Music Uncovered - Turn It Up: A Short History Of Drum & Bass

MUSIC UNCOVERED - TURN IT UP: A SHORT HISTORY OF DRUM & BASS (320kbs-m4a/274mb/1hr58mins)
BBC Radio 1 broadcast: 14th & 21st June 2024

DJ Flight, Storm and other genre-defining contributors tell the story of D&B.

TURN IT UP: A SHORT HISTORY OF DRUM & BASS - 1. THE BIRTH (320kbs-m4a/33mb/14mins)
BBC Radio 1 broadcast: 14th June 2024

D&B is the fast-beating pulse of everything from workouts to nights out, but where did it come from? DJ Flight steps back into the halcyon days of rave, when techno and house music washed up on the shores of the UK, stirring up a cultural revolution. Soon, that music was dropped into a blender with hip-hop, soul, and reggae. The result was jungle: a vivid, homegrown force in the middle of the country's party scene. Flight introduces you to some of its first innovators, disciples, and champions.

TURN IT UP: A SHORT HISTORY OF DRUM & BASS - 2. METAL HEADZ (320kbs-m4a/31mb/13mins)
BBC Radio 1 broadcast: 14th June 2024

As jungle rapidly morphs, a groundbreaking new record label and club night becomes a nerve centre for this dynamic new movement: Metalheadz, founded by Goldie, Kemistry and DJ Storm is as wild and innovative as the DJs and producers who created it. Revellers flock to a tiny basement club in Hoxton Square, each week, to hear this new sound taking shape. But with the increased exposure, the first bad press begins making its mark on the scene, forcing an identity crisis for the original junglists.

TURN IT UP: A SHORT HISTORY OF DRUM & BASS - 3. D&B POPS (320kbs-m4a/34mb/15mins)
BBC Radio 1 broadcast: 14th June 2024

After a period of being shunned by the press, the mainstream makes its first step towards accepting the music. Goldie's debut album is heralded as a masterpiece, Roni Size and Reprazent face off against the Spice Girls at the Mercury Music Prize, and D&B finds a new home on Radio 1. Suddenly, all the major labels want a piece of the action. It's a rags to riches moment, but all that success comes at a cost. Then, on the brink of the new millennium, the scene is torn apart by a devastating loss.

TURN IT UP: A SHORT HISTORY OF DRUM & BASS - 4. REBIRTH (320kbs-m4a/33mb/14mins)
BBC Radio 1 broadcast: 14th June 2024

Drum & Bass approaches the 2000s on the brink of disaster: the spirit has left the music, eaten up by the major labels and the money. Kemistry's death has torn a hole in the heart of the community. So how do you recover from that? The combined optimism of a fresh wave of young talent and an old guard, ready to be revitalised, creates a new, exciting form of D&B – ready to deliver the music to new audiences and new heights.

TURN IT UP: A SHORT HISTORY OF DRUM & BASS - 5. XTRA BASS! (320kbs-m4a/33mb/14mins)
BBC Radio 1 broadcast: 21st June 2024

When BBC 1Xtra launches in 2002, DJ Flight finds herself at the frontline of a radio station committed to broadcasting 11 hours of drum & bass a week. Music festivals explode in the UK, giving the scene's talent access to bigger and bigger crowds, and changing the way they think about the music. Into the midst of this, come Pendulum – a D&B trio with a live act destined for the main stage. Their influence will send shockwaves through the entire scene.

TURN IT UP: A SHORT HISTORY OF DRUM & BASS - 6. D&B POPS, AGAIN (320kbs-m4a/33mb/14mins)
BBC Radio 1 broadcast: 21st June 2024

When Dubstep invades dance floors in 2008, it's like UK garage all over again. What happened to all the D&B lovers? Where did they go? But as those in the underground ponder the state of the nation, above the surface, a more commercial form of the music is growing stronger and stronger – thanks to festival headline sets from Pendulum and the very first D&B UK number one single: DJ Fresh and Rita Ora's Hot Right Now.

TURN IT UP: A SHORT HISTORY OF DRUM & BASS - 7. RENAISSANCE (320kbs-m4a/37mb/16mins)
BBC Radio 1 broadcast: 21st June 2024

D&B's reputation continues to grow, thanks to high profile remixes and more chart success from the likes of Rudimental - who score the music's second UK number one. As social media rewires the way the music industry organises, a new generation of female talent finds itself drawn into the culture, and celebrated via game-changing platforms like Boiler Room. In response to the ongoing gender imbalance, DJ Flight and Mantra launch the EQ50 initiative, that later develops into a mentorship programme for new women and non-binary D&B producers.

TURN IT UP: A SHORT HISTORY OF DRUM & BASS - 8. STAYING POWER (320kbs-m4a/39mb/17mins)
BBC Radio 1 broadcast: 21st June 2024

30 years on from the birth of the genre, drum & bass is still adapting. When the global pandemic closes nightclubs in 2020, a period of soul searching follows - but D&B emerges with more purpose. The community expands to welcome in new talent like Nia Archives. Old and new faces come together to celebrate the longevity of D&B - and to future-proof a culture that's already weathered so much loss. Storm and Flight reflect on just how far this music has travelled, and the distance it still has to cover...