closure of Sheridan's nightclub

  • due to the negative associations with gangs, drugs, violence and gun shootings

  • that authorities state was attracted within Bassline nightclubs

  • Which overall has been so unfortunate

  • Many people would of have had amazing experiences, many friends being made

  • and memories treasured within these venues

  • and with that by the upcoming years under decrease in popularity with the

  • scene it was believed 4x4 and Bassline would be dying out

  • UK Garage and Bassline has been on the rise

  • Big name artists have brought it back into masses

  • UK Garage and Bassline is still very much alive, not only within the mainstream

  • but yet is essential as it is now within UK raves and festivals

  • The fusion of UK garage and Bassline has now evolved,

  • with this fusion of sounds has thus creating UK bass

  • Besides the style of House, you can still hear the elements of both Bassline and UK Garage within them

  • And this is starting to get attention from around the world such as Russia, Europe and the US

  • Music channels such as Opium, UKF, Deeprot and many many more

  • have given the opportunity for talented artists and producers to be heard from the underground

  • and very much keeping UK Garage and Bassline alive

  • This gave us talented artists such as Skepsis, MY NU LENG, TQD and many many many more

  • Furthermore, other sub genres have been rooted from the scene

  • at a moment UK Funky House emerged fusing Garage and Afro beat vibes becoming big back in the day

  • That scene gave us big Funky house producers such as (Crazy cousins, Roska, Champion and many more)

  • fusing UK Funky and Bass which is still going on this day

  • Even within Television

  • the mockumentary 'People Just Do Nothing' portrays a group of people running a pirate radio called Kurupt FM

  • demonstrating the antics they have to go through running an illegal UK Garage Broadcast station

  • Hold tight the phone line crew inside yeah

  • the phone line number to get you through once again

  • Why are Kurupt FM so big in the area

  • thats because we're killing it

  • and if you kill it, you get the respect off others

  • based on the real life documentary on the South End Essex radio station

  • This just demonstrates popularity of UK Garage and its impact in UK culture

  • and how a program like this gave them the success in winning a bafta award and national success

  • It literally came from nothing on YouTube

  • We're just a group of mates

  • just mucking around with each other, because I cant swear

  • Even with the new Bass hype, there is another genre, more focused with the relaxing factor

  • fusing the UK Garage sound

  • called Future Garage

  • Overall, we cannot forget where the UK Garage began

  • big names from the scene such as Matt Jam Lamont, Todd Edwards, DJ EZ

  • and many many more rooting from the original UK Garage era

  • and are still playing big events till this day

  • Furthermore, we need to remember the legendary MCs rooted at the beginning of UK Garage

  • MCs who have been vital within UK Underground rave culture and thus left a big impact in the scene

  • such as, MC Creed, MC Charlie Brown

  • and many many more

  • Everyone, All of Them, Everyone Involved in the UK Garage & The Bassline Scene

  • have inspired and influenced a new generation of MCs, DJs and Producers onto the scene

  • Bearing in mind, the Old school ravers of the time would believe that the late 90s was the best time for UK Garage

  • before the new dark sounds that got involved, before the gang violence that came in

  • Djs, producers and ravers of the time would have been in these event like no other

  • the new friends, the fashion styles, the love, the unity

  • the relationships made and the memories from then that would be treasured for a life time

  • And without them, from the efforts of the UK Garage pirate radio stations,

  • the events, the MCs and the producers

  • Our UK Sound wouldn't be where it is today

  • Next time on THAT UK SOUND

  • After the new millennium the sounds of UK Garage were now changing forming into different set paths

  • Down in South London, in Croydon was emerging a new sound becoming a new darker form of UK Garage

  • and taking influences from Jamaican Dub

  • Little did we know of the impact this sound would have

  • not only nationally within the UK but become bigworldwide

  • This is the Sound Of...

Alright London Town

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