The viral analogy of UK dance music

If you’ve been around long enough, you will have witnessed the viral evolution of UK dance music. As we glance into the rear view mirror of the first global pandemic of our lifetime, it’s easy to view viruses as harmful.

After all, the viruses we know about took away loved ones and trapped us in our homes. But, as every reputable virologist will attest to- not all viruses are bad, in fact, many of them are beneficial.

You may have heard of the ‘Virome’, part of the microbiome that contains bacteriophages or ‘good viruses’ that have a positive effect on gut health.

So why this lengthy ramble about virology? What does it have to do with UK dance music? Let’s look at the word ‘viral’, according to Oxford Languages, ‘viral’ means:

Adjective:

1. of the nature of, caused by, or relating to a virus or viruses.

“a severe viral infection”

2. (of an image, video, piece of information, etc.) circulated rapidly and widely from one internet user to another.

“‘a viral ad campaign”

Noun:

“an image, video, piece of information, etc. that is circulated rapidly and widely on the internet. “the rise of virals in online marketing”

We often describe tunes we like as ‘infectious’ and music spreads, like a virus. It also mutates and recombines, terms we are familiar with thanks to Sars Cov 2 and Omicron. Music has variants like the 2021 Delta variant of Covid 19 right up to the current FLIRT variant that is becoming the dominant strain of a continuously evolving virus.

So let’s say, the 88-92 era of dance music is Sars Cov 2, the novel Coronavirus with a shared lineage from the original Sars outbreak of 2003 which we will liken to Reggae, Soul, Disco, Hip Hop etc.

88-92 represents the first viral spread of a mutated sound. From Disco came House, then came Acid House (Sars), what followed was a UK centric mutation of 70s/80s dance music, a faster, bass driven sound that began with the Sheffield variant (Bleep Techno), the London variant (Breakbeat Hardcore, Jungle Tekno, Jungle, Drum and Bass), then came the second wave (UKG, Grime, Dubstep).

Click on this image to watch Sherelle play a set for Planet Wax, 2024

Between 2014 to 2024, a recombinant strain began, taking hold (perhaps ironically) during a real pandemic. The sounds of Juke and Footwork made their way across the Atlantic to UK shores, mutated with Jungle, Hardcore, UKG, Grime etc to form the new 160 strain as championed by Sherelle, Samurai Breaks, Tim Reaper, Drumskull, Ravetrix, Jon1st and many other artists and DJs.

The 160 tempo, the infectious stabs and vocals, they remind me of the dopamine hit I felt the first time I heard a ‘rave’ tune as a year 7 school kid.

Some cynical types might call it ‘the same old thing’ but it’s not. The current mutation of UK dance music is as viral and infectious as the ‘rave’ tracks of my teens, the good kind of viral!