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Bass, Mids, Tops: An Oral History of Sound System Culture
An oral history of the UK's soundsystem culture, featuring interviews with Dubmaster Dennis Bovell, Skream, Youth, Norman Jay MBE, Adrian Sherwood, Mala, and others.
In the years following the arrival of the Windrush generation, the UK's soundsystem culture would become the most important influence on contemporary pop music since rock and roll. Pumped through towering, home-built speakers, often directly onto the thronged streets of events like the Notting Hill Carnival, the pulsating bass lines of reggae, dub, rave, jungle, trip hop, dubstep, and grime have shaped the worlds of several generations of British youth culture but have often been overlooked by historians obsessed with swinging London, punk, and Britpop.
This oral history, consisting of new interviews conducted by respected dance music writer Joe Muggs, and accompanied by dramatic portraits by Brian David Stevens, presents the story of the bassline of Britain, in the words of those who lived and shaped it. Features interviews with Dubmaster Dennis Bovell, Norman Jay MPE, Youth, Adrian Sherwood, Skream, Rinse FM's Sarah Lockhart and many others.
In the years following the arrival of the Windrush generation, the UK's soundsystem culture would become the most important influence on contemporary pop music since rock and roll. Pumped through towering, home-built speakers, often directly onto the thronged streets of events like the Notting Hill Carnival, the pulsating bass lines of reggae, dub, rave, jungle, trip hop, dubstep, and grime have shaped the worlds of several generations of British youth culture but have often been overlooked by historians obsessed with swinging London, punk, and Britpop.
This oral history, consisting of new interviews conducted by respected dance music writer Joe Muggs, and accompanied by dramatic portraits by Brian David Stevens, presents the story of the bassline of Britain, in the words of those who lived and shaped it. Features interviews with Dubmaster Dennis Bovell, Norman Jay MPE, Youth, Adrian Sherwood, Skream, Rinse FM's Sarah Lockhart and many others.
- GenresMusicNonfictionHistory
503 pages, Paperback
First published October 15, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
January 9, 2020
As complete a tome on the subject as is ever likely to be written, engaging and entertaining. Would even go so far as to say definitive. Highly recommended for anyone with even a passing interest in the beginnings and development of bass weighted music.
January 25, 2021
Bass, Mids, Tops enters into the new canon of writing about electronic music, standing strong alongside the likes of It's A London Thing and Join the Future and featuring a similar sensitivity to issues of sex and race in the music scenes discussed. An outstanding collection of interviews with a strong line of questioning and cohesive thematic threads running throughout, this is both one of my favourite books of 2020 and one of the most inspiring I've read in some time. The only weakness I can note is that the transcription and editing could have used a final pass for enhanced readability. Otherwise, it's a beautifully designed book and features some lovely photos of the artists and soundsystems. Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in soundsystem culture or UK dance music in any of its various forms.
September 8, 2020
Everything I had hoped for. This book fills a unique gap, and combines my favorite subjects: music, popular culture and history. Hats off to Joe Muggs 👏🏻
January 10, 2020
I am absolutely loving this book, the way it's presented as a series of interviews is really refreshing rather than a linear history and this also means you can dip into it at any point rather than reading start to finish which for me personally works really well. I went straight for a couple of my favourite or at least most recognisable artists/DJs and this led me to dig deeper into the other interviews. Loads of anecdotes I hadn't heard before and the portraits that run alongside each chapter give you a nice connection to the DJ/Producer doing the talking. All in all, great.
November 30, 2020
A billion stars. So much inspiration.
December 25, 2023
Collection of interviews from groundbreaking artists involved in the origins of UK sound system culture.
Croydon, Sheffield, Manchester, Bristol etc all had their own individual scenes with unique subgenres and I didn’t realize that Garage, drum n bass, dubstep, grime, and jungle ALL started in the UK.
So much of electronic music today roots back to these cities around London.
