Genre of electronic music originating in the United Kingdom
UK garage, abbreviated as UKG, is a genre of electronic dance music which originated in England in the early to mid-1990s. The genre was most clearly inspired by garage house and jungle production methods, but also incorporates elements from dance-pop and R&amp;B. 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.
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.
Origins.
The evolution of house music in the United Kingdom in the early to mid-1990s led to the term, as previously coined by the Paradise Garage DJs, being applied to a new form of music known as speed garage. In the early 1990s, American DJ Todd Edwards, a pioneer of the speed garage sound, began remixing more soulful house records and incorporating more time-shifts and vocal samples than normal house records, whilst still living in the US. However, it was not until DJ EZ, the North London DJ, acquired one of Edwards' tracks and played it at a faster tempo in a nightclub in Greenwich in 1994 that the music genre really took off.
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." Thus, though UKG remains a distinctly British sound, the influences of black diaspora and especially the Caribbean on its development should not be ignored. The concept of the MC, which is a central figure in UKG, originates from the Jamaican dancehall tradition of 'toasting' and its vibrant sound system culture. Before the emergence of UKG, ragga MCs had a difficult time in the music scene but found solid footing through garage. Simon Reynolds wrote in "Energy Flash": "the rude-boy factor of the ragga patois voice in speed garage anthems like Gant's "Sound Bwoy Burial" probably acted to 'inoculate' against the 'effeminate' sensuality of house." Like the Jamaican dancehall toaster, the garage MC is a typically masculine and animated character which evokes responses from the crowd and engages their attention in a gritty, provocative manner. Reynolds provided an example of how the crowd would shout "Bo!" if they love a record which had just been dropped into the mix. The MC would then instruct the DJ to immediately stop the tune, manually go back to the start and "come again". This active dialogue between the crowd and those involved in the performance of music embodies the interactive nature of UKG, and is further seen in other genres such as hip hop and reggae.
History.
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 had turned towards a harsher, more techstep influenced sound, driving away dancers, predominantly women. Escaping the 170bpm jungle basslines, the garage rooms had a much more sensual and soulful sound at 130bpm.
Role of MCs.
Since then, MCs have become one of the vital aspects of speed and UK garage parties and records. 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 (venue owners preferred to save Friday and Saturday nights for more popular musical styles). Labels whose outputs would become synonymous with the emerging speed garage sound included Confetti, Public Demand, 500 Rekords, Spread Love and VIP.
Speed garage.
Speed garage already incorporated many aspects of today's UK garage sound like sub-bass lines, ragga vocals, spin backs and reversed drums. What changed over time, until the so-called 2-step sound emerged, was the addition of further funky elements like contemporary R&amp;B styled vocals, more shuffled beats and a different drum pattern. The most radical change from speed garage to 2-step was the removal of the 2nd and 4th bass kick from each bar. Although tracks with only two kick drum beats to a bar are perceived as being slower than the traditional four-to-the-floor beat, the listener's interest is maintained by the introduction of syncopating bass lines and the percussive use of other instruments such as pads and strings.
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.
Among those credited with honing the speed garage sound, New Jersey producer Todd Edwards is often cited as a seminal influence on the UK garage sound for having introduced a new way of working with vocals. Instead of having full verses and choruses, he picked out vocal phrases and played them like an instrument, using sampling technology. Often, individual syllables were reversed or pitch-shifted. This type of vocal treatment is still a key characteristic of the UK garage style. Armand van Helden's speed garage remix of Sneaker Pimps' "Spin Spin Sugar" in 1997 further popularized the genre and is sometimes credited with breaking speed garage into the mainstream. Another van Helden remix which also proved popular is his Drum 'n' Bass Mix of CJ Bolland's "Sugar Is Sweeter". Huge club hits in 1997 came from speed garage duos Double 99, 187 Lockdown and Industry Standard. The former two both scored UK top 20 hits in 1997 and 1998; Double 99's "RipGroove" reached #14 in its second release and 187 Lockdown's "Gunman" and "Kung-Fu" reached #16 and #9, respectively. Industry Standard scored a top 40 hit with "Vol. 1 (What You Want What You Need)" peaking at #34 in January 1998, and the 1997 XL Recordings release of Somore featuring Damon Trueitt's "I Refuse (What You Want)" reached #21 also in January 1998, containing mixes by Industry Standard, Ramsey &amp; 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".
Two-step (1997–1999).
