Chemical Brothers - Swoon
Chemical Brothers are a byproduct of the early 90s Big Beat genre, which developed famous artists such as The Prodigy, Fatboy Slim and The Crystal Method. Big beat is a different type of electronic music, and probably one of the first genres of electronic sounds to hit a mainstream audience. Big beat was almost an answer and played off of some of the large sounds that developed in the same time period (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Against The Machine, Nine Inch Nails). The early 90s was a departure from the hair bands of the 80s, in which these artist paved the way for a grunge based counter culture of youth. The very same culture that re-spawned the original American creation of the music festivals with the revival of Woodstock and the creation of Lollapalooza, established as a traveling festival.
Big Beat artists, such as Chemical Brothers, encountered a great amount of success, developing lyrical last beats and producing music with the same energy and hyped up sound that rock bands of the same era were unable to create, utilizing different instruments. Listening to Big Beat now, it hardly sounds like electronic music at all, it sounds more like an over produced stadium band, but for the time, it was revolutionary.
Unlike most artists of the 80s, which was almost a fad era for music, many of the larger artists from the 90s are still creating new music and actively touring. The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jane’s Addiction, the Smashing Pumpkins, etc… along with all the Big Beat artists mentioned above, still draw massive crowds, even headlining festivals in some cases. The track above is off the Chemical Brother’s last album, released this spring, partially in conjunction with the release of Hanna, whose entire musical score was composed by the Chemical Brothers.
