Big Beat, Big Beat

Big beat tracks have a sound that include: crescendos, builds, drops, dramatic sound effects such as explosions or sirens and extended drum rolls. As with several other dance genres at the time the use of effects such as cut-off, phasing and flanging was commonplace.

Celebrated instigators of the genre such as Fatboy Slim tend to feature heavily compressed loud breakbeats in their tracks which are used to define the music as much as any melodic hooks and sampled sounds. Based on the primary use of loud, heavy breakbeats and basslines, Big Beat shares attributes with Jungle and Drum & Bass but it has a significantly slower tempo.

Early purveyors of this approach include influential artists such as The Orb, Depth Charge, Meat Beat Manifesto, Transglobal Underground and Andy Weatherall's Sabres of Paradise. Sampling had become an integral part of dance music production and the fusion of genres appealed to DJs, producers and fans keen on continued experimentalism within dance music. Record labels such as Junior Boy's Own and Heavenly Records demonstrated this broader-minded approach releasing slower breakbeat-based music alongside House and Techno singles, introducing DJ-turned-artists such as The Chemical Brothers (then known as The Dust Brothers) and Monkey Mafia in 1994. Norman Cook and Damien Harris first became associated with the term Big Beat through Harris' label Skint Records and club night 'The Big Beat Boutique', held on Fridays at Brighton's now demolished Concorde club between 1995 and 2001. The Heavenly label's London club The Sunday Social had adopted a similar philosopy with resident DJs the Chemical Brothers and their eclectic approach. The term caught on, and was subsequently applied to a wide variety of acts, including Bentley Rhythm Ace, Lionrock, The Crystal Method, Lunatic Calm, the Lo Fidelity Allstars, Death in Vegas and the Propellerheads to name but a few.

Madonna introduced a live video performance by The Prodigy at the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards, having signed the band to her Maverick Records label for the American release of their third album "The Fat Of The Land". "Firestarter" was The Prodigy's and Big Beat's first number one single in the UK and became their biggest hit worldwide at the time. The band played several Rock-orientated festivals, opening a gateway for other acts associated with Big Beat (including The Chemical Brothers, Fatboy Slim and Death In Vegas) to follow suit. Other Big Beat singles that enjoyed varying degrees of success in the U.S.A. on account of the "Electronica invasion" include "Setting Sun" by The Chemical Brothers, "Battle Flag" by Lo-Fidelity All Stars and "Ooh La La" by The Wiseguys. Meanwhile by the end of 1997 several Big Beat tracks had peaked within the UK Top 40, with both The Prodigy and The Chemical Brothers achieving two number one singles each. Fatboy Slim himself reached the top of the UK charts early in 1999 with "Praise You", becoming Norman Cook's fourth number one single albeit under or involved with a different band on each of the three previous occasions.

Source: Wikipedia > Big Beat