30 Years Ago Mixmag Declared 1994 To Be “The Summer Of Jungle” – we’ve come a long way since!
Jungle is a hybrid of dance music popularised in the early to mid 90s which fuses high-speed hardcore breakbeats with elements of hiphop, ragga and dancehall.
Its roots, pun fully intended, are clearly in the British 90s rave scene but also extend even deeper still into the rich history of Caribbean soundsystem culture. As a result, low bass frequencies have always been an integral part of the sound.
The jungle sound originated in the post-acid house era, as UK producers doubled down on the breakbeat influences favoured by British producers versus the more steady, four-to-the-floor rhythm of house and techno from Europe and the US.
Other influences also got thrown into the pot – bass-heavy “bleep” techno from the north of England, MC culture from the south, hardcore warehouse sounds imported from Europe and an increasing reliance on classic funk and soul drum breaks on which New York’s hiphop scene was founded.
The rave era also bred excess, as smaller clubs gave way larger venues with bigger crowds demanding louder soundsystems and more drugs to fuel it all.
The predictable outcome of this was that DJs began playing harder, so the tracks got harder, the breakbeats got faster and the bass grew ever deeper.
However, unlike European hardcore variants in general, and the pneumatic kickdrum assault of gabber in particular, jungle’s combination of fast snaking breakbeats with slow, sub bass, allowed for way more funk and syncopation.
Sure, you could dance to jungle like a sweaty loon or you could groove to it at half speed and just let those renegade snares wash over you like the rain.
Because jungle stacked groove on top of groove.
Urban Style Music
As technology evolved, producers were no longer content to speed up classic breaks and loop them, so instead they began to chop, splice and stretch the breaks to create far more intricate and compelling rhythms.
And when that happened, suddenly this sleeper genre broke through to become the most important new musical development of the 1990s.
Jungle was the UK’s first true native dance music style, made in DIY fashion by producers on limited equipment such as old Commodore Amiga computers running software such as Protracker. (Many contemporary jungle producers continue to use such equipment to this day, even younger producers who favour this method despite the fact that many weren’t even born when the methods were first developed.)
The game-changer for jungle came with the release of Recycle, the original flagship product from Propellerhead Software (now Reason Studios).
Suddenly producers were able to slice up those ubiquitous Amen breaks in exciting new ways, making them twist and writhe about while the deep subby sinewave bass kept the track rolling along.
Throw in some tiiiiiiiime-streeeeeetched-samples of vocals and percussion hits, some funk and rare groove and plenty of ragamuffin bizniss ahn ting and suddenly jungle, a style of dance music which had been derided for years as being “too hardcore” and “too dark” (i.e. too black) was just far too cool, fresh and innovative for the music press to ignore.
In August 1994, Mixmag declared that it was the “Summer of Jungle” and, following a few breakout hits in 1994, the genre suddenly became the darling of the mainstream media.
But by that point the style was already changing and mutating further into numerous variants and sub-genres.
Jungle not only spawned drum n bass, it also influenced the birth of UK garage and dubstep, as well as other modern genres like footwork and juke.
Moreover, the new freeform breakbeat aesthetic it established influenced a range of artists from Aphex Twin to Trent Reznor and even David Bowie.
But I’m getting ahead of myself, because this is all about jungle.
More specifically, it’s about the Summer of Jungle from 1994.
By the following summer the lines between jungle and drum and bass were already blurred, so that’s why I’m aiming to stick to 1994 tunes.
That’s why you won’t find any later stuff from Goldie or top tunes from 93 like Origin Unknown’s Valley of the Shadows on this list, despite being one of the finest examples of the genre.
But trust me, 1994 has more than enough classic jungle bangers to fill a whole new blog. Which is why I struggled more with trying to think what not to include, in order to keep this list short.
In doing so I strived to strike a balance between essential tunes and big hits with some of my own personal favourites while also trying to represent a good cross genre of the genre – sticking to just ten was agonising.
*Update – DJ Randall
Updating this article to include a short tribute to the late, great DJ Randall who died on July 31st 2024.
Again, since we’re talking about the summer of jungle and those great old skool pioneers, his contribution should be acknowledged and cannot be understated either.
For this reason I’m going to publish something soon as a follow-up of sorts to this article, which will be packed with even more top jungle tunes from the Mixmag Live Jungle tape. From what I can recall, that tape was my first proper introduction to DJ Randall, who became one of my first ever guides into the myriad ecologies of underground jungle music.
In the meantime, while I finish playing catchup with a backlog of posts, I’m adding another tune to this list from DJ Randall and fellow jungle pioneer Andy C which fits the topic of this article perfectly. This one came out on Andy C’s RAM Records in 1994, so it fits the timeline perfectly.
