FEATURE ARTICLE
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RECORD STORES & THEIR IMPORTANCE TO THE SCENE!
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In 1994, jungle lost its mainstream appeal, (much to many people's delight); the public interest had been lost, resulting in a massive drop in record sales. Bad news for the specialist jungle stores across the country, resulting in a massive closure across the land, jungle was relegated to the back of the main stores and it went back underground.
1995, and a new sound began to take the underground - what was this? A mixture between jungle, hardcore and house? The answer, yes! Drum 'n' Bass was born and also a wealth of jungle following, a new age had come about, a scene that would become united as the strongest of all underground soundz.
Blackmarket Records was the only store to survive this massive change between scenes. Well known for its US house and garage following, it was born from the love for its r'n'b and hip-hop. Strong in its support for jungle, they were only happy to keep that support for drum 'n' bass. Established in 1987, they are now the biggest and mot famous record store in England. A whole basement dedicated to drum 'n' bass, when you enter, the bass rumbles through your body, and the whole vibe brings the love for the scene all together in your soul... - a bit soppy, I know, but it is this love that went on to spurn a host of new drum 'n' bass supporting stores across the UK.
A year on and the scene was alive, and it began to spread through different countries. North America saw it first drum 'n' bass store open, the support was huge, the shop 'Breakbeat Science' was profiting immensely from the overwhelming Americans, who were curious to find out what this English sound was. Due to the massive support, they set up an online record store 'Breakbeatscience.com'; which went on to become the biggest and one of the most popular drum 'n' bass sites on the net. The first Online Store though, came in the shape and form of Vinyl Net. Pure drum 'n' bass lover Kingsley Marshall decided it was time to set up an on-line drum 'n' bass store, much to the joy of the ever-growing drum 'n' bass internet freaks, five years on and they are the best on-line store around, but not only to offer you just about every record you could ever want, they provide bassheadz with daily news, monthly reviews and weekly releases, and have the largest back catalogue online, with over
1000 seperate catalogue items in stock at any one time.
Bombsounds are pleased that they are a firm associates of our news page.
So, bearing all this in mind, you couldn't or wouldn't expect anything more to happen in the scene - right? Wrong! Music First, a very successful club night in Birmingham decided to dedicate their time to serving the scene with 100% drum 'n' bass owned by two great djs JB and Spice, they continuously supply the bassheadz with all the releases that we want, and an internet site which offers back catalogue, cds and mags and tape pack orders, w can all see why they are the biggest in the country. Record stores which support the scene are no longer hard to find on the map, they have an imminent place in each major city across England, - even places with minimal scene support: Newcastle - Flying Records and our local area Lincoln has 'Hotwax', a store with a good selection of drum 'n' bass records. Record stores such as these supply the unfortunate bassheadz with some means of keeping up to date with releases, and with all the support, we are glad that we are still very much an underground sound. With stores like these supporting us all the way, we can be grateful to them that the scene is still vibrant and strong in the underground, this scene has never been about a one-man job, its about a collective, and the record stores fall under that category.
