Big beat: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia


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'''Big beat''' is an [[electronic music]] genre that usually uses heavy [[breakbeat]]s and synthesizer-generated loops and patterns – common to [[acid house]]/[[techno]]. The term has been used by the British music industry to describe music by artists such as [[the Prodigy]], [[the Chemical Brothers]], [[Fatboy Slim]], [[the Crystal Method]], [[Propellerheads]], [[Basement Jaxx]] and [[Groove Armada]].<ref name="Old Hit Won't Outgun Prodigy Disc">{{cite news|work=Miami Herald|title=Old Hit Won't Outgun Prodigy Disc|url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=MH&s_site=miami&p_multi=MH&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=1050AF0CAA662FC6&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM |date=10 September 2004}}</ref>

Big beat achievedhad mainstream success during the 1990s, and achieved its critical and commercial peak betweenin 1995the late 1990s and 1999early 2000s, with releases such the Chemical Brothers’Brothers' ''[[Dig Your Own Hole]]'', Prodigy’sThe Prodigy's ''[[Fat of the Land]]'', and Fatboy Slim’sSlim's ''[[You've Come a Long Way, Baby]]'', before quickly declining fromin 2000popularity by the onwardsmid-2000s.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/3de5jv/in-defense-of-big-beat-love-to-hate|title=In Defense of Big Beat, the Annoying 90s Music Genre That Snobs Love to Hate|last=Coleman|first=Jonny|date=2016-10-14|website=Thump|language=en-US|access-date=2019-02-21}}</ref>

==Style==

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[[File:The_Prodigy_live_in_Romania.JPG|thumb|The Prodigy live in 2009]]

[[File:The Chemical Brothers performing in Barcelona, Spain (2007).jpg|thumb|220px|The Chemical Brothers performing in [[Barcelona]], Spain in 2007]]

[[File:Lollapalooza Chile 2012 - The Crystal Method (7184526338) (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|200px220px|[[The Crystal Method]] performing at [[Lollapalooza]], 2012]]▼

===1997–2004: Mainstream success===

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===2004–present: Decline===

The big beat scene had started to gradually decline in popularity by 2004, due to the novelty of the genre's formula fading. In an interview with ''The Guardian'', Damian "Cocaine became much more prevalent—never healthy for a scene. Success meant that we moved from small sweaty clubs to huge arenas and DJ sets got too predictable. So people went off in their different directions [and] big beat became a dirty term." According to Harris, the big beat sound also "lost any sense of a cutting edge" due to its oversaturation in action movie trailers, advertisements, video games, and sporting events.<ref>{{cite news |author=Damian Harris |date=9 April 2008 |title=Big beat: creating a dancefloor monster |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2008/apr/09/bigbeat |access-date=26 September 2011}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/3de5jv/in-defense-of-big-beat-love-to-hate|title=In Defense of Big Beat, the Annoying 90s Music Genre That Snobs Love to Hate|last=Coleman|first=Jonny|date=2016-10-14|website=Thump|language=en-US|access-date=2019-02-21}}</ref>

▲[[File:Lollapalooza Chile 2012 - The Crystal Method (7184526338) (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|200px|[[The Crystal Method]] performing at [[Lollapalooza]], 2012]]

The big beat scene had started to gradually decline in popularity by 2004, due to the novelty of the genre's formula fading.<ref>{{cite news |author=Damian Harris |date=9 April 2008 |title=Big beat: creating a dancefloor monster |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2008/apr/09/bigbeat |access-date=26 September 2011}}</ref> The genre's most successful acts would alter their sound further, more prominently, the Chemical Brothers releasing more material with direct house and [[techno]] characteristics (including "[[Four on the floor (music)|4x4]]" beats which resemble those of [[House music|house]] and synthesizer sweeps and noises, marking a departure from their big beat sound consisting of syncopated breakbeats and hip hop samples) inspired by the success of the [[Gatecrasher]] club and the trance movement, which would reach a commercial peak between 1999 and 2002. However, big beat had left an indelible mark on popular music as an indigenous progression from rave music, bridging a divide between clubbers and [[indie rock]] fans. Without this connection, some have reasoned that it would not have reached the heights that it did, or resonated with as many listeners as it did.<ref>{{cite book |last=Reynolds |first=Simon |title=Generation Ecstasy |url=https://archive.org/details/generationecstas00reyn |url-access=registration |publisher=Little, Brown and Company |year=1998 |page=[https://archive.org/details/generationecstas00reyn/page/384 384] |isbn=9780316741118 }}</ref>

==References==