UK garage emerged in London in the early 1990s from a blend of New York
garage house,
jungle, Jamaican
ragga and
dancehall music, and
R&B. It was influenced by the pirate radio scene,
rave culture, gospel, Baptist churches, and the
Black diaspora. MJ Cole once stated, "London is a multicultural city... it's like a melting pot of young people, and that's reflected in the music of UK garage." In the United Kingdom, where
jungle was very popular at the time, garage was played in a second room at jungle events. After jungle's peak in cultural significance, it turned towards a harsher, more
techstep influenced sound, driving away dancers, predominantly women. Escaping the 170bpm jungle basslines, the garage rooms provided a more sensual and soulful sound at 130bpm. This gave rise to what became known as the
Sunday Scene, as initially speed and UK garage promoters could only hire venues on Sunday evenings (Friday and Saturday nights were still the preserve of faster and then more popular
jungle and
drum and bass events). Larger nightclubs, such as
Heaven in
Charing Cross, then began to dedicate space to garage DJs. Early promoters of a UK garage sound included
DJ EZ,
Dreem Teem and
Tuff Jam, and
pirate radio stations such as
London Underground, Magic FM, Upfront FM, and Freek FM. An early UK garage track, "Feel My Love" by Justin Cantor and Matt Jam Lamont, was recorded in 1991. It wouldn't be officially released until 1993.
1994–1997: Speed garage In 1994, DJ EZ started working at Freek FM. That same year, while DJing in a Greenwich nightclub, he played American DJ
Todd Edwards' garage house track "The Praise (God in His Hand)" at a speedier 130 beats-per-minute (bpm), instead of the 120bpm popular in the US, to make it closer to the
tempo of the UK
hardcore and
jungle music popular in clubs at the time. This raised the visibility of garage house which, when played at 130bpm, became known as
speed garage. Instead of having full verses and choruses, Edwards picked out vocal phrases and played them like an instrument. Often, individual syllables were reversed or pitch-shifted. The new genre became especially popular on pirate radio stations. Over the course of the 1990s, new garage clubs opened across the UK, with large scenes in
Birmingham,
Manchester,
Bristol, and other university towns. By 1996, the UK garage scene had spread to popular tourist destinations in
Ayia Napa,
Ibiza and
Faliraki. Speed garage duo Industry Standard scored a top 40 hit with "Vol. 1 (What You Want What You Need)" peaking at #34 in January 1998, and the 1997
XL Recordings release of Somore featuring Damon Trueitt's "I Refuse (What You Want)" reached #21 also in January 1998, containing mixes by Industry Standard, Ramsey & Fen,
R.I.P. Productions and
Serious Danger. Serious Danger obtained a chart hit in his own right with "
Deeper" which debuted and peaked at #40 in December 1997, and the Fabulous Baker Boys scored a chart hit with "Oh Boy", which peaked at #34 in November 1997 and samples
Jonny L's 1992
rave track "Hurt You So".
1998–2001: 2-step garage and UK chart success Over time, the
2-step garage sound emerged with the addition of further funky elements like
contemporary R&B-styled vocals, more shuffled beats, and a different drum pattern. The most radical change from speed garage to 2-step was the removal of the 2nd and 4th bass kick from each bar. One of the earliest examples that bridged speed garage and 2-step is the 1997 Kelly G remix of "
Never Gonna Let You Go" by
Tina Moore, which peaked at #7 on the UK chart. In 1998,
Lovestation released their version of "
Teardrops" which reached #14.
Doolally (formerly known as Shanks & Bigfoot) also scored a #20 hit the same year with "
Straight from the Heart". A re-release of this song the following year fared even better, peaking at #9, due to the success of their #1 single "
Sweet Like Chocolate". Venues such as
Scala, The Colosseum, The Gass Club,
Ministry of Sound and
Fabric became especially associated with garage. Besides being popular in UK clubs, venues in
Aiya Napa and
Ibiza were also dedicated to garage. Production duos
Shanks & Bigfoot and
Artful Dodger were very successful with the tracks "
Sweet Like Chocolate" (the first UK garage track to hit number one in the UK) and "
Re-Rewind", respectively. Both songs reached platinum status and became anthems for the
2-step garage scene. Other huge hits in 1999 include the #1
house/garage anthem "
You Don't Know Me" by
Armand van Helden. American
R&B influences can be heard in early UK garage intended for a commercial, rather than dancefloor, audience. Tracks like "
Twentyfourseven" by
Artful Dodger, a slower and simpler R&B-infused drum pattern can be heard, in contrast with the complex drum beats, heavy syncopation (swing) and more energetic tempo (normally between 130 and 138 BPM) that usually characterised UKG. Garage producers then proceeded to churn out UK versions of US contemporary R&B hits, such as the
Architechs' version of Brandy and Monica's "
The Boy Is Mine". The Architechs sped-up the vocals through time-stretching and added sound effects to increase the competitive nature. The "B&M Remix" eventually sold twenty thousand copies as a bootleg.
2002: 2-step and grime 2002 saw an evolution as 2-step moved away from its funky and soul-oriented sound into a darker direction called "
grime", now a genre in its own right. During this period, MCs also became more visible in UKG, bringing the genre closer to its rap influences than its soul influences. At this time, traditional UK garage was also being pushed back underground amongst the bad publicity emanating from the tougher side of the genre, including a high profile shooting at a
So Solid Crew gig and the subsequent informal banning of UK garage acts from the West End. During this time, there was also a strong division of class in UK garage. In the heyday of garage, the late 1990s, it was a highly aspirational genre. When people went to the club to hear garage, they dressed up. Clubs such as Twice as Nice enforced a dress code with no tennis shoes, jeans, or baseball caps. The dress codes were meant to "encourage people to make an effort", but also to "keep trouble out." In time, Twice as Nice installed a metal detector to screen for guns. Bassline garage, sometimes known as "niche" after the club where the style emerged, is often linked to the work of
DJ Q. It developed in the mid-2000s in the UK, and borrows heavily from 4x4 and speed garage. Its recognisable traits include its speedy tempo, heavy basslines, and fast vocals. Example tracks include "Heartbroken" by T2 ft. Jodie Aysha. Other subgenres include vocal garage, jazzstep, bumping garage, rollin' UKG, and old school garage. Future garage and funky house may also be considered subgenres of garage. ==Revivals==