It’s also another mean mother of a tune, with frantic pitched and chopped Amen breaks, deep rumbling bass and an eerie, brooding cinematic atmosphere. RIP Randall and thanks for all the top tunes.
Summer Of Jungle – Top Ten Jungle Tunes
10: Breaking Free – Slipmatt
If we’re talking about old skool UK breakbeat then it’s fitting that we start here. Slipmatt is one of the champions of the old skool and one of the scene’s hardest-working DJs, still pushing the genre forward today while keeping that original raver vibe alive.
Slipmatt was jungle before jungle was jungle. As one half of SL2, he also helped popularise the fusion of dance music and ragga with the rave classic On A Ragga Tip. That track, released on XL Recordings way back in 1992, was so popular it even entered the mainstream charts. And if you know that track I’ll wager it’s playing in your head right now.
Breaking Free is another signature tune from his early 90s back catalogue. With its soft pads and cheesy diva vocals this one does kinda drift northwards into happy hardcore territory but its deep pulsing bass and deftly-pitched Amen breaks places this one firmly in the junglist camp, albeit with a tune that’s guaranteed to put a big cheesy grin on your face.
9: Dope Style – DJ Hype
“A game of chess is like a swordfight, you must think first before you move.”
DJ Hype is another one of the old skool innovators whose early work appeared on Suburban Base, Kickin’ Records and Strictly Underground before founding his own label, Ganja Records.
The track I’ve chosen was one of the first releases on that label, released in 1994 (Hype was definitely on a roll that year, pun fully intended) it was one of the biggest jungle hits of the year.
Add in the fact that it samples the intro from Da Mystery Of Chessboxin’ by the Wu Tang Clan from the 36 Chambers album, and you can see why I felt compelled want to include it.
That instantly recognisable sword-swipe sample was also used by The Prodigy on the single Breath from their 1997 album Fat Of The Land.
But personally, I think it works better here, swishing its way through these expertly-programmed Hype breaks. Big choon.
8: Ganja Man – Krome and Time
And so we come to another crucial component of any budding junglist DJs crate, the obligatory lighters-in-the-air tune.
And they don’t get much bigger than this.
This east London duo of Krome and Time first came to my attention back in 1992, with their track This Sound Is For The Underground, which came out on Suburban Base Records.
Ganja Man is probably their best-known tune, however, due to the fact that, once you’ve heard it, you’ll never forget it.
First off, 30 years on, the drum programming on this one still sounds incredible and the loudness of it just smacks you in the gob.
Then there’s the vocal hook, always guaranteed to get a huge reaction by a sizable majority of true junglists.
And, finally, we got some 90s time stretching bizniss in full effect, cheesy though it may be, that distinctive metallic drawl always gives me a nice tingling sensation whenever I hear it.
7: DJ Taktix – The Way (Shadow VIP Mix)
Even more timestretching here with some proper “blaaaaahd-claaaawwwt jungle techno”.
This is a tune and a half, the drums are so tuff they’ll batter you senseless if you look at them sideways. Taking the edge off, is a vocal hook from Regina Belle – because you have to have a little something for the ladies to groove to.
Also, this track also has the honour of appearing in the funniest episode of Father Ted which guest starred the late Irish comedy legend Brendan Grace as Craggy Island’s original junglist Father Fintain Stack.
Sure, he may have been a raging sociopath with a huge ghettoblaster who stayed up dancing all night long, but you can’t fault his impeccable taste in music.
6: Helicopter – Deep Blue
Deep Blue is an alias of Sean O’Keeffe, one of the founding members of 2 Bad Mice, a proto-jungle, rave-era group whose breakbeat-heavy hits included anthems like Hold It Down and Bombscare.
But Helicopter was even bigger than both of those tunes combined. The breaks, those bongos, this one is a true drum and bass roller before the term came into widespread use.
As with many of these tracks, which came out as dubplates, I’m pretty sure this one came out in 94 but was doing the rounds as early as 93. Wary of shooting myself in the foot here because if I’ve got the dates wrong then I’ve purposely excluded Origin Unknown on a technicality before contradicting myself… dammit.
Change the subject, just listen to those bongos again… aren’t the best damn bongos you’ve ever heard? Apache be dammed!
5: It’s A Jazz Thing – Roni Size
While many of the genre’s big bad and heavy hitters came out of London, it wasn’t the only UK city on the junglist map. Representing Bristol, another town with a serious musical heritage, came Roni Size.
Roni Size is probably best known for the track Brown Paper Bag from the 1997 Mercury Prize-winning album New Forms as Roni Size & Reprazent.
But this was the tune which made me first pay attention. Coming out on V Recordings in 1994, It’s A Jazz Thing is a masterclass in drum programming. The space that’s created through the panning, the various percussive elements placed in the stereo mix slithering back and forth while that flanged snare sequence holds the centre, it remains one of the most compelling jungle tracks ever recorded. Add to that those smooth pads and the tinkling Rhodes sample via Lonnie Liston Smith’s Shadows…. genius.
