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The Chemical Brothers
From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist
The Chemical Brothers is an English electronic music duo, formed in 1992 in Manchester by Ed Simons and Tom Rowlands. They met in 1989 at university and shared a passion for raves and clubs. In 1992 they began DJing at a club in Manchester, at first under the name The Dust Brothers. To avoid confusion with an American production duo, they adopted the name The Chemical Brothers. Their first remixes followed in 1993 and the EP Fourteenth Century Sky came out in January 1994, with Chemical Beats.
Music and breakthrough
The debut album Exit Planet Dust from 1995 refers in its title to the change of name. In 1997 Dig Your Own Hole followed, recorded in their own studio in south London. It contains Block Rockin' Beats, with a voice sample from Schoolly D and a reworked bass line by 23 Skidoo. The song won a Grammy. Surrender came in 1999, Come with Us in 2002, Push the Button in 2004 and We Are the Night in 2007. The duo worked with many guest singers, including Noel Gallagher, Beth Orton, Q-Tip and Beck.
Influence
The Chemical Brothers brought big beat, a style with heavy beats, samples and guitar-like energy, to the general public. They showed that dance music could also sound like rock. In this way they form a bridge between the rave and the pop festival.
Listening
Block Rockin' Beats · The Chemical Brothers, 1997Apple Music ↗
Discography
Studio albums
- 1995Exit Planet Dust
- 1997Dig Your Own Hole
- 1999Surrender
- 2002Come With Us
- 2004Push the Button
- 2007We Are the Night
- 2010Further
- 2011Hanna (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (soundtrack)
- 2015Born in the Echoes
- 2019No Geography
- 2023For That Beautiful Feeling
Mentioned in other articles
- Big beat Genre
The Chemical Brothers, The Prodigy and Fatboy Slim from Brighton scored big hits with it in the late 1990s, such as The Rockafeller Skank (1998).