all good developments in music, hell in the UK have been anti-populist and dissensian. from hardcore to grime we are talking of a kind of inversion of the proletarian elite tradition. whereas previous trads like mods and soulboys were elitist by way of their snobbishness hardcore was elitist precisely by the esoteric knowledge and soundworld it imparted.
It's a good question, and something reynolds touches upon in one of his blog posts. Why did noone write energy flash from the standpoint of handbag house and balearic? because jungle was really not that big. like nowhere near as close to those sorts of clubs. it's only retroactively that we try and convince ourselves jungle was massive. it really wasn't, even the bigger raves still had to have packed to the rafters happy hardcore rooms until the late 90s. and the sets from those sets make thunder and joy and roast look like a deep house purists wet dream they were that scripted and predictable by the middle of 94. think about it, the twitchy dark garage and grime people were rebelling against dire shit like truesteppers. don't romanticise it.