Drum and bass
Drum and bass is a genre of electronic dance music that emerged in the United Kingdom in the early 1990s, built on fast breakbeats with heavy bass and sub-bass lines, samples and synthesizers.
- Tempo 165 to 185 BPM
- Emerged early 1990s, UK
- Byrd on Hospital since 1999
Drum and bass is a genre of electronic dance music that emerged in the United Kingdom in the early 1990s, characterised by fast breakbeats, typically 165 to 185 beats per minute, with heavy bass and sub-bass lines, samples and synthesizers; that is the definition given by the English Wikipedia entry on the genre, checked 2 September 2026.
The name states the 2 elements the music foregrounds, the drums and the bass, and the recurring doubt resolves as a double yes: drum and bass is a genre in its own right, and it belongs to electronic dance music. Danny Byrd, the Hospital Records producer from Bath, has recorded inside that definition since 1999, and his records carry its characteristics plainly.
What drum and bass sounds like
Drum and bass sounds like a chopped, syncopated drum loop running at 165 to 185 BPM with a heavy bass line underneath it. The breakbeat, a sampled and resequenced drum pattern rather than a straight kick on every beat, gives the genre its rolling, broken rhythm; the bass and sub-bass lines give it physical weight on a large sound system. The instruments are electronic, samplers and synthesizers rather than a live drummer's kit, which also settles a common mix-up: a bass drum with a hole cut in its front head belongs to acoustic drum hardware, not to the genre.
Producers make drum and bass from those same 2 materials, samples and synthesizers: a breakbeat is cut up and rearranged, a bass line is synthesized beneath it, and a vocal sample or a credited singer sits on top, as I-Kay does on Danny Byrd's "Ill Behaviour". Much of the catalogue is instrumental, with arrangements that alternate between drum-led passages and breakdowns. DJs mix it by beatmatching inside that same 165 to 185 BPM window. Lyrics, where a track has them, are quoted nowhere on this site; titles and credits are the facts. The sound has a documented origin, older than its name.
Where drum and bass came from
Drum and bass came from the meeting of the UK rave scene and Jamaican sound system culture. Jungle developed in the 1990s out of that rave scene, emerging from breakbeat hardcore, and it carried rapid breakbeats, heavily syncopated percussive loops, and the deep basslines, melodies and vocal samples of dub, reggae and dancehall, according to the English Wikipedia entry on jungle music, checked 2 September 2026. The "Amen break" stands among the most sampled breakbeats in that lineage. Out of that jungle root grew styles with names of their own.
The main styles: jungle roots and liquid
The main styles of drum and bass begin with jungle itself, the strain that keeps the Jamaican inheritance loudest: dancehall and reggae bass lines, vocal samples, and percussive loops built for the sound system. "Jungle vs drum and bass" resolves as lineage rather than rivalry: jungle is the root form out of which the broader genre grew, and the 2 names overlap in everyday use.
Liquid drum and bass, also called liquid funk, is the subgenre with more instrumental layers, harmonies and melodies. In 1999 the DJ Fabio, alongside Sarah Sandy, began championing the style under the liquid funk name, with a same-named compilation on their Creative Source label; the style grew massively around 2003 to 2004, and by 2005 it was established among the genre's biggest-selling subgenres, with Hospital Records among its main labels and artists such as Calibre, Netsky, LTJ Bukem, High Contrast, London Elektricity and Nu:Tone among its proponents. Those labels are the next part of the map.
The labels, the DJs and the scene
The labels of drum and bass include Hospital Records, the British independent label based in East London, started in 1996 by Tony Colman and Chris Goss and primarily releasing drum and bass; its artists have included Netsky, Camo & Krooked, Logistics, Nu:Tone, Metrik, Fred V & Grafix, High Contrast and S.P.Y., a roster this site profiles on The artists. The DJs who carried the sound include Fabio, whose BBC Radio 1 support championed Danny Byrd's remix of London Elektricity's "Wishing Well" in 2000. Compilations bind the collection together: Hospital's Sick Music carried Byrd's "Red Mist VIP", and Medical History, released 5 March 2007, compiled his early singles. One neighbouring UK style deserves its own comparison.
Drum and bass vs UK garage
Drum and bass and UK garage are 2 UK-born dance styles that part ways at the drum pattern and the tempo. Drum and bass runs on broken, sampled beats at a sourced 165 to 185 BPM; UK garage runs slower, and no exact garage tempo is asserted here because none is sourced. The 2 styles are close enough to trade influence: Danny Byrd is influenced by house, UK garage, R&B and the jungle sound, a mix audible across his Hospital releases. Where he sits inside drum and bass is the final piece.
Where Danny Byrd sits in drum and bass
Danny Byrd sits in drum and bass as one of the first artists signed to Hospital Records, in 1999, with "Do It Again" and "Changes" as his first singles for the label. His albums track the genre's commercial arc: Supersized on 26 May 2008, Rave Digger on 10 October 2010 reaching No. 68 on the UK Albums Chart, Golden Ticket on 24 June 2013 reaching No. 181, and Atomic Funk on 7 September 2018. On the singles side, "Red Mist VIP" reached No. 1 on the UK Dance Chart in the week ending 25 July 2009, and "Ill Behaviour" reached No. 36 on the UK Singles Chart and No. 7 on the UK Dance Chart in 2010; those UK chart placements are what "drum and bass charts" means for this catalogue. Whether drum and bass is the best of the UK's dance genres is taste; the measurable part is above, and the fuller story lives on the site's Danny Byrd home page.