What happened after 1997 and why?

cocaine

cocaine

think u nailed it on the head there Zing



...i could tell u stories of hotheaded cokehead djs stalking me and being so aggressive in SF!!!!!!!!!!!



...they were making sure nobody else broke into their scene...holding on to it with both fists -----------lemme tell ya... thats when i gave up hope of spinning dnb here, went straight back to live music and spinning dub and reggae...

I think I still have some old tapes of radio 1 shows where Grooverider and Fabio rant about the charts and how they don't want dnb to be part of that, "fuck commercial music", "we're not on it for the cheese" etc. Could be fun to have them as skits in a mix

[noisemonkey]

98 was such a terrible year for drum and bass compared to previous years

I disagree entirely. I have lots and lots of records from 1998. Loads of great, imaginative two-step tunes in 98. It's 1999 – the year of Bad Company – onwards that things went downhill I think.

I think you might be right there, it was definitely sometime in 98 that I stopped listening to drum and bass and started mixing it in 2000. It definitely looks as though it was complacency and lack of inspiring tracks from the major players which forced this change. also less creative mixing seems to have played a part as the lack of beat variation doesn't allow for much anyway...

Best quote on what happened after 1997 I've seen -


Count To Ten: Cross-genre drum & bass remixes – part 2 (1997-99)
https://godisnolongeradj.wordpress.com/2...2-1997-99/  (29th Dec 2017)


"The niche underground genre infiltrated the mainstream and many d&b producers signed with major labels to curate collections or record personal albums. On reflection, it turned out to be a double-edged sword.
...

Effectively, drum & bass re-entered a phase of introversion, darkness and belligerence marking the end of the romance. An injection of fresh air was desperately needed and a new breed of producers and record labels emerged to fill in the gap created by those who helped the scene flourish, but sadly realized that they no longer fitted in the d&b reality of the new millennium."

Wassup!!

I think one of the things that contributed was because the crowd changed,,, there were more people in the raves that were new compared to those that were there in the earlier years.... there were more new listeners that were students and listened to non-rave music like rock/metal/etc.......... a lot of producers that were smashing it got tied up in label shit because they took deals and their music sat on the shelf.... something I read today on twitter is that 'scenes' have to have the 'middle' players.... the top dogs don't get the time to make music much as they are superstar dj's, so they need the middle players - jungle/dnb never had that... you had the roni/dillinja/photek/lemon d/etc.... that were amazing and they took the next step up, but there was no one to pick up where they left off.... or there was, but not enough people..... so the music gets dumbed down to the point where it's constant unimaginative 2step

The music wasn't underground, so all the underground heads got the arsehole with it all and threw their toys out the pram.

[noisemonkey]

this thread is a blast from the past. dnb is superb right now though. So many labels doing interesting stuff.

Oh yeah.

this thread is a blast from the past.  dnb is superb right now though.  So many labels doing interesting stuff.

Most definitely... I love how there are so many new producers all with their different slant on it.

Wassup!!

I think one of the things that contributed was because the crowd changed,,, there were more people in the raves that were new compared to those that were there in the earlier years.... there were more new listeners that were students and listened to non-rave music like rock/metal/etc.......... a lot of producers that were smashing it got tied up in label shit because they took deals and their music sat on the shelf.... something I read today on twitter is that 'scenes' have to have the 'middle' players.... the top dogs don't get the time to make music much as they are superstar dj's, so they need the middle players - jungle/dnb never had that... you had the roni/dillinja/photek/lemon d/etc.... that were amazing and they took the next step up, but there was no one to pick up where they left off.... or there was, but not enough people..... so the music gets dumbed down to the point where it's constant unimaginative 2step

Not sure I agree with all this anymore! Struggling to put it into words..... It's constantly evolving, just maybe not how some people want it to perhaps??

I actually agree with everything you said 247...it's just a dense thread.