BassLine scene in the UK

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Music journalism course article by Geoff Fitzgerald

Explosion of the BassLine Scene in the UK

Bassline genre that appeals to both men and women is making its way slowly from Sheffield,
a large city within the UK, via Ayia Napia, into the mainstream.

The sound has been popular on the underground scene in the UK and the Midlands region,
further North the scene has been going for nearly a decade – left to form from the ashes of
UK Garage via folk – memory flashbacks to happy hardcore, while the south part of the UK
went in search of something new.

So giving much to the deadline of my memories the styles that put together such a genre
originated in that large city of Sheffield Around 2002.

So you may well be thinking what is bassline, what does it sound like? Where can I hear
more? And experience the notion of such a genre that people alike take to the dance floor
every week and in brace to such euphoria…… I said deadline for my memories didn’t I!

Like dubstep and grime, bassline generally places a strong emphasis on bass, with intricate
bass lines (often multiple and interweaving) being characteristic of the genre. Bassline tracks
use a four-to-the-floor beat. The music is often purely instrumental, but vocal techniques are
common other styles of garage can also be present, such as female R&B vocals sped up to
match the faster tempo, this was made legendary for Deborah Cox with her massive dance
floor hit ‘’Nobody’s Supposed To Be Here.’’

The increased appeal of bassline may be in part due to the vocal contributions of female
artists such as Jodie Aysha. The lyrics of bassline are often focused on love and other issues
that may be considered more feminine. The bassline genre has been described in a blog by
Simon Reynolds as ‘’the drastic pendulum swing from yang to yin, testosterone to oestrogen,
that I had always imagined would happen in reaction to grime, except it took so long to
happen I gave up on it and just forgot.’’


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Bassline is said to embrace pop music aesthetics, and to have a euphoric, exuberant quality
similar to that of earlier British rave music - this takes me, now fondly back to my memories
and I would say that euphoric feelings is what bass line creates and brings a whole notion of
people together.

So was bassline not used in music until a nightclub in the UK city of Sheffield opened there
doors?

Well…. No the nightclub in Sheffield called Niche, this name is now commonly used for the
genre, is where bass line originated from, but it goes back to the 1930’s in some text form.

From the 1930’s, 60’s and 70’s funky basslines were used and how the infectious bassline
music represented a marriage of African, Spanish and Indigenous influences. Most notable is
that 90’s dance masters The Prodigy used a sample on there 1997 hit single ‘’Smack My
Bitch Up’’ from a 1963 Jazz artist Randy Weston’s track ‘’In Memory Of.’’

Legendary Billboard acts like The Bee Gees and Donna Summer started to incorporate
bassline in the form of Disco, ‘’I Feel Love’’ the landmark hit for Summer, used a moog bass
line with a synth-drum to create its magic. The Bee Gees perfected a clever, fresh sounding
mixture of kinetic bass line and simultaneously whining – which was insistent and became a
success, the band enjoying hits in the UK/USA from 1967.

Moving through the big hair days of the 1980’s bassLine started to hit the local scene and
introduced more Hip-Hop and dance influences like bassLine Productions and Run D.M.C
‘’It’s Like That.’’

Bass Line utilized pre- computer age technology to create cutting edge music that was way
ahead of it’s time.

The legendary British band The Beatles began to incorporate bassline to there music, most
notably on the tracks ‘’I Want to Hold Your Hand’’ and ‘’We Can Work It Out.’’


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Stylistic Origins – Speed Garage
UK Garage
Grime

Cultural Origins – Early 2000’s
Sheffield UK

Typical Instruments – Music Sequencer,
Turntables, Samplers, Drum Machines,
Personal computer.

Mainstream popularity – Underground but
with some chart success.

So where does all this history leave us in the current age? Remembering that Niche Nightclub
in Sheffield, where bassline was home bread and speed garage, funky house and club
classics to hundreds of devoted fans every weekend.

Playing out to controversy the Niche nightclub was closed down in November, 2005, following
a police raid named ‘’Operation Repatriation’’, where over 300 police officers raided the club,
although no one was arrested. Negative association with the genre began and the police
themselves expressed fears that the scene attracted violence, gang culture and crime, largely
from outside of Sheffield.

Sheffield’s Police staff have stated ‘’the only gun crime related to nightlife in Sheffield has
been with bassline’’

So with all the negative hype around the genre, how was anyone going to start bringing
bassline more into the main stream? By the noughties DJ’s alike asked if vocals could be
taken out of the speed garage (pitched vocals, particularly female singers we’re a central
point of the sound) and the house could just thump up the bass a bit. Bassline was evolving.

Bassline still remained an underground scene in most big cities throughout the UK until the
release of a major bassline contender T2 with his hit single ‘’Heartbroken,’’ which attracted
international attention, entering the music charts in several countries, including the UK singles
chart where it reached a peak of #2. The song started off a major shift with the genre and saw
other parts of the UK find there feet with bassline.


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Clubs across the UK played a home for some of the most notable bassline acts from this
major breakthrough, appealing to dance and club lovers, bassline was propelled into the
spotlight (further) – using the term Niche and showcasing artists like T2, DJ Q AND DJ EZ.

From Personal experience of the notable acts, DJ EZ became the nation’s number 1 within
the garage bassline scene. As EZ started to get more known through the various FM stations
within the UK, he was given extra show time and was also made a member of the station’s
management team. Leading the way now with regular club nights, composing and producing
compilation albums for Dance heavy’s like Ministry Of Sound and Pure Garage, it shows that
EZ is one of the most notable bassline artists of our generation.

