Much like the New Rave phenomenon that is sweeping music at the moment, another genre in the late 90's managed to fuse dance and rock into a malleable form that destroyed dancefloors nationwide. It coined the name "Big Beat", and spawned the careers of Fatboy Slim and Lo Fidelity Allstars to name, well, two. Some people reckon it helped pave the way for the likes of the Chemical Brothers and Daft Punk to cross over into the indie disco, while others think it was a bit cheesy. I was rather fond of it, and it was a cassette on the front cover of NME mixed by Norman Cook that really shoe-horned me into the genre.

There's some classics below that encompass Skint and Wall of Sound, which were the 2 labels spearheading the scene (much like Modular and Backyard now). There are many parallels that can be drawn between the 2 scenes, but that's an essay in itself. In the meantime, grab some stuff below, close your eyes, and imagine you were at Big Beat Boutique in 1997.

MP3 Bentley Rhythm Ace - Bentley's Gonna Sort You Out

MP3 Midfield General - Devil in a Sports Casual

MP3 Space Raiders - Cutters Choice

MP3 Propellerheads - Take California

MP3 Fatboy Slim - Everybody Needs a 303

MP3 The Wiseguys - Ooh La La

MP3 Cut la Roc - Hip Hop Bibibbidy Bop Bop

More to come in Part Two!