If you slept in History class, now's the chance learn something everyday! (hopefully)

13 years from today, on April 7 1997, Dig Your Own Hole was released to the masses. And the world was pounding to big beats, sirens, and the ear-ringing vocal of 'Who is this doin' this type o' alpha-beta-psychedelic funkin'!

YESSSSSSS!

I was just getting into Fat of the Land that year. If only I could have seen the light... ::sniffle::

D'YOH!
Great topic idea!

Here's a little something I wrote a few years ago that sums up where I was around that time:

http://planet-dust.l..._first_time.htm



The first time I heard the Chemicals I wasn't really into it. I was sort of/kind of dipping into electronic music other than the industrial variety, but not familiar at all with this new genre I was discovering. I really didn't give them a solid listening until DYOH came out. I was working at Tower Records, and I had this little loft upstairs where I did displays for the store. I was torturing my assistant by playing a lot of KMFDM, old NIN, and Front 242 and another coworker came up to me and said, "Put this in your stereo, you just might like it." My assistant and I put the cd on and all these amazing sounds emitted from my little boombox sitting on my desk. I thought, "No way is it possible to get these kind of sounds! No way!" But all was kind of lost, as DYOH gave my assistant a splitting headache, and I just didn't want to endure the bitching and moaning of "turn it down" coming from other fellow employees working beneath my loft.

A few short months later I found out I was pregnant. I went on an extended leave of absence, and finally quit the record store job which meant I kind of lost my lifeline to hearing new mind blowing stuff. Still kind of broke, I didn't think to purchase the cd until much much later - until right before Surrender came out. By that time I was full on into re-discovering myself (long story) and one of the things that gave me so much joy: Music. I wanted to learn - so I opened up my ears once again. I was learning more about electronic music, trying to understand it, trying to figure out how computers and all the gadgetry could produce some of the most amazing stuff I've ever heard. I'm still trying to figure it out! And I've spread the chemical gospel and introduced a lot of my friends to the joys of the Chems. The years 1997 through today have been an interesting voyage musically - I could say that the Chemical Brothers definitely influence what I listen to these days, but that would be kind of cheesy, right?

Great post (as always) Whirly!
DYOH was also my first album. I purchased it along with Crystal Method's 'Legion of Boom'. At this time I was just (finally) getting into music. I live in what might be the musical asshole of the U.S.--that is to say, I live where there is only country music, hip-hop, classic rock and top 40-style radio stations--and so up to the age of 14 I was uninterested in music. Then, one night on Cartoon Network, the first 4 videos from Interstella5555 by Daft Punk were played, along with 4 music videos from Gorillaz first album... it was a revelation! I then spent quite awhile sampling various other french offerings after coming down from my obsession with the first two Daft Punk albums. Then, right before a two week mission trip to Mexico, I bought DYOH, and at first I wasn't sure I liked it!!! And so I listened to 'Legion of Boom' much more during the start of the trip, but gradually I started falling in love with BRB, Setting Sun, Electrobank, LITKH, and then just when I thought I was bored of those, I started like the other tracks that I previously didn't enjoy much. It just kept growing on me, and pretty soon I was listening to the whole of DYOH!

Long story short, DYOH was my first Chemical album, and my first love that marked the beginning of my mature and fruitful taste in music

It also took me quite a while to appreciate most of Dig Your Own Hole. I loved Setting Sun, Block Rockin Beats, and Elektrobank from the videos but I was 15 when I got the album and had never been exposed to proper dance music or techno before. The rest of the album sounded loud and samey to me for quite some time because my ears and music sense just weren't up to it yet. (I also found 'Homework' horrifically boring other than the singles too.)

Eventually it just kinda clicked and now it's the deep album cuts (and, of course, the Reel) that I come back to on that album.

(On a related note, I'm pumping Push the Button right now and am really digging it. A very eclectic album and, in my opinion, the first step of the most recent Chemical era. A real transition from the production of Come With Us and before and you can see hints of what would come with We Are the Night and what I've heard from the new album. Wish there was an instrumental of 'Left, Right'.)

Probass, on 08 April 2010 - 01:14 AM, said:

Isn't that pretty much all of the country, with maybe the exception of our lucky brothers and sisters on the west coast? Philly may have been a hot spot for the music scene in the 60's and 70's, but it is awful now. On radio we have the R&B/hip hop station, the other two R&B/hip hop stations, the top 40/R&B/hip hop station, the classic rock station, the other (even more repetitive) classic rock station, the "we play everything but it's really the same recycled crap" adult contemporary station, a country station, an oldies station, and one somewhat decent alt rock station. YAY for the interwebs!


inchem...this is a cool topic.