“I only know this now through experience, but try to remember what it is you're in love with and what you enjoy, and stick with that because that's where the truth is. The truth is not out in what everyone is saying, it's in what you're connected to and what makes you feel good. I didn't know that when I was going through them tough times, but I know now”
“Trendy people eventually out-trend themselves – I've seen them come and go, and eventually it has to be music and nothing else. I'm not trendy, all I am is a vehicle, I recognise good music, and I'll play it to you – and if you don't like it, then maybe tomorrow you will”
“The only way to encourage a longevity in the music industry is if you are yourself – or else you constantly have to reinvent yourself with what's now trendy. You see many pop artists doing that, constantly reinventing themselves, singing another song that sounds like someone else because it's popular. But in an independent lane of music, you've got to find out what it is you want to do, and go with that”
“Yeaaaah. But you have to take every opportunity you're given and just go with it and be brave. I see so many people these days who want to get into mixing, and an opportunity will come up and I'll be like “Do it, do it” and they'll be like “I don't feel ready, I don't feel confident.” You're not meant to feel confident, you're not meant to feel ready, you're meant to just do it to help yourself learn to become ready. Put yourself in situations you don't feel comfortable in. I took every opportunity, fucked a few of them up and did well in others. But that was a bad set. It might have been my worst set I've ever done.”
“We have to go to uncomfortable places to learn something, to feel inferior and humiliated in order to grow”
Croydon, Sheffield, Manchester, Bristol etc all had their own individual scenes with unique subgenres and I didn’t realize that Garage, drum n bass, dubstep, grime, and jungle ALL started in the UK.
So much of electronic music today roots back to these cities around London.
“I only know this now through experience, but try to remember what it is you're in love with and what you enjoy, and stick with that because that's where the truth is. The truth is not out in what everyone is saying, it's in what you're connected to and what makes you feel good. I didn't know that when I was going through them tough times, but I know now”
“Trendy people eventually out-trend themselves – I've seen them come and go, and eventually it has to be music and nothing else. I'm not trendy, all I am is a vehicle, I recognise good music, and I'll play it to you – and if you don't like it, then maybe tomorrow you will”
“The only way to encourage a longevity in the music industry is if you are yourself – or else you constantly have to reinvent yourself with what's now trendy. You see many pop artists doing that, constantly reinventing themselves, singing another song that sounds like someone else because it's popular. But in an independent lane of music, you've got to find out what it is you want to do, and go with that”
“Yeaaaah. But you have to take every opportunity you're given and just go with it and be brave. I see so many people these days who want to get into mixing, and an opportunity will come up and I'll be like “Do it, do it” and they'll be like “I don't feel ready, I don't feel confident.” You're not meant to feel confident, you're not meant to feel ready, you're meant to just do it to help yourself learn to become ready. Put yourself in situations you don't feel comfortable in. I took every opportunity, fucked a few of them up and did well in others. But that was a bad set. It might have been my worst set I've ever done.”
“We have to go to uncomfortable places to learn something, to feel inferior and humiliated in order to grow”
August 10, 2021
A tremendous and important work cataloging one of the most important time spans in music. For me this was like a walk down memory lane, charting most of my journey through bass-forward dance music. The big difference is that I experienced all of this from afar, being a Midwest American kid without access to any of the parties or clubs mentioned here. But I read all about them in magazines and heard the music through vinyl, CD, and mixes. Tuning into UK radio, chasing imports, cherishing a pirate radio tape someone gave me.
The continuum of bass music described here in fun interview after fun interview will always be an innovative time span and goes to show this cycle never stops. More movements will be born in the same way….even though the span from reggae sound systems to funky club nights was a special one.
The work Muggs did here is important because of how well he captured it through interviews but also because it’s not captured for all time. Read this if you are interested in the course of music through time.
The continuum of bass music described here in fun interview after fun interview will always be an innovative time span and goes to show this cycle never stops. More movements will be born in the same way….even though the span from reggae sound systems to funky club nights was a special one.
The work Muggs did here is important because of how well he captured it through interviews but also because it’s not captured for all time. Read this if you are interested in the course of music through time.
September 16, 2020
Hiervoor had ik Simon Reynolds' 'Energy Flash' gelezen, maar Joe Muggs hanteert een volledig andere aanpak. In plaats van een ruim overzicht te geven obv keuzes van de auteur, laat hij een diverse schare stemmen aan bod. De rode draad is de focus op soundsystemcultuur, waardoor de (sub)genrefocus behoorlijk scherp is. Hierdoor komt wel een in depth look naar boven op specifieke (Britse) stijlen. Aanrader, maar wel voor de "heads".
April 9, 2022
I agree with other reviewers that this aproach it's on point. And I guess it's mainly because of the "historical distance".We are in a time where the memories are still somewhat fresh, most of the protagonists are still alive, and also I'm not that convinced with the more theorical aproaches. So yeah, pretty good.
My rating?
Five e's 💊💊💊💊💊
My rating?
Five e's 💊💊💊💊💊
May 30, 2021
Essential.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews