The Birth and Impact of UK Garage
2-stepping, colossal basslines, emcees, and a penchant for Italian designer labels, Tom Armstrong looks at the rise of UK Garage.
A Reflection Of Glowing Lights by David GeibTRENCH
It can make you well up and sing to the sky before pulling you back down to the hard earth with a bassline of pure dark matter.
Sky Line Of London's Battersea Power Station by Jan Van BizarTRENCH
From the mid-‘90s to the turn of the millennium, it rose from the dancefloors of South London to conquer the British charts: UK garage was, and still is, multicultural Britain at its boldest and best.
Inspired by the US garage-house of the early ‘90s and, most notably, the chopped vocal and '2-step' drums of Todd Edwards.
The UK's interpretation of the garage sound raised the tempo, added colossal basslines, emcees, and a penchant for Italian designer labels, owing as much to jungle as it does to New Jersey.
Within a few short years, what started as a niche sound heard in second rooms and Sunday parties had become a burgeoning movement.
People Sound Record Shop (2021-04-26/2021-04-26) by Naomi FitzsimmonsNotting Hill Carnival
White labels were pressed by bedroom producers and taken straight into record shops, where club and pirate radio DJs would be searching for something new for the crowds of UKG devotees—be it soulful vocals or weighty basslines.
By the end of the week, the track could be snowballing towards the pop charts, such was the growing power of the UK underground.
By the late '90s, UK garage had exploded to become the defining subculture of urban Britain—with number-one hits, a distinct fashion style, and nationwide club nights too.
Sky Line Of London and London Eye by Andrea De SantisTRENCH
High streets buzzed with a familiar symphony of 2-step drums and high-speed vocals from car sound-systems and shop doorways.
An Abstract Image of Soundwaves by Maria OrlovaTRENCH
Pirate radio outstripped commercial stations in both listenership and influence.
All this creativity and entrepreneurship accelerated an already vibrant period in British electronic music, and as its star burned out in the mainstream, the underground branched off into subgenres like grime and dubstep, shaping music for decades to come.
Today, numerous underground revivals and the lasting success of its hits have made UKG an integral part of the nation's musical DNA. New tracks are released every week, many of them standing up next to the original wave.
Kano at his Headline Show at SXSW (2017) by Laura BrosnanTRENCH
This aside, UK garage showed how young people united by music can be an unstoppable force, taking the creativity happening on Britain's streets, dancefloors and estates to a global audience.
Other subcultures can say the same, of course, but nobody made it look as good as UKG.
This digital work has been produced in collaboration with PRS Foundation and POWER UP. The article first featured in TRENCH x Union Black's Chapter One: Game Changers zine.
Words by Tom Armstrong
Videos by James Edwards, Garage Nation, FLUID & RUFF RIDE, BBC, TOTP, Tyson Greer, Channel 4, Nostalgic Times, Sweet Female Attitude, Pay As U Go Cartel, Okocha10 and Jorja Smith.
Commissioned by TRENCH
