The UK breakbeat rave sound of 1992 celebrates its 30th anniversary! I'm marking this milestone with a mixtape: in a classic C90 cassette style two sides of 45mins each, taking in the spectrum of sounds of the era. It was a year when tempos raced ever faster and so the theme here is Side A has tunes at the 130-140 bpm mark, and Side B 150+ bpm tunes. Across the two mixes I've tried to touch on a range of the sounds that dominated the raves: some pianos, endless stabs, some vocals, some heavyweight hardcore, some jungle tinges, and towards the end going into the darker moods that would become more dominant in 1993. Some well known cuts and some rarer ones in there too.
I think you'd be hard pressed to pick a more explosive moment in British music history than the raves of 1992. The momentum of electronic dance music was building ever stronger and reached a big bang moment in 1992, rave went from being a more underground and exclusive thing to blowing up across the country - your local leisure centre might have Grooverider playing at it on any given Saturday!
The melting pot of punters and producers became ever greater, including an influx of urban, suburban and country young guns, and I'd say the musical melting pot became the most eclectic it has ever been in dance music: so many ideas and influences thrown against the sampler wall. And a great moment of grassroots music making too - the whole industry from producers, distro, sellers, radio, events was grown from the bottom up. DIY all the way.
I think the 1992 sound, although so anthemic for those who were there, has now been slightly sidelined as the tunes are a touch out of step with modern sensibilities, modern tastes are a bit leaner and more refined. But that's the joy of 1992 - it was driven by a wide-eyed don't give a fuck and having it attitude that's hard to recreate after the fact.
Really hope you enjoy these two mixes. Big love as always to all my 92 raving gang, also to you and your raving gang, and special dedication to Class of 92 raver Neil DJ Orange Peel - RIP mate, never forgotten. If you want more there are more 1992 mixes on my blog here, here, here, and also this recent 1992 strictly Junglism one.
Back To The Future 1992 Rave Mixtape - Side A: Coming Up 130-140bpm
Back To The Future 1992 Rave Mixtape - Side B: Rush Hour 150+bpm
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