   #copyright

Drum and bass

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Musical genres, styles,
eras and events

                                 Drum and bass
   Stylistic origins:     Breakbeat hardcore, Techno, Hip hop, Reggae/ Ragga,
                          Dancehall/ Dub, Funk, Breakbeat, Jazz
   Cultural origins:      early/mid-1990s, London, Bristol
   Typical instruments:   Synthesizer - Drum machine - Sequencer - Keyboard
                          - Sampler - Laptop
   Mainstream popularity: Small, largely based in UK at first, now global
                                   Subgenres
    Darkstep - Drumfunk - Hardstep - Intelligent drum and bass - Jazzstep -
   Jump-Up - Liquid funk - Neurofunk - Ragga jungle - Sambass - Techstep
                                 Fusion genres
      Breakcore - Breakstep - Darkcore - Dubstep - Hipstep - Techbreaks -
   Raggacore
                                 Other topics
              Drum and bass artists, Drum and bass record labels

   Drum and bass (commonly abbreviated to DnB or drum n bass) is a type of
   electronic dance music also known as jungle. Emerging in the early
   1990s, the genre is characterised by fast tempo broken beat drums
   (generally between 160 & 180 beats per minute) with heavy, often
   intricate basslines. Today, drum and bass is still considered an
   underground musical style, but its currents of influence run throughout
   popular music and culture.

   Drum and bass began as an offshoot of the United Kingdom breakbeat
   hardcore and rave scene of the late 1980s; and over the first decade of
   its existence there have been many permutations in its style,
   incorporating elements from dancehall, electro, funk, hiphop, house,
   jazz, metal, pop, reggae, rock, techno and trance.

History

   For the history of drum and bass music, please refer to the history
   article which details the origins of this genre in UK rave culture
   alongside the origin of the name jungle, the appearance of junglist
   subculture, the change in name and musical evolution to drum and bass
   and its development through its short-lived mainstream popularity,
   subsequent crisis and post-millennial rebirth.

Summary

   The late 1980's and early 1990's saw the development of a musical style
   and scene (referring to the social aspects around the music) known as
   acid house in the UK. The music of acid house combined regular beats
   alongside broken, syncopated, beats and strong basslines and fast
   tempos (faster than house music tempos). As time drew by, musical
   tracks containing only broken beats began to be known as "jungle" and
   began to constitute a separate and recognizable musical genre (circa
   1991-1992) popular at raves and on pirate radio in urban Britain. These
   tracks often combined ragga vocal tracks, broken beats and basslines.
   By 1994 jungle began to gain mainstream popularity and junglists as
   fans of the music began calling themselves became a recognisable part
   of British youth subculture. At this time jungle began to be associated
   with criminal activity and perhaps as a reaction or perhaps
   independently of this, producers began to draw away from the ragga
   style and create what they labelled drum and bass. There is no clear
   point at which jungle became drum and bass, though most jungle
   producers continue nowadays to produce what they call drum and bass.

   As the music style became more polished and sophisticated, it began to
   shift from pirate to commercial radio and gain widespread acceptance
   (circa 1995-1997). It also began to split into recognisable subgenres
   such as jump-up. As a lighter sound of drum and bass began to win over
   the musical mainstream, many producers continued to work on the other
   end of the spectrum, resulting in a series of releases which
   highlighted a dark, technical sound which drew more influence from
   techno music and the soundscapes of science fiction and anime films,
   this sub-genre became know as techstep (circa 1997-1998). Whilst
   evolving musically, drum and bass found itself suddenly upstarted by
   the garage/2step musical style, which drew part of its inspiration from
   drum and bass. This genre quickly eclipsed drum and bass in popularity
   and nearing the turn of the millennium, predictions and statement were
   being made that "drum and bass is dead". Drum and bass however survived
   this event and the turn of the millennium has seen a revival in its
   popularity and continuing development, i.e. the appearance of the
   liquid funk subgenre which draws its inspiration from house and disco
   alongside a new wave of artists, joining the "jungle" pioneers. It
   remains a fairly unknown musical style but makes frequent unrecognised
   appearance in the mainstream as well as being highly influential on
   other musical styles and some of its artists are widely known, perhaps
   none more so than Goldie. It remains most popular in its birthplace in
   the UK but has spread worldwide over the short period of its existence.

