Cave Culture goes back to '92

For the fourth installment of Cave Culture, we venture back three decades to a canonical year in rave history.

Polyphemus 'feels the rush' at Fantasia '92

In 1992, I was but a twinkle in my father’s eye. Let’s start there. My own journey into the world of hardcore began in my room, digging on YouTube. I stumbled across a track by one DJ Style 90.6 and was immediately enthralled by its thumping bass, lashing bleeps and raw breakbeats. After downloading the track, I was invited to join a Facebook group called “Hardcore Vinylists.” Of course, I accepted the invitation.

What I found in this Facebook group was an enclave of enthusiastic, vinyl-wielding Gen Xers scratching and mixing in their living rooms and kitchens, reliving their rave heydays, and absolutely loving it. They introduced me to a whole world of music which I had never experienced before.

At first, I was taken aback by this abrasive and unintelligible sound they called “hardcore.” Its harsh stabs, chipmunk vocals, and racing tempos. Soon enough, though, the sound of hardcore fatally penetrated my neural membranes (it’s way in my braaaaainn), and I haven’t looked back since.

In this particular Cave Culture show, I pieced together some of my favourite hardcore tracks from 1992, in celebration of the year’s thirtieth anniversary. There’s plenty of well-known and well-loved bangers such as SL2’s “On A Ragga Tip” and The Prodigy’s “Everybody In The Place,” but there’s also some more obscure tracks like Sub Love’s “She Moves” and Sector 5’s “No Shoes On My Feet” which samples Gregory Isaac’s “Poor Millionaire,” first released in 1981.

This brings me on the key aspects I wanted to demonstrate in this mix: that British hardcore, and UK dance music more broadly, would not be what it was (and still is) without soundsystem culture. As 4Hero’s Marc Mac put it in an interview for Mixmag:

“The importance of the soundsystem is that it comes from the Windrush generation, from the West Indies, and we learned that culture and carried it on and it’s in jungle and drum ‘n’ bass today... it’s important to make that connection and keep the dialect and why we can’t call it anything other than Black music.”

The frequent sampling of reggae and dancehall (as well as soul, rare groove, jazz and funk etc.) records was just the tip of the iceberg. There is the unique prevalence of MCs, the ecstatic ritual of the wheel up, the infinite versions and exclusive dubs. Hardcore producers also frequently relied upon the technical expertise provided by cutting houses/studios such as Music House and JTS Studio.

Dancehall and reggae were a central component of UK dance music’s uniqueness long before “ragga jungle” came along. Although I’ve focused on 1992 you can of course take this back to the late ‘80s cross-over tracks by labels such as Shut Up and Dance, who produced ragga-rave bangers with the Ragga Twins. By 1992, soundsystem culture had already established itself as a fundamental part of UK dance music.

There is much more to be said on this, but for now I’ll leave you with a tantalising taste of the past and a gentle nudge towards a possible future. What was crucial to 1992 breakbeat hardcore was sampling. People were putting their own pasts, experiences, and imaginations into the music to craft something wholly new. I would love to see more producers try this in their own music today.

You can listen to Cave Culture on the first Friday of every month at 11pm on Voices Radio. Past shows are available to listen to here.

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Tracklist

Earth Leakage Trip – The Ice Cream Van From Hell [Rising High Records]

Bass Ballistics – Smoke Dis One [J4M Records]

Sector 5 – No Shoes On My Feet (Mix 1) [White Label]

E-Legal – No Way Down [Reformed Music Records]

SL2 – On A Ragga Tip [XL Recordings]

New Class A – Feel The Rhythm (Outer Space Mix) [Cupido Disque]

Krome and Time – This Sound Is For The Underground (E5 Remix) [Suburban Base Records]

A-Sides – Burn Cali Weed [Reel 2 Reel Productions]

Sub Love – She Moves [Earth Recordings]

Jay J & Devious D – Drive Ya’ Crazy [Awesome Records]

DJ Mayhem – Storm Trooper [Basement Records]

Sy-Kick – Nasty (Terrorize Mix) [Hard + Fast]

Eat Life – Bach to Basics [Ruff, Tuff & Wicked Stuff Records]

M-Beat – Give Me Love [Renk Records]

Dub II – Badman (Tuffness Mix) [Big City Records]

Tango and Ratty – Final Conflict [Tango & Ratty]

DJ Massive – Slammin’ [Hardcore Vinyl]

X Project – Walking In The Air (Mix 1) [X Project]

The Prodigy – Everybody In The Place [XL Recordings]