Big Beat

Big beat is a British electronic dance music style that peaked in the second half of the 1990s, built from breakbeat drum loops, acid house synthesizer lines, and samples drawn from funk, soul, jazz, rock, and film soundtracks. Tracks are loud, heavily compressed, and structured for maximum impact, combining hip hop's sampling practice with rave dynamics and pop songcraft: prominent hooks, build-and-release arrangements, and tempos around 110–140 BPM. Centered on Brighton's club scene and labels such as #Skint#, big beat briefly carried electronic music into mainstream charts, advertising, and film before fragmenting at the decade's end.