Musicology of drum and bass

   Goldie, one of the most recognizable drum and bass artists.
   Enlarge
   Goldie, one of the most recognizable drum and bass artists.

   There are many views of what constitutes "real" drum and bass as it has
   many scenes and styles within it, from heavy paranoid vocal free
   techstep beats to the relaxed singing vibes of liquid funk. It has been
   compared with jazz where the listener can get very different sounding
   music all coming under the same music genre, because like drum and
   bass, it is more of an approach, or a tradition, than a style. The
   sounds of drum and bass are extremely varied - and to a person
   unfamiliar to them, there may seem to be little connection between the
   subgenres.

   Drum and bass could at one time been defined as a strictly electronic
   musical genre with the only 'live' element being the DJ's selection and
   mixing of records during a set. However, the appearance and development
   of live acts using acoustic and electrically amplified instruments - in
   particular those employing live drumming by a drummer - pushes the
   genre outside of the sometimes narrow definition of electronic music.

   For the already mentioned reasons, the musicology of drum and bass is
   difficult to precisely define; however, the following key
   characteristics may be observed:

Defining characteristics

Importance of drum and bassline elements

   The name "drum and bass" should not lead to the assumption that tracks
   are constructed solely from these elements. Nevertheless, they are by
   far and away the most critical features, and usually dominate the mix
   of a track. Despite the apparent simplicity of drum and bass
   productions to the untrained ear, an inordinate amount of time is spent
   on preparing tracks by the more experienced producers.

   The genre places great importance on deep sub-bass which is felt
   physically as much as it is heard, the "bassline". There has also been
   considerable exploration of different timbres in the bassline region,
   particularly within techstep. Basslines exist in many forms, but most
   notably they originate from sampled sources or synthesizers. Live
   played basslines are rare. Sampled basslines are often taken from
   double bass recordings or from publicly available loops. Synthesized
   basslines are however just as common.

   In drum and bass productions, the basslines are subjected to many and
   varied sound effects, including standard techniques such as echo,
   flanger, chorus, over-drive, equalization, etc. and drum and bass
   specific techniques such as the "Reese Bass", in fact not a technique
   per se, but the degrees of processing, distortion and filtering placed
   upon a widely-used sample of Kevin Saunderson's most infamous 'Reese'
   bassline sample - from 1988's classic "Just Another Chance". Of equal
   importance is the infamous 808 bass, actually an elongated kick drum
   derived from Roland's classic TR-808 drum machine, a sound which has
   been subject to an enormous amount of experimentation over the years.
   These techniques are fully appreciated in a club or rave environment as
   only high grade bass speakers can fully reproduce the sounds of the
   eponymous bassline, whose frequencies are sometimes lower than audible
   (they can however be felt on the body). This has led to the creation of
   very large and intensely loud soundsystems by producers wishing to show
   off their tracks in a true high fidelity environment, such as
   Dillinja's Valve Sound System. This however does not mean that the
   music cannot be appreciated on personal equipment.

   The drum element, that is the syncopated breakbeat, is another that
   producers spend a very large amount of time on. A drum fragment lasting
   seconds may often take a day or more to prepare, depending on the
   dedication of the producer. The Amen break is generally acknowledged to
   have been the most-used (and often considered the most powerful) break
   in drum and bass.

   It would not be too much of an exaggeration to say that drum and bass
   (at least in its early days) was a style built around a single broken
   beat element which was a single sample, the Amen, but other samples
   have had a significant impact, including the Apache break, the Funky
   Drummer, and others. The Funky Drummer has perhaps superseded the Amen
   in modern productions but the Amen is accepted to continue to be an
   extremely powerful (in a musical sense) break.

   A commonly used break is the Tramen, a combined beat that is perhaps
   the ultimate statement on the fusion of musical styles in drum and bass
   as it combines the Amen, a James Brown funk breakbeat ("Tighten Up" or
   "Samurai" break) and an Alex Reece drum and bass breakbeat.

   The very fast (objectively) drum beat forms a canvas on which a
   producer can create tracks to appeal to almost any taste and often will
   form only a background to the other elements of the music. However,
   without a fast & broken beat, a drum and bass track would not be a drum
   and bass track but could be classified as a gabber, techno, breaks or
   house music track.

