1990s hypes revisited - loose series installmant 02 - "Big Beat"

luka

Well-known member
See the things I'm thinking of aren't laddy they're more family friendly, safe, middle aged sort of reference points. Probably because I was too young to see this music in its natural environment. By the time I was 18 it was ageing lads remembering their glory days in the student union

im not talking about lads .... im talking about the people who got sold the idea of 'lads'
by marketing firms, media operations, brewery pr etc etc
 

luka

Well-known member
the same people with doughy warburtons skin and lustreless eyes who wear addidas sambas and listen to 6 music today
 

droid

Well-known member
Also can we agree that "nu breakz" was worse than Big Beat? I mean that supposedly had the urban/rave/E aesthetic but it was joyless.

You're irredeemable on this topic, but no. I think generally dull is better than generally offensive, though I wouldnt be flying the E flag for Nu Breakz either. Some tolerable moments - a lot of crossover too.

 

luka

Well-known member
reterritorialise. cartoonish gender norms. retreat from highwater mark of rave enlightenment.
 

luka

Well-known member
TFI Friday with the bar in the television studio. have a pint with Chris Evans and listen to some live bands
 

luka

Well-known member
nasty gear. that whole period was a tragedy this country has yet to recover from. all the consciousness raising work of the late 80s and early 90s completely trashed. utter utter disaster.
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
i thought the ancestry of Big Beat was more from Madchester
yeah like if Madchester was only the dumb parts of the Mondays, minus the dumbness being (kind-of) a put-on

I thought it was also meant to be an avin it large reaction to the self-seriousness of techno proper

idk man I'm all for reappraisals but I think it says something when a genre's arguable defining moment was a loop of (uncredited) 23 Skidoo bassline.

like is there any essential big beat besides the first couple Chemical/Dust Bros records? and then just Private Psychedelic Reel, Song to Siren, etc really.

it does seem like trip-hop where there's a couple good to great things at the top and then basically a sea of garbage
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
can't speak to the particular British reactionary cultural moment it seems to embody along w/Britpop but it definitely sounds correct.

speaking as an American tween at the time don't underestimate just how much Fat of the Land Prodigy jived with the rise of nu-metal.
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
Enjoying Eden's impassioned defense tho - Fatboy Slim took us on a journey is fantastic stuff, way better than you + droid in crocheted Rasta tams.
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
interesting to see Balearic mentioned btw tho I kinda get it

but where Balearic was, and still is, about creating a single sound/aesthetic from a wide range of disparate records (like Ron Hardy etc creating house before there were actual house records), big beat was taking a single tiny part of Balearic - danceable guitarish records - and dialing it up to 11, which again fits into that cultural reaction thing
 

luka

Well-known member
i came of age during this period. part of why im so angry about it. we were robbed. if it hadnt of been for uk garage and me escaping to Auckland in 1999 to take thousands of magic mushrooms i'd be permanently embittered.
 

john eden

male pale and stale
Well I think everyone needs to lighten up a bit, which is quite a remarkable thing for me to say. :D
 

luka

Well-known member
growing up being culturally conditioned by nutty e music then by the time you actually reach 18 everyones trying to sell you alcopops in massive beer barns with no seating. patrick keiller had it absolutely right in London when he talks about the revenge of the suburbs.. that permanent and malicious resentiment the rest of the country has for its cities and the capital in particular.
 

luka

Well-known member
Well I think everyone needs to lighten up a bit, which is quite a remarkable thing for me to say. :D

easy for you to say granddad!, you lived through the good bit. we got the backwash at the bottom of the fanta bottle
 

droid

Well-known member
Well I think everyone needs to lighten up a bit, which is quite a remarkable thing for me to say. :D

You couldve been stepping into eternity at a Shaka all-nighter, and instead there you were, swivelling your sweaty eyeballs at a Housemartin on Brighton pier.

For shame John, for shame!
 

john eden

male pale and stale
You couldve been stepping into eternity at a Shaka all-nighter, and instead there you were, swivelling your sweaty eyeballs at a Housemartin on Brighton pier.

For shame John, for shame!

This will blow your mind, but people did actually do both of these things.
 

luka

Well-known member
growing up being culturally conditioned by nutty e music then by the time you actually reach 18 everyones trying to sell you alcopops in massive beer barns with no seating. patrick keiller had it absolutely right in London when he talks about the revenge of the suburbs.. that permanent and malicious resentiment the rest of the country has for its cities and the capital in particular.

 
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