This track rightfully established Roni Size as a top tier producer just as the jungle scene was taking off and the new offshoot genres of so-called jazzy jungle and ambient jungle gave way to deeper forms of drum and bass.
4: Original Nuttah – Shy FX & UK Apache
But we’re not here to talk about deeper forms of drum and bass, we’re here to talk about huuge jungle anthems, and as junglist anthems go, these next two are massif!
One thing I mentioned previously on my article about trip hop, was the UK’s hiphop identity crisis and how, despite being steeped in the music, many UK artists felt the need to feign Americanness in order to sound authentic.
But jungle changed all that.
By creating a whole new sound based upon a shared Anglo-Caribbean soundsystem culture, that was urban, working class and authentic, jungle helped to lay the foundations for everything that followed, not just drum and bass but also UK garage, dubstep and grime.
And Original Nuttah was one of the tracks which turned the tide. Hell, even the name is cockney, not to mention the “all rite mate” stuff and the shout outs to the “bad bwoys inna London.”
This tune has one of the best vocal hooks ever, riding perfectly on top of the relentless Amen breaks and deep sub pulses.
Add in some samples from Goodfellas and Cypress Hill and the result is pure ragga jungle fire.
3: Incredible – M Beat feat General Levy
I should by rights have this one top of the list.
In fact, if we’re talking about popularity and social impact, this one wins. No contest.
I’ve always loved this track. I also have some friends of mine who disliked it at the beginning but who’ve since come around to my way of thinking. Now they love it too.
It’s the quintessential jungle track, topped only by the sheer joy of hearing the man like General Levy perform the track live. (If you ever get a chance to, go, you won’t be disappointed.)
Oh yes, and it’s also the reason I’ve spent three decades shouting, “booyaka” at people whenever they get hiccups.
2: The Burial – Leviticus
However, much as I enjoyed Incredible at the time, I didn’t listen to it nearly as much as I did The Burial. And no matter how many more times I listen to this one, I never grow tired of it.
It’s also a tune which perfectly incapsulates the freeform, mash-up approach to jungle, grabbing samples from multiple sources and stitching them all together in unexpected ways. Ways that shouldn’t work in theory but in practice… mesmerising.
The Burial starts off with some warm, spacy pads before the main groove commences, sitting squarely on top of a sped up Think break.
This break occasionally relents in favour of a half-time rhythm to reinforce the “ooh” vocal breakdown, sampled from the 1978 Foxy tune Madamoiselle.
The ragamuffin bizniss, meanwhile, comes via Jigsy King and Tony Curtis and the track My Sound a Murder and the combined effect is like blundering through the Copacabana in a fat cloud of ganja.
Leviticus is an alias of London-based jungle Jumpin Jack Frost, another pioneer of the jungle scene. With The Burial he also created a tune for the ages.
It’s 2024 and I’m still playing it. Been playing it all summer long, in fact.
So what if I look like a sad old grandad blaring out jungle tunes when I drive by. It’s a damn sight better than your Taylor Swift shite yee damn kids!
1: Dead Dred– Dred Bass
This one deserves its top spot on this list and in 30 years has lost none of its impact.
While others were chopping up breaks using software, Dred Bass stamped them out like shells, turned Amen snares into hollowpoints, then locked and loaded them into junglist banana clips and ready for action.
Hence the reason Dred Bass sounds like being lined up against a ten foot sub woofer with a blindfold on, smoking your final spliff before while the firing squad aim their AK-47s before shooting snare drums in your mush at point blank range.
Seriously, nothing I’ve heard in the past 30 years of drum and bass and its multitudinous variants has had an impact quite like this. The eerie pads, the chilling timestretched vocals from Dr. Alimantado, those pulverising breaks, the shuddering, reverse sub bass, and the terrifying gangsta gunfire…
Fiyah! 🔥
Booyaka!
The summer of jungle changed music forever.
Within a matter of months jungle had gone from being a much-maligned strain of post-rave breakbeat to the predominant form of underground dance music in the UK.
Publications like Mixmag began acting as though they were champions of the sound all along, while simultaneously accusing any acts who incorporated breakbeats into their sound (like Underworld or Orbital) of “going jungle”.
Next came the mainstream media; articles in The Guardian, documentaries on Channel 4, General Levy on Top of the Pops, jungle parodies and terrible “junglist” TV ads.
(Who remembers the touch and fresh air freshener ad?).
It all went a bit weird for a while.
But of course by the time the mainstream had caught up the scene had moved lightyears forward, with new styles, new sounds, new horizons.
It was an exciting time to be alive.