     Stone cold sober, how can I? I can't go to work today. Lord oh Lord
     what have I done? I wanna dance to the beat of a different drum. -
     London Elektricity "Different Drum" (Hospital) 2003

Tempo

   Drum and bass is usually between 160-180 BPM, in contrast to other
   forms of breakbeat such as nu skool breaks which maintain a slower pace
   at around 130-140 BPM. A general upward trend in tempo has been
   observed during the evolution of drum and bass. The earliest old skool
   rave was around 125 / 135 bpm in 1989 / 1991, early (late 1992 - 1993)
   jungle / breakbeat hardcore was around 155-165 BPM. Since around 1996,
   drum'n'bass tempos have predominantly stayed in the 173 to 180 range.
   Recently some producers have started to once again produce tracks with
   slower tempos (i.e. in the 150's and 160's), but the mid-170 tempo is
   still the hallmark of the drum and bass sound.

   A track combining the same elements (broken beat, bass, production
   techniques) as a drum and bass track, but with a slower beat (say 140
   BPM), would not be drum and bass but a drum and bass influenced
   breakbeat track.

   The speed of drum and bass is not however only characterised by that of
   the broken beat. Drum and bass has a bassline, which will typically
   play at half the speed of the drums, bringing its speed down to that
   of, for instance, a laid back hip-hop track. A listener or dancer can
   concentrate on this element rather than the faster drums.

   It should be noted that the speed of music is subjective. A
   aggressively produced track with a complicated beat and synthesizer
   sounds may 'sound faster' than one with a sampled double bass bassline,
   guitar riffs and simpler beat, however the second track may be in
   strict BPM terms faster. Radio friendly tracks like Shy FX's "Shake Ur
   Body" often have higher BPMs than ominous techstep productions which
   might eject the unitiated very quickly from a dancefloor.

   It is interesting to note that the faster a track is in BPM terms, the
   less complex its drum patterns can be because at higher step the
   elements cease to be heard separately, turning them into a wall of
   sound. A faster drum and bass track will therefore generally have a
   less complex drum pattern than a slower one.

   Live performances of drum and bass music on electric and acoustic
   instruments will often entail a drop in relative BPM (though not
   necessarily), unsurprising in light of the complexity of drum patterns
   and the high exertion required of a drummer.

Context

   Pendulum playing the Valve Sound System with MC IC3 at the Sheffield
   Octagon 05/03/06
   Enlarge
   Pendulum playing the Valve Sound System with MC IC3 at the Sheffield
   Octagon 05/03/06

   For the most part, drum and bass is a form of dance music, mostly
   designed to be heard in clubs. It exhibits a full frequency response
   and physicality which often simply cannot be fully appreciated on home
   listening equipment. As befits its name, the bass element of the music
   is particularly pronounced, with the comparatively sparse arrangements
   of drum and bass tracks allowing room for basslines that are deeper
   than most other forms of dance music. Consequently, drum and bass
   parties are often advertised as featuring uncommonly loud and
   bass-heavy sound systems.

   There are however many albums specifically designed for personal
   listening. The mix CD is a particularly popular form of release, with a
   big name dj/producer mixing live, or on a computer, a variety of tracks
   for personal listening. Additionally, there are many albums containing
   unmixed tracks, suited for home or car listening.

Importance of the DJ and MC

   ‎Drum and bass is often heard via a DJ. Because most tracks are
   designed to be mixed by a DJ, their structure typically reflects this,
   with intro and outro sections designed for a DJ to use while
   beat-matching, rather than being designed to be heard in entirety by
   the listener. The DJ typically mixes between records so as not to lose
   the continuous beat. In addition, the DJ may employ hip hop style "
   scratching", "double-drops" (where two tracks are synchronized such
   that both tracks drop at the same time), and "rewinds."
   Goldie with Mc LowQui
   Enlarge
   Goldie with Mc LowQui

   Many mixing points begin or end with the " drop". The drop is the point
   in a track where a switch of rhythm or bassline occurs and usually
   follows a recognisable build section and " breakdown". Sometimes the
   drop is used to switch between tracks, layering components of different
   tracks, though as the two records may be simply ambient breakdowns at
   this point, this could be considered lazier than blending the music
   where breakbeats play together. Some drops are so popular that the DJ
   will "rewind" or "reload" by spinning the record back and restarting it
   at the build. This is a technique which can easily be overused as it
   breaks the continuity of a set. "The drop" is often a key point from
   the point of view of the dancefloor, since the drumbreaks often fade
   out to leave an ambient intro playing. When the beats re-commence they
   are often more complex and accompanied by a heavier bassline,
   encouraging the crowd to dance. "Jump up" initially referred to the
   urge for those seated to dance at this point, though it came later to
   refer more specifically to a style of the music.