Arguably one of the earliest examples of a 2-step track is the 1997 Kelly G remix of "Never Gonna Let You Go" by Tina Moore, which peaked at #7 on the UK chart. Roy Davis Jr. was also influential in the UK garage scene, with the huge club hit "Gabriel" featuring Peven Everett, released in 1997 on XL Recordings, reaching #22 on the UK chart. Lovestation released their version of "Teardrops" which reached #14 in 1998. Doolally, the former name of Shanks &amp; Bigfoot, scored a #20 hit in 1998 with "Straight from the Heart". A re-release of this song the following year fared even better, peaking at #9, due to the success of their #1 single "Sweet Like Chocolate". Jess Jackson was responsible for many garage records but one which stood out was "Hobson's Choice". The B-side of this record changed the UK garage scene from funky and soulful to dark and bassy. Another example of the evolution in 2-step was the release of "Troublesome" in 1999 by Shy Cookie and DJ Luck, in which non-sampled 2-step beats were merged with a full ragga vocal (performed by ragga artist Troublesome).
The UK's counterpart to Todd Edwards was MJ Cole, a classically trained oboe and piano player, who had a string of chart and underground hits in the late 1990s and early 2000s, most notably with "Sincere" and "Crazy Love". MJ Cole has also won a BBC "Young Musician of the Year" award.
American influences.
R&amp;B influences can be heard in early UK garage, the genre offered more complex drum beats, with heavy syncopation (swing) and a more energetic feel due to a higher tempo (normally between 130 and 138 BPM). However, in tracks like "Twentyfourseven" by Artful Dodger, a slower and simpler R&amp;B infused drum pattern can be heard. This was to allow for these tracks to be aimed at a more commercial scene rather than for the dance floor. Garage producers then proceeded to churn out UK versions of US contemporary R&amp;B hits, notably with 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. "B&amp;M Remix" eventually sold twenty thousand copies as a bootleg.
1999–2000: Role of pirate radio, UK chart success.
With the continued support of pirate radio stations such as Rinse FM, Ice FM, Deja Vu, and Flex FM, the soaring popularity of UK garage saw 1999 take the genre into the mainstream, breaking into the music charts. Production duos Shanks &amp; Bigfoot and Artful Dodger were very successful with the tracks "Sweet Like Chocolate" (the first UK garage track to hit number one in the UK) and "Re-Rewind", respectively. After the platinum-selling success of "Sweet Like Chocolate", the floodgates had opened. Although "Re-Rewind" was denied a #1 position by Cliff Richard and his song "The Millennium Prayer", it was also a platinum seller, one of the garage scene's first and last. They became anthems for the 2-step scene, and got onto BBC's "Top of the Pops". Other huge hits in 1999 include the #1 house/garage anthem "You Don't Know Me" by Armand van Helden. Although not UK garage, Mr. Oizo's #1 single "Flat Beat" received extensive airplay on pirate radio stations upon release, becoming a staple for house, breakbeat and UK garage DJs; thus leading to numerous UK garage/2-step remixes/bootlegs of the track. Da Click (Pied Piper, MC Creed, PSG, Unknown MC and singer Valerie M) 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 &amp; 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&amp;B and 2-step, with single formats containing various garage remixes of the track, hit #1 in April 2000. A month later, Oxide &amp; Neutrino's "Bound 4 Da Reload (Casualty)" debuted atop the charts. Other top 10 hits in 2000 include Artful Dodger's "Movin' Too Fast" (#2), "Woman Trouble" (#6) and "Please Don't Turn Me On" (#4), Sweet Female Attitude's "Flowers" (#2), True Steppers' "Buggin" (#6) and "Out of Your Mind" (#2), B-15 Project's "Girls Like Us" (#7), DJ Luck &amp; MC Neat's "Masterblaster 2000" (#5) and "Ain't No Stoppin' Us" (#8), MJ Cole's "Crazy Love" (#10), Wookie's "Battle" (#10), Lonyo's "Summer of Love" (#8), Architechs' "Body Groove" (#3), and Oxide &amp; Neutrino's "No Good 4 Me" (#6). Another huge hit in 2000 was the Timo Maas remix of the song "Dooms Night" (#8) 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 (Revisited)".
2001 hits.
2001 gave DJ Pied Piper and the Masters of Ceremonies their sole number one hit record with "Do You Really Like It?". Two months later in August 2001, South London collective So Solid Crew hit the top spot with their second single "21 Seconds". The end of 2001 saw yet another 2-step anthem top the UK charts, with Daniel Bedingfield's debut single "Gotta Get Thru This". Other top 10 hits in 2001 include the Sunship mixes of Mis-Teeq's "Why" (#8), "All I Want" (#2) and "One Night Stand" (#5), Artful