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All Crews: Journeys Through Jungle Drum & Bass Culture

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All Crews
The updated 2004 cover of All Crews

All Crews: A Journey Through Jungle Drum & Bass Culture is a non-fiction book written by author, DJ and journalist Brian Belle-Fortune. Described by music journalist Bill Brewster as a 'Jungle History',[1] the book chronicles the development of the Jungle Drum & Bass style of UK dance music, and its emergence from earlier Breakbeat Hardcore and Acid House styles.

All Crews explores the origins of the Jungle Drum & Bass sound through a selection of non-fiction articles, creative writing pieces and interviews with key Jungle Drum & Bass artists.[2] Belle-Fortune also examines and interviews the pirate radio stations, labels, crews, promoters and ravers that the scene grew from and revolved around.

Background

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Before writing All Crews, author, journalist and DJ Belle-Fortune conceived and co-produced BBC Radio 1Xtra's 'One in the Jungle' and worked on television projects relating to Jungle and Underground Youth Culture for BBC South, Channel 4 and MTV.[3]

In 2021 Belle-Fortune appeared on The Guardian's panel discussion 'Black and British: 30 years of jungle and drum’n’bass'.[4] The discussion was featured on Black History Month's official website[5] and has now been archived in the online Black Music Library.[6]

Belle-Fortune has been interviewed about the impact of All Crews multiple times by various media outlets and magazines,[7] including Bulgarian magazine Avtora.com.[8] He has also appeared on Richard Pup's podcast about his experience as a writer living with M.S.[9]

Legacy

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Critical reception

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The book was positively received by the music press, both when it was originally released and when it was re-released in 2004. It regularly features in shortlists of important books about the history of bass music, including those compiled by Mixmag,[10] Attack Magazine,[11] Identification of Music,[12] and online music blogs like readsnriddims.com.[13]

When talking to UKF music journalist Ben Murphy described All Crews as an 'excellent'[14] guide to Drum and Bass. Beatportal also referenced All Crews as source material in an online feature about the 'definitive history of Drum and Bass'.[15] Nottingham arts and culture magazine Leftlion, reviewed the 2005 edition and labelled it a 'classic'.[16] In 2013 Romanian music magazine Awkmo published a feature about the prevalence of bootlegged copies in the Romanian Drum and Bass scene in Timișoara.[17]

In 2020, Reverb quoted interviews from All Crews in a feature about the use of samplers in the development of Jungle Drum and Bass from Breakbeat Hardcore[18]

All Crews has also been referenced in multiple other books about DJing, club culture and Jungle Drum and Bass. In Bill Brewster and Frank Broughton's title Last Night a DJ Saved My Life All Crews is quoted extensively in the chapter about Jungle.

Martin James also references All Crews multiple times in his title State of Bass[19], as do Ben Murphy and Carl Loben in their bass music title Renegade Snares.[20]

From the 26th April to the 26th of August 2024 an early edition of All Crews was featured as an artefact in the Beyond The Bassline exhibition at the British Library curated by Aleema Gray and Mykaell Riley.

Academic reception

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The book has been cited as a source in articles and journals across a broad range of disciplines including: media studies,[21][22] cultural studies,[23] sociology of identity,[24] popular dance studies,[25] technological studies in popular music,[26] psychedelic research,[27] histiography and even contemporary archaeology.[28]

In late 2021, Dr Chris Christodoulou, senior lecturer at Westminster School of Arts held an academic panel discussion about the book's importance as an academic text entitled 'The impact and significance of Brian Belle-Fortune’s ‘All Crew Muss Big Up’.[29]

Synopsis

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The book is a collection of chapters that vary in writing style, length and format. Each chapter covers a range of topics relating to Jungle Drum & Bass culture.

The earlier chapters in the book examine the beginnings of Jungle Drum & Bass, and also explore the origins of key elements of the scene, including: crews, DJs, MCs, producers, pressing houses, labels, raves and promoters. Later chapters in the book cover other issues relating to Jungle Drum & Bass like violence in clubs; the scene's portrayal in the media and Jungle Drum & Bass's global impact.[2]

Several chapters of All Crews are creative pieces informed by Belle-Fortune's own experiences within the scene. Belle-Fortune's creative voice combines London slang with Jungle Drum & Bass terminology.

One chapter of All Crews about the origins of the MC was written by MC Navigator.[30]

Editions

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Initially published in 1999 as All Crew Muss Big Up, it was well received by the Jungle Drum & Bass Community, but sold out quickly, fell out of print and developed a cult following.[2] It was reprinted in 2004 and re-released as All Crews: A Journey Through Jungle Drum & Bass Culture, featuring both the original text and also updated interviews and writing. All Crews has also been translated into Russian[31] and Italian. While it is currently out of print, another updated edition is forthcoming in 2023.