   Dj support (that is playing a track) in a club atmosphere or on radio
   is critical in track success, even if the track producer is well known.
   To this end, djs will receive dubplates a long time before a general
   release of a track, sometimes many months before, in order to spark
   interest in it as well as benefit the dj (exclusive and early access to
   tracks is a hallmark of dj success, i.e. the case of Andy C). Sometimes
   a DJ will receive versions of tracks that are not planned for general
   release, these are so-called VIP mixes.

   DJs are often accompanied by one or more MCs, drawing on the genre's
   roots in hip hop and reggae/ ragga.

   The role of MCs in the music cannot be underestimated but they do not
   generally receive the same level of recognition as producer/djs. There
   are relatively few well-know drum and bass MC's, with Dynamite MC, MC
   Fats and Stevie Hyper D (deceased) as examples.

     "You and me - me and you! We haffi brock a smile and don go ta
     school. This one dedicated to all junglist crew, we haffi get lively
     inna de venue! We bawl ... Where's the noise? I want you jump up and
     swing, and move your body with no delay. Hyper on the microphone,
     I've nuff to say, nuff to say, nuff to say." - Congo Natty "Stevie
     Hyper D Tribute" (Congo Natty) 2005

Subgenres

   Recently, smaller scenes within the drum and bass community have
   developed and the scene as a whole has become much more fractured into
   specific sub-genres. The generally accepted and major sub-genres of
   drum and bass include:
     * Darkstep (or "Darkside" or "Dark")
     * Drumfunk (or "Choppage", "Edits")
     * Hardstep
     * Intelligent drum and bass (or "Atmospheric" or "Ambient")
     * Jazzstep (or "Jazz and Bass")
     * Jump-Up
     * Liquid funk
     * Neurofunk
     * Sambass (or "Brazilian Drum and Bass")
     * Techstep

   The following are to a lesser and great degree, arguable subgenres,
   they would generally be described as separate genres by their
   proponents:
     * Breakcore (arguably a different genre, not a subgenre with many
       differences)
     * Darkcore (both a precursor and a descendant of drum and bass since
       modern darkcore productions share much with darkstep)
     * Raggacore (arguably a different genre, not a subgenre with many
       differences)
     * Ragga jungle (arguably a different genre, not a subgenre - a modern
       sound which shares most if not all characteristics with early
       jungle music - difficult to differentiate - perhaps through
       frequent mention of Haile Selassie and rastafarian themes)
     * Techmospheric (arguably not a recognized subgenre)

   As with all attempts to classify and categorize music, the above should
   not be treated as definitive. Many producers release albums and tracks
   which touch into many of the above styles and there are significant
   arguments as to the classification of tracks as well as the basic
   defining characteristics of subgenres. The list of arguable subgenres
   in particular should not be treated as definitive.

   The modern distinctive ragga jungle style (arguably subgenre or even
   separate genre) is a direct throwback to the 1994-1995 style of drum
   and bass production. However, many modern drum and bass mainstream
   productions contain ragga, dancehall and regga elements, they are just
   not as dominant as previously.

   Clownstep is a derisory term for varieties of drum and bass not
   appreciated by certain listeners (in particular the jump-up variety)
   and is prevalent on the internet, whilst not being a subgenre as such.
   Most producers would feel insulted by the labelling of their music as
   "clownstep".

   "Dubwise" is more of a stylistic approach than subgenre.

