ABSTRACT
Drum and Bass evolved out of the desire on the part of Black British club goers to have a music with an identity apart from the then-prevalent African-American house and techno styles. First appearing in London dance venues in the early 1990s, Drum and Bass-also known as Jungle-was a fast-paced, kinetic music featuring a predominance of drum loops. Emerging from the Ecstasy culture, it incorporated elements of hardcore techno, hip-hop, soul, jazz, and reggae afterbeats. Whereas house and techno were built around standard time signatures, particularly 4/4, Drum and Bass-like jazz-was founded on syncopation, that is, an emphasis on the offbeat. Furthermore, the focal center of the genre, its rhythmic groove, preempted the role of melody, with instrumental lines serving merely as ornamentation.