Prior to the first edition of All Crews being published, several early versions of the book were produced. These have become extremely rare and hard to obtain, with Belle-Fortune himself comparing them to a 'white label' or 'Dubplate' edition of the book[32]

References

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  1. ^ Brewster, Bill (22 May 2006). Last Night a DJ Saved My Life (updated): The History of the Disc Jockey (3 ed.). Headline Publishing Group. p. 1139. ISBN 9780755313983.
  2. ^ a b c Bates, Tim (Timmy). "All Crews Muss Big Up". LeftLion. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
  3. ^ Belle-Fortune, Brian. "About the Author". All Crews. Velocity Press. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
  4. ^ "Black and British: 30 years of jungle and drum'n'bass | Guardian…". Guardian Patrons. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
  5. ^ "Black and British: 30 years of jungle and drum'n'bass". Black History Month 2022. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
  6. ^ "Electronic/Dance — Black Music History Library". blackmusiclibrary.com. Retrieved 2022-09-02.
  7. ^ Brian Belle-Fortune Interview - Bass Culture - Camden Roundhouse, retrieved 1 September 2022
  8. ^ "Интервю с BRIAN BELLE – FORTUNE (Автор на книга за Jungle & DNB културата)". Avtora (in Bulgarian). Retrieved 2 September 2022.
  9. ^ Pups, Richard. "Peak Performance Podcast: Episode #17 Richard Pups Speaks to Author & DJ Brian Belle Fortune about his book, Music, Living with MS and Covid. on Apple Podcasts". Apple Podcasts. Richard Pups. Retrieved 2023-02-16.
  10. ^ Crew, Mixmag. "23 dance music books you definitely need to read". Mixmag. Mixmag. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
  11. ^ Heath, Harold (21 January 2021). "The Story of UK Bass in Seven Books". Attack Magazine. Attack. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
  12. ^ Byers, Richard. "IOM's Favourite Music Books". Identification Of Music. IOM. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
  13. ^ "Drum and Bass- The Written Word". READS 'N' RIDDIMS. READS 'N' RIDDIMS. 14 January 2021. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
  14. ^ Jenkins, Dave (26 August 2021). "A new book on drum & bass is out next month: Renegade Snares". UKF. UKF. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
  15. ^ Rihn, Joe (1 July 2021). "Beatport's Definitive History of Drum & Bass". Beatportal. Beatport. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
  16. ^ Bates, Tim. "All Crews Muss Big Up". LeftLion. LeftLion Ltd. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
  17. ^ Movements, Awkward (22 January 2013). "'All Crews' - The Romanian Bootleg Edition". AWKWARD MOVEMENTS. AWKMO. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
  18. ^ Morrison, John (27 July 2020). "The Samplers and Breakbeats Behind '90s Jungle/Drum & Bass". reverb.com. Reverb. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
  19. ^ James, Martin (2020). State Of Bass: The Origins of Jungle/Drum & Bass (in Arabic). Velocity Press. ISBN 978-1-913231-02-6.
  20. ^ Murphy, Ben; Loben, Carl (9 September 2019). Renegade Snares: The Resistance and Resilience of Drum and Bass. Outline Press, Limited. ISBN 978-1-911036-79-1.
  21. ^ Gee, David; Fuller, Matthew; Malina, Roger F. (2005). Media Ecologies: Materialist Energies in Art and Technoculture (1st ed.). Google Books: MIT Press. pp. 1–265. ISBN 978-0-262-06247-3. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
  22. ^ Anderton, Chris (1 September 2022). Media Narratives in Popular Music (1st ed.). New York: Bloomsbury Academic & Professional. pp. 1–256. ISBN 978-1501357299. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
  23. ^ Melville, Caspar (21 September 2019). It's a London thing: How rare groove, acid house and jungle remapped the city (1st ed.). Google Books: Manchester University Press. pp. 1–271. ISBN 978-1-5261-3126-3. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
  24. ^ Hall, Jo (10 March 2018). Boys, bass and bother : popular dance and identity in UK drum 'n' bass club culture (1st ed.). London: Springer. pp. 1–245. ISBN 978-1137375117. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
  25. ^ Lansdale, J. (24 July 2008). Decentring Dancing Texts: The Challenge of Interpreting Dances (1st ed.). Google Books: Springer. pp. 1–216. ISBN 978-0-230-58442-6. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
  26. ^ Emmerson, Simon (16 March 2018). The Routledge Research Companion to Electronic Music: Reaching out with Technology (1st ed.). Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. pp. 1–374. ISBN 978-1-317-04360-7. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
  27. ^ Weinel, Jonathan (1 January 2022). Explosions in the Mind: Composing Psychedelic Sounds and Visualisations (1st ed.). Google Books: Springer Nature. pp. 1–228. ISBN 978-981-16-4055-1. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
  28. ^ Beate, Peter (13 November 2022). "Experiential Knowledge: Dance as source for popular music historiography". Popular Music History. 12: 275–294. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
  29. ^ Christodoulou, Chris (7 September 2021). "The impact and significance of Brian Belle-Fortune's 'All Crew Muss Big Up', Dancecult Conference 2021". CREAM (Centre for Research and Education in Arts and Media), University of Westminster. University of Westminster. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
  30. ^ "Navigator". 2 February 2017. Retrieved 9 February 2022.
  31. ^ Steven, Colin (14 August 2014). "The Making Of All Crews Russian - Anna's Story". Kmag. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
  32. ^ Belle-Fortune, Brian (8 February 2022). "The Dubplate Manuscript". All Crews. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
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