Who else has been notable within the bassline genre, I hear you ask?

The Wideboys I say! Mostly because there have crossed over and worked with international
heavy starsand gone on to multi award winning success with chart topping production.
Dynamic duo Eddie Craig and Jim Sullivan have worked on major project’s with record label
Def JAM USA it was Rihanna’s ‘’Good Girl Gone Bad’’. Official remixes have felt the magic of
this genius duo, much to these high profile artists delight, N.E.R.D, Snoop Dog, Kerri Hilson,
Janet Jackson, Jennifer Lopez, Kanye West and Mr Hudson, Taio Cruz and Mariah Carey, to
name a few. DJ Q, H Two O and DJ Chef are also notable bassline artists to emerge from the
UK bass line scene.

How would I recognise a Bassline? This is something that needs to be explained, because it
isn’t that simple.

A bassline can transform a song into a groove - happy wonderland, which many big live acts
have incorporated and successfully done so.

Red Hot Chilli Peppers – ‘Give It Away’ featured a Bassist Flea who plays something that
almost sounds backwards, yet retains funkiness.

Bee Gees – ‘Saturday Night Fever’ – ‘Night Fever’ featured some of the most recognizable
basslines ever concocted – These are the kinds of basslines people would kill to create, yet
the Bee Gees did it so effortlessly one summer.

Michael Jackson – Billie Jean has that instant hook! Jackson claimed that the bassline, which
is the most memorable of his career – came from God as an answer to his prayers.


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Queen – Under Pressure has a great Rhythm created by the flamboyant rockers – so
awesome that it was sampled in it’s entirety for another monster hit in ‘Ice Ice Baby’ by Vanilla
Ice.

The bassline comeback into the mainstream has been heaved by producers like Deadmau5,
Justice, Fedde Le Grand and Berny Benassi bringing lighter, more diluted euro dance –
infused house tracks back to the US Top 40 charts. With this steady, yet subtle, mainstream
success throughout the years, House has gained momentum and concepts developed by
house producers have infected the mainstream Pop and Hip-Hop worlds.

With the introduction of Vocooders and Auto- Tune, as well as the popularization of digital
audio workstations and new production techniques like side changing and heavy
compression, House is becoming more and more a part of American musical culture.

The UK’s urban music scene has seen the genius of bassline and now become completely
dominated with Bassline and Speed Garage in the last few years, The Black Eyed Peas,
Rihanna, Usher , Dizzee Rascal, Jennifer Lopez are just a few who have turned to it.

In 2009 the urban scene crossed paths with bassline House music, in the form of Dubstep,
giving an electronic dance sound with overwhelming basslines and reverberant drum
patterns, clipped samples and occasional vocals. With clubs nationwide embracing the
Genre, Dubstep gained recognition and entered the charts with songs such as Magnetic
Man’s ‘I Need Air’ and Katy B’s ‘Katy on a Mission.’

Both reaching top 10 statuses and giving the UK another breakout genre.

But is change a good thing or a bad thing? To be honest it’s had both positive and negatives
but the positive out way the negatives. It is much easier for an up and coming artist to get on
TV these days. Radio stations such as 1xtra, which specialize in urban music, weren’t around
in the days of Crazy Titch so yes there’s been a positive change in the urban music scene
and bassline has been the main reason.

So now that bassline is much more commercial is it more assessable?

Bassline has a huge following among Yorkshire’s MySpace generation both in big cities like
Sheffield, Leeds and Bradford, all within the north of England.


Your feet and souls can be filled with the whole euphoria of bassline at many monthly events
at local clubs within the UK cities of Leeds, Sheffield and Bradford. All over London main

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clubs hold bassline nights to entertain the electro, dubstep and drum n bass fans, all played
out by some of the biggest names.

Showcasing underground DJ talent, internationally – renowned electronic music legends, and
accomplished live acts The London Fabric club nights are dedicated to cutting edge house,
techno, electro, disco, dub-techno…………………and anything else that fit’s within the
confines of the nights future – forward and ever – evolving programming! Sounds like the kind
of night I want to be experiencing every weekend.

SoulShaker is a more soulful event in many different styles from Disco House, Deep Jackin’
House, or just plain simple classics to stir things up. Resident DJ’s Ollie Blackmore and
Darren Mac play house music for all the people who want to get down.

Gatecrasher is for the people who love to attend parties uninvited, recognized as an
international clubbing brand made famous by the Gatecrasher dance music events held at the
Gatecrasher One nightclub in Sheffield, England during the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Venues have now expanded into the English cities of Birmingham, Leeds, Watford and
Nottingham. If your looking for an all night event, with ‘big name’ DJ’s throughout the night
with English heritage Judge Jules a resident, playing out a music style that was originally
Techno and House oriented.

Further a field the bass community can enjoy ‘Bassline’ an event held in Amsterdam, playing
out dance and electronic music on three separate festival dates throughout the year. This has
to be for the kind hearted as it’s a whole night experience.

The whole night experience is what bassline is all about in some text and the benchmark of
where it is going is getting higher each year, from 2007 A collaboration CD ‘The Sound of
Bassline’ with Ministry Of Sound could be brought within the local supermarket Tesco, within
the UK .

So what is the future of bassline?

‘Commercial goddess’ comes to mind, as so many high profile performers of all music genres
are taking the bassline out and about and introducing the world to it.

Some of my favourite artists like Usher have changed there musical style, some for the better.
What has originated form a large city in the UK has finally spread across the world and our
dancing feet will never be the same again.


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The Niche Nightclub in Sheffield, United Kingdom.


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BassLine scene in the UK

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