April 2002
H.E.A.R. Honors Meat Beat Manifesto
Beginning in 1987 as an experimental/industrial duo inspired
by the cut-and-paste attitudes of hip-hop and dub, Meat Beat
Manifesto (official
site) increasingly became a vehicle for its frontman Jack
Dangers to explore the emerging electronics of techno, trip-hop
and jungle. Though the group was initially pegged as an industrial
act (simply appearing on Wax Trax! Records was enough to do
the trick),their approach to studio recordings influenced
many in the new-electronica community during the1990s, even
while Dangers remained a superb producer working in much the
same way.
Born John Corrigan in 1967 in Swindon, England, Dangers played
with Jonny Stephens in the pop band Perennial Divide in the
mid-'80s. The two formed Meat Beat Manifesto in 1987 initially
as a side-project, and released the singles "I Got the
Fear" and "Strap Down" that year. The dense,
danceable material surprised many critics used to the duo's
previous work, and the singles received good reviews.
Dangers and Stephens left Perennial Divide by 1988 and recorded
an album that same year -- using a touring group of up to
13 members for occasional live shows. The tapes were damaged
in a fire, so the two recorded Storm the Studio a year later.
Just as dense and sample-heavy as the first singles, Storm
the Studio included four songs but added three remixes of
each -- no need to explain the title -- encompassing high-energy
dub, hip-hop and noise-rock. With an American deal through
Wax Trax!, Meat Beat Manifesto became known in the U.S. as
an industrial band, though Dangers and Stephens felt themselves
pigeonholed.
The duo moved to the U.S. soon after, and formed a rough
political collective with the members of Consolidated and
the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy. (Jack Dangers and Consolidated's
Mark Pistel co-produced early Disposable Heroes material.)
Meat Beat Manifesto, meanwhile, continued their audio terrorism
on 99%, a 1990 album that added some jazzy rhythms to the
collage of noise. That same year, Wax Trax! recycled the remaining
tapes from the aborted first album and released them as Armed
Audio Warfare.
When Dangers and Stephens signed away from Wax Trax! to the
major label Elektra in 1992, the duo finally shook the industrial
tag that had stuck with them before. Instead, the media christened
the follow-up Satyricon a techno album, due to both the duo's
tour of the U.S. with Orbital and Ultramarine, and the album's
groove-heavy update of old synth groups such as Depeche Mode.
Dangers' early material began to be name-checked as at least
a partial motivation for the drum 'n bass movement -- due
to the studio mechanics inherent in the music. The 1996 double-album
Subliminal Sandwich increased Dangers' devotion to the experimental
side of electronica. Actual Sounds and Voices followed in
1998.
MBM helped support H.E.A.R. by donating a song track to H.E.A.R.
for our H.E.A.R. Records compilations to be release. We appreciate
their generous donation to the cause of hearing awareness!
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