Jungle vs. drum and bass

   Nowadays the difference between jungle (or oldschool jungle) and drum
   and bass is a common debate within the "junglist" community. There is
   no universally accepted semantic distinction between the terms "jungle"
   and "drum and bass". Some associate "jungle" with older material from
   the first half of the 1990s (sometimes referred to as "jungle techno"),
   and see drum and bass as essentially succeeding jungle. Others use
   jungle as a shorthand for ragga jungle, a specific sub-genre within the
   broader realm of drum and bass. In the U.S., the combined term "jungle
   drum and bass" (JDB) has some popularity, but is not widespread
   elsewhere. Probably the widest held viewpoint is that the terms are
   simply synonymous and interchangeable: drum and bass is jungle, and
   jungle is drum and bass.

   "At the end of the day I am an ambassador for Drum and Bass the world
   over and have been playing for 16 years under the name Hype... To most
   of you out there Drum and Bass will be an important part of your lives,
   but for me Drum and Bass/Jungle is my life and always has been... We
   all have a part to play and believe me when I say I am no fucking
   bandwagon jumper, just a hard working Hackney man doing this thing
   called Drum and Bass/Jungle." DJ Hype

Influences

Influences on drum and bass

   Drum and bass music, born in samplers, has been and is heavily
   influenced by other music genres, though this influence has perhaps
   been lessened in the shift from jungle to drum and bass and the
   intelligent drum and bass and techstep revolution. It still remains a
   fusion music style.

   It could be stated that Miles Davis is one the most important
   influences. Blues artists like Leadbelly, Robert Johnson, Charlie
   Patton, Muddy Waters & B.B King have also been cited by producers as
   inspirations.

   As a musical style built around a funk or rock & roll beat (syncopated)
   Al Green, Marvin Gaye, Ella Fitzgerald, Gladys Knight & the Pips,
   Temptations, Jackson 5, Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding,
   Smokey Robinson, Diana Ross, the Supremes, the Commodores, George
   Clinton, Ray Charles, Jerry Lee Lewis, Herbie Hancock, James Brownand
   even Michael Jackson, are funky influences on the music.

   A very obvious and strong influence on jungle and drum and bass is the
   original dub and reggae sound out of Jamaica, with pioneers like King
   Tubby, Pete Tosh, Sly & Robbie, Bill Laswell, Lee Perry, Mad Professor,
   Roots Radics, Bob Marley and Buju Banton heavily influencing the music.
   This influence has lessened with time but is still evident with many
   tracks containing ragga vocals.

   Early hip-hop is an extremely important influence on drum and bass,
   with the genres sharing the same broken beat. Drum and bass shares many
   musically characteristics with hip-hop though it is nowadays mostly
   stripped of lyrics. Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaata, De La Soul, 2
   Live Crew, Jungle Brothers, Kool Keith, Run DMC, Public Enemy, Schooly
   D, NWA, Wu-Tang Clan, Dr Dre, Mos Def, Beastie Boys and the Pharcyde
   are very often directly sampled, regardless of their general influence.

   Even modern avant-garde composers such as Henryk Gorecki have
   influenced drum and bass.

   Many tracks belonging to other genres are 'remixed' into drum and bass
   versions. The quality of these remixes varies from the simple and
   primitive adding of broken beats to a vocal track or to complete
   reworkings that may exceed the original in quality and effort put into
   them. Original artists will often ask for drum and bass remixes of
   their tracks to be made in order to spark further interest in their
   tracks (i.e. Aphrodite's remix of Jungle Brothers' "Jungle Brother").
   On the other hand, some tracks are (illegally) remixed and released on
   white label (technically bootleg), often to acclaim (i.e. Dj Zinc's
   remix of the Fugees "Ready Or Not", eventually legally released). White
   labels along with dubplates play an important part in drum and bass
   musical culture.

Direct influence

   In mentioning drum&bass influences, special mention needs to be given
   to a few scenes and individuals.

   The first is the US breakbeat scene which emerged in the 1980s, the
   most famous artist being NYC's Frankie Bones whose infamous 'Bones
   Breaks' series from the late '80's onwards helped push the
   house-tempoed breakbeat sound (especially in the UK) and can be said to
   be a direct precursor to the UK breakbeat / hardcore scene.

