Breakbeat Hardcore - Effect and Fragmentation

Effect and Fragmentation

In the early years, the underground sound became more mainstream. Even without radio play, many hybrid and regional styles made their way into Top 20 charts. However, during the early 1990s, the two main subdivisions of this underground rave movement were primarily either a. House & Techno (Often used interchangeable or vaguely used to define a multitude of sub-genres of House music) and b. Breakbeat Hardcore. Approximately in 1993 the scene fragmented (a. & b.), and forked off into two distinct styles—jungle music (later giving rise to drum and bass) and 4-beat (alternatively known as happy hardcore). This split was evident at the early Roast events. Roast was England's largest most respected original Jungle promoter. The promoters of Roast referred to it as the House scene branching off and going in their own direction, not accepting the new Jungle sound (which largely dropped the 4-on-the-floor House kick drum). Jungle's sound was more focused on basslines, often with jazz-like undertones, while 4-beat retained the rave synths, the 4/4 kickdrum and happier piano elements. By 1996, most 4-beat had dropped its breakbeats (in part due to bouncy techno), while drum and bass had long dropped the techno style synth stabs, further separating the two styles. The almost independent evolution of styles created distinct sounds of "bleep and bass", brutalist techno, hardcore jungle, pop-rave, UK garage, and ragga-techno sounds.