Why didn't Miami Bass take off in the UK

    Quote from 155;38108

    Some interesting points thus far, many of which should be seen in conjunction with others made. Largely I believe it to have been due to the quality (or lack thereof), availability (in product terms) and lack of avenues for exposure in the UK (which radio stations would have played Miami Bass?). Culturally I'm not convinced that the Miami Bass aesthetic transfers so readily to a UK context - and I also think that in the mid to late 1980s UK Hip Hop artists slowly began to emerge in to the wider context - with many drawing on a fusion of Hip Hop elements and their own (predominantly black / Afro-Carribbean) heritage (reggae/ragga/dancehall). In this respect Miami Bass wasn't going to compete against the high energy of Soca.


    Furthermore there was the fact that the impact of 'house' music wasn't as deeply felt within the communities I saw, particularly when it morphed in to Acid. Miami Bass would have been seen (rightly or wrongly) as part of that tradition - and there was a very real antipathy between the 'house' sound and the audiences 'discovering' rare groove - often ironically having been pushed to do so through Hip Hop's re-discovery of breaks after Electro Funk. The short lived genre called 'Hip House' has to be seen within this context.


    155 :)



    It's mad but back in maybe 1987 but defo in 1988 i think House music,Miami Bass,the Detroit sound and the stuff from L.A. like Techno Kut label could have all been played together.
    I never heard The Unknown DJ's 'Basstronic' back in 1988 which was a shame as iam sure the Electro sound could have surived in some form back in the UK back in 1987/88 or did it ???

    Quote from bhose;37550

    Electro hip hop did not just turn into 'gangster' in 87', what are you guys on about? The whole east coast sound was straight up breaks based b-boy hip hop, what was gangster about Ultramagnetic, Superlover Cee and Casanova Rudd, Eric B & Rakim, Public Enemy, Beastie Boys, Run DMC, LL Cool J, Captain G Whizz, Freddie B, Black Rock and Ron, Stezo, De La Soul, Tribe Called Quest, Kaos, Ultimate Force and a LOT of other acts? Yeah you had NWA on the West Coast but hip hop just went back to a breakz based sound and still had hard 808's underpinning it. I was a full on bboy through out the 'electro' era of hip hop also however found breakbeat sampling hip hop a much better music to B Boy too.... I mean... BREAK BOY is what b-boy stood for, you guys seemed to have been 'E-Boys' (Electro boys), which is all well and good if that is your thing. I loved the electro period of hip hop however I love the breakbeat period of hip hop as well, it certainly WAS NOT ALL GANGSTER!! (...which I hated too).


    I agree with this, by 1986/87 Electro was dying out to Def Jam and the Golden Era of Hip Hop, well IMO! Most of the 12"s available in the UK record shops (Hip Hop wise) were either Music Of Life, Champion, Cooltempo, 10 Records, Def Jam, apart from JJ Fad - Supersonic & Dynamix II - Just Give The DJ A Break, Mantronix - Scream/Who Is It etc nothing like the old school Electro Funk/Hip Hop was available to buy, I too digressed into Chicago House & Hip House(woo-yeah) alongside buying Eric B & Rakim, Jungle Brothers, Stetsasonic, Digital Underground, Derek B(RIP) & UK Rap in general by 1990 hip hop had turned into something I couldn't relate too(too political and also gangsta), so for a few years House/Techno/Hardcore and raving dominated my life, then UK Garage/2-Step/Breaks, I didn't get back into Electro Funk until my mate found Man Parrish - Hip Hop Be Bop in a charity shop and left it around mine(and I snuck it into my Record Box ;D ), hence the collecting started again, starting with Dave Clarke - Electro Boogie Mix and DMX Krew 12", This then continued with record fairs, then Ebay until I ended up with 1000 + Electro/Hip Hop/Go-Go tunes, it was during this collecting period I learned of all this late 80's Miami Bass and got a few, but they are no way near the callibre of the early 80's Electro Funk ala Newcleus, Arthur Baker, Egyptian Lover etc, even EL's later stuff wasn't as good as his early efforts IMO(a few gems though, but not surpassing his early efforts), I did however like the Rodney O & Jo Cooley stuff alot...


    I did like one late 80's Miami tune alot back in the day though, Worse Em - Triple M Bass, I'm sure this got a UK Release on Champion...this one got through like Dynamix II & JJ Fad, I cannot think of any other Miami Bass tunes from USA that got a UK release, I think that's why it didn't take off, no-one released it or pushed it combined with tastes changing, house was getting bigger and hip hop in general was changing it's style! All IMO only btw! ;)


    BTW My fave Miami Bass tune is Two Live Crew - Trow The D. :cylon:

    Quote from billy1971;38145

    It's mad but back in maybe 1987 but defo in 1988 i think House music,Miami Bass,the Detroit sound and the stuff from L.A. like Techno Kut label could have all been played together.
    I never heard The Unknown DJ's 'Basstronic' back in 1988 which was a shame as iam sure the Electro sound could have surived in some form back in the UK back in 1987/88 or did it ???