   The second is Kevin Saunderson, who released a series of bass-heavy,
   minimal techno cuts as Reese / The Reese Project in the late '80s which
   were hugely influential in drum and bass terms. One of his more
   infamous basslines was indeed sampled on Renegade's 'Terrorist' and
   countless others since, being known simply as the 'Reese' bassline. He
   followed these up with equally influential (and bassline heavy) tracks
   in the UK hardcore style as Tronik House in 1991 / 1992. Another
   Detroit artist who was important for the scene is Carl Craig. The
   sampled up jazz break on Carl Craig's "Bug in the Bassbin" was also
   influential on the newly emerging sound, DJs at the Rage club used to
   play it pitched up (increased speed) as far as their Technics record
   decks would go.

   The third precursor worth mentioning here is the Miami, USA Booty Bass
   / Miami Bass scene, first popularised by 2 Live Crew in the mid to late
   '80's. There are clear sonic parallels with drum bass here in the use
   of uptempo synths and drum machines in producing bass-heavy party
   music. However, this movement had absolutely no connection with either
   the US house scene or the UK acid house / rave scene, and to that
   extent is not classifiable as 'rave' music in the same way as the above
   examples possibly are.

Samples

   Drum and bass tracks often contain many direct samples from other
   tracks, some examples are listed below:
     * Afrika Bambaataa's eponymous "Planet Rock" - the beat is sampled in
       Hypnotist's "Pioneers Of The Warped Groove" (Rising High)

     * A-Ha's pop megahit "Take On Me" - the synths are sampled in Yolk's
       "Bish Bosh" (Ruffbeat)

     * Beastie Boys's highly influential "The New Style" - the word "drop"
       is sampled in Lemon D's "Break It Down" (Reinforced)

     * Cypress Hill's searing "I Wanna Get High" - the horn loop beat is
       sampled in Shy FX Feat. UK Apachi's "Original Nuttah" (Sound Of
       Underground Recordings)

     * De La Soul's "The Game Show" - the vocal "now, here's what we'll
       do" is sampled in DJ Krust's "Guess" (V)

   Drum and bass also samples other media, including film and television:
     * Apocalypse Now - The phrase "And for my sins they gave me one" is
       sampled in Hyper On Experience's "Ouiji Awakening" (Moving Shadow)

     * Blade Runner - The phrase "Angels fell" is sampled in Dillinja's
       "Angels Fell" (Metalheadz)

     * Goodfellas - The intro "One day the neighbourhood kids..." is
       sampled in Shy Fx Feat. UK Apachi's "Original Nuttah" (Sound Of
       Underground Recordings)

     * Robocop - The phrase "You're gonna be a bad muthafucker" in A Guy
       Called Gerald's "Cyber Jazz"

     * Scarface - The phrase "All I have in this world are my balls and my
       word... and I break them for nobody" in Dj Hype's "True Playaz
       Anthem" (Parousia)

Influenced by drum and bass

   Jungle/drum and bass has and continues to influence many other musical
   genres, thanks to its variety, experimentation and producer (borderline
   obsessive) professionalism.

   Speed garage and 2step in the UK were born at the height of the
   popularity of jungle, copying the bass-lines, fast tempo (though much
   slowed down), ragga vocals (with frequent MC accompaniment) and
   production techniques. They may be referred to as descendants of drum
   and bass and at one time drove drum and bass into relative obscurity.
   It is perhaps ironic, that grime and dubstep, their descendants have
   driven these genres underground whilst drum and bass has survived and
   evolved. Dubstep combines sounds of 2step with the deep basslines and
   reggae vibe of early jungle.

   Born at the end of the millennium, breakcore shares many of the
   elements of drum and bass and to the unitiated, tracks from the extreme
   end of drum and bass, may sound identical to breakcore thanks to speed,
   complexity, impact and maximum sonic density combined with musical
   experimentation. Raggacore resembles a faster version of the ragga
   influenced jungle music of the 1990's, similar to breakcore but with
   more friendly dancehall beats (dancehall itself being a very important
   influence on drum and bass). Darkcore a direct influence on drum and
   bass, is itself heavily influenced by drum and bass, especially
   darkstep. There is considerable crossover from the extreme edges of
   drum and bass, breakcore, darkcore and raggacore with fluid boundaries.

   Drill and bass, a sub-genre of intelligent dance music (also known as
   "IDM"), popularized by Aphex Twin, features many of the same types of
   rhythms used in drum and bass and is generally focused on complexity in
   programming and instrumentation. Its main proponents include
   Squarepusher and Venetian Snares, amongst others. IDM itself has been
   heavily influenced by drum and bass.