Dig Your Own Hole was groundbreaking upon its release and is still awesome today. It has a great flow, the right choices for singles, excellent album tracks, and does not sound dated. In addition to Block Rockin' Beats, the tracks Where Do I Begin, The Private Psychedelic Reel and Piku have NEVER stopped being in rotation on my personal playlists. Also, It Doesn't Matter has been a staple of DJ persona when I want to surprise people with something cool that they've never heard before. DYOH is still one of my favorite albums.

1997 was a great year for me becoming me. I was living in my first apartment and it was like a musical renaissance. I "discovered" the following CDs (and artists) that year:

• The Chemical Brothers - Dig Your Own Hole ('97) , and subsequently Exit Planet Dust, Loops of Fury, and all the domestic singles
• The Crystal Method - Vegas ('97)
• The Prodigy - Fat of the Land ('97 - I was familiar with Charly and Out Of Space, but was not necessarily a Prodigy 'fan')
• Fatboy Slim - Better Living Through Chemistry ('96)
• Orbital - In Sides ('96 - Again, I knew Chime but not necessarily Orbital)

Of course, DYOH with its singles Setting Sun ('96) and Block Rockin' Beats ('97) was the driving force behind my new musical direction, but these albums and a few "electronica" compilations changed my world, quite literally.

It is sad. In 1997, big beat, breaks, trance, electro, and various forms of European dancefloor music made it over here under the catch-all title "electronica". The movement was growing strong with MTV's weekly show AMP and radio play for some of the tracks. Sadly, the revolution ended almost as quickly as it started. I really thought America was in for something great musically, but the mainstream wouldn't have it. I guess it's probably for the better; pop success often destroys music anyway.

I still enjoy most of the bands I discovered in '97, including all the ones mentioned above, but the Chemical Brothers are the only ones I still closely follow today. Perhaps it is because they have balanced the fine line between greatness and evolution.....

What a nice anniversary. Block Rockin' Beats inspired me to start playing bass in the early 00's. I wish I was hip on this music back then!

satur8, on 08 April 2010 - 08:34 PM, said:

Really, Philly is that bad? Well, thats pretty depressing. Apparently the west coast and, to a certain extent, Minnesota must be the cool place to be for music in the States nowadays. Once I graduate, I'm thinking I'll move to California or Minnesota just because of that.

(As a side note, I went to Minnesota shortly after Portishead's "Third" came out, and it was SO amazing walking around downtown and hearing "Machine Gun" playing loudly from cars as they passed by.)

In 2007 I was finally starting to get into music in a big way (I was 13) and I decided to finally give electronic music a chance... I already had Homework and liked it and I bought Exit Planet Dust during the Summer and liked that too, but when I got Dig Your Own Hole and listened to it for the first time, it was like a revelation. I couldn't believe it. I listened to it constantly for that summer and the rest of the year and just got my hands on anything Chemical Brothersy I could find. It opened new doors musically and helped me gain interests in so much music I wouldn't have had a clue about before. I may be but a young listener of music but Dig Your Own Hole is still very special for me.

Nothing wrong with being a young listener - keeps things fresh!

@Rhodo: That's awesome, dude. When I was a freshman at UC Santa Cruz back in 1999, I walked into a local record store where they were playing this fantastic electronic music, which happened to be the title track off Dig Your Own Hole. I asked the cashier what it was, and he told me it was the Chems. He took it out of the cd player, and I bought it. I've loved it since.

@Whirly - I can't believe planet dust is still "archived" online. Wow. And what a post!

1995 was the year I found the Chems with EPD. 1996 I bought every copy of every single I could find that was released and in the store. Little did I know how difficult they were to find (prior to eBay) for some time. But yeah.. I have to agree.. 1997 was a stellar year when it came to new electronic music in the US. Satur8 is spot on. It died as quick as it started... So sad.

Maybe it's time, once again? One can hope.

I would say with me it was fragments of things over a few years that came together!

In 1995-96 I used to listen to the top 40 every Sunday, heard the Chemical Brothers name mentioned (loved the name and still do) but only took notice when I heard a song called Loops of Fury. Went out to buy it but couldn't