    Electro did have an influence I'm sure, alot of the 1989 club tunes had a Freestyle type beat or Electro Samples, Orange Lemon - Dreams Of Santa Anna, 2 in a Room - Somebody In The House Say Yeah, Westbam - Monkey Say, Monkey Do, etc


    I don't think Electro ever died, it has always remained an influence, especially on House/Techno & even DnB...It's just the roots of these styles are unknown to younger listeners...again IMO! :-X

    Quote from nuklion;37538

    I think Miami Bass didn't take off big time because ther'e were only a small amount of releases, and you can only sample "Play at own risk and Planet Rock" so many times before it got boring


    This is very true as Miami Bass gave way to hip hop and wasnt very popular here in miami anymore. So we all faded away here. As for sampling Planet Rock and Play at your own Risk, thats not true we had MANY MANY tracks that sounded nothing like those songs....

    Quote from nuklion;41566

    And lots and lots that did.


    Just to set the record straight, we basically used an upbeat tempo and similar 2 bar beat structure as Planet rock or ( numbers for that matter ) now and then but thats about where it ends. We really werent that interested in Planet Rock or Play at your own risk for any longer than they played their course. I dont know where all this comes from as I was here in Miami producing, Dj-ing and breakdancing from the very beginning and would love to see this great number of songs that we sampled from those 2 songs. Please list them as we were really more into that humming bass and talking about booty lol, the earlier songs were more influenced by Planet Rock..... :)

    My comment was a personal reasoning as an answer to the original question, not a comment about your music, and i think maybe you have helped answer the original question as a lot of Booty bass is childish and as for the Humm stuff, there is very little musical talent in 8 minutes of nothing more than humm with a simple 808 beat over it.

    Quote from nuklion;41609

    Humm stuff, there is very little musical talent in 8 minutes of nothing more than humm with a simple 808 beat over it.


    Well its all relative as Crunk ( dirty south ) music is basically the same humm music, just slower. T.I., Lil Jon, Flo Rider and others who sell their music to millions of people who apparantly enjoy low talent artists, have made millions from the 808 with rap, while people hate on it. So someoene must think its good, just take a look at their homes on mtv cribs, lol


    If youre the Nuklion on myspace then I listened to your tracks and really like your song lucky if you can believe Id pick that one. I love that sound, VNV, Wolfshiem, Vast etc Synthpop. I just find it odd for another producer/musician or whatever to judge another type of music when the same thing has been said about the very music they produce. Odd.


    In any case thank god Kraftwerk or Tangerine Dream ( who pioneered music that evolved into what we both make ) didnt listen when people said music on computers and synths was talentless. This site and the above artists wouldnt exist ;D


    I will agree some of the booty stuff was not my cup of tea, but I wouldnt pass judgment on it being someone who produces myself. Great discussion, no harm man... :)

    Quote from AITCH-SKI;37558

    MC ADE who everyone used to go mental over for for some reason :ugly: What a complete load of old bollox!! Bass Cock Express :D


    I just saw this, lol. too funny. I remember when "Bass Cock Express" came out. It was selling so many records at the time that the record pressing companies here had to tell other artists they couldnt press their records because of the demand for that song. It was the first Miami bass track to break national. which is very big. Very simple if you look at it now, BUT back then was a hard hitting bass track and is what pioneered that sound and talking about it musically. I think its more of an accomplishment then many of the people hating on him have done and deserves more respect than this.


    Magic Mike, Dynamix and alot of those guys came up because of what ADE did. = )

    Quote from billy1971;37460

    Was talking to someone from L.A. and he said he was Electro fan and loved the 80's but hated it when Gangster Rap really took off with N.W.A. and Colours the movie back in 1988.
    But he said that Miami Bass was popular in L.A. between 1986-1989 which i never knew.I always thought the Electro sound had split after 1986 between Miami with Bass music,Detroit with House and Techno and a hardcore in L.A. with the Techno Hop label.
    What also gets me is the years between 1987-1989 after Breakin had finshed and the words of Electro had faded in the UK but Hip Hop and House seem to be the genres that where popular but i just wondered why Electro didn't continue in the UK in the form of Miami Bass and the likes of the L.A. lot like the Unkwon DJ and the Techno Hop label.


    Miami Bass was huge in L.A into the 90s! Miami bass was big specially in the Latino community and it was big for two reasons, one, its good music to dance to second the BASS.....LA has a HUGE car culture and really at on point thats what miami bass was about. cruisng on weekends was like a big party in the streets, Ofcourse they were playing other music. but miami bass was part of the scene............it all comes down to partying and cars, so unless there was a huge car/cruising culture in UK im not surprised miami bass was not popular over there.

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