   Despite never gaining the mainstream popularity of speed garage and
   2step, drum and bass' impact in musical terms has been very significant
   and the genre has influenced many other genres like jazz, metal,
   hiphop, big beat, house music, trip hop, ambient music, techno,
   hardcore and pop, with artists such as Bill Laswell, Slipknot,
   Timbaland, Missy Elliot, Pharell, Fat Boy Slim, Lamb, Underworld, The
   Streets, The Freestylers, Nine Inch Nails and David Bowie (the last two
   both using elements of Goldie's "Timeless") and others quoting drum and
   bass and using drum and bass techniques and elements. This is only the
   tip of the iceberg in terms of impact and influence.

Drum and bass globally

   Despite its roots in the UK, which can still be treated as the "home"
   of drum and bass, drum and bass has firmly established itself around
   the world. There are strong scenes in other English-speaking countries
   including the Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and the
   already mentioned United States. It is popular in Europe, in countries
   ranging from Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Hungary,
   Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia and the
   Netherlands. It is also popular in South America. São Paulo is
   sometimes called the drum and bass Ibiza. Brazilian drum and bass is
   sometimes referred to as "sambass", with its specific style and sound.
   In Venezuela, artists have created their own forms of drum and bass
   combining it with experimental musical forms. Asia also has a drum and
   bass scene in countries and cities like Indonesia, Hong Kong, Japan,
   Malaysia, Shanghai and Singapore.

Appearances in the mainstream

     "I'll keep you in safety, for ever protect you. I'll hide you away
     from, the world you rejected. I'll hide you, I’ll hide you." -
     Kosheen "Hide U" (Moksha) 1999

     "Shotter, hitter, serial killer! Go a your funeral and all drink out
     your liquor, when you are bury, we stand next to the vicar. Fling on
     some dirt and make your bury a little quicker, shouldn't test the
     youths, them in the Tommy Hilfiger." - Pendulum & Fresh & Tenor Fly
     "Tarantula" (Breakbeat Kaos) 2005

   Certain drum and bass releases have found mainstream popularity in
   their own right, almost always material prominently featuring vocals.

   Perhaps the earliest example was Goldie's " Timeless" album of 1995,
   along with Reprazent's " New Forms" in 1997 and Pendulum's " Hold Your
   Colour" in 2005. Tracks such as Shy FX and T-Power's "Shake UR Body"
   gained a UK Top 40 Chart placing in 2005. Hive's "Ultrasonic Sound" was
   also used in The Matrix soundtrack.

   More recently, video game tracks, specifically Rockstar Games releases,
   have contained many drum and bass tracks, i.e. the MSX/ MSX 98 radio
   station in Grand Theft Auto III and Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City
   Stories.

   Drum and bass often makes an appearance as background music, especially
   in Top Gear and television commercials thanks its aggressive and
   energetic beats. Due to drum and bass' relative obscurity, most
   listeners would not recognise the music as drum and bass.

Record labels

   Drum and bass is dominated by a few large drum and bass specific record
   labels (run by veteran drum and bass producers and djs, i.e. Dillinja's
   Valve label) but there exist many tiny record labels often run from
   bedrooms. Drum and bass labels are generally run for pleasure and
   profit by its artists.

   The major international music labels such as Sony Music, Universal and
   such are generally not interested in drum and bass artists due to their
   relatively low sales figures.

Accessing drum and bass

Purchasing

   Drum and bass is mostly sold in 12-inch vinyl single format, although
   some albums, compilations and dj mixes are sold on cds. Purchasing drum
   and bass can involve searching specialized record shops or using one of
   many online vinyl, CD and mp3 retailers.

   Drum and bass can also be purchased in the form of "tape packs".

   These are a collection of recordings recorded at a selected rave or
   party. Each tape contains the set by one DJ at that particular
   rave/party including the MC's.

   Most tape packs contain 8 tapes with sets from different DJ's. More
   recently tape packs have become available on CD as tape cassettes are
   being phased out and recordable CD media is more available, although
   the CD packs still retain their traditional name of “tape packs”. Most
   of these packs contain 6 CDs.

Distributors (Wholesale)

   The bulk of drum and bass vinyl records and CDs are distributed
   globally and regionally by a relatively small number of companies.
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drum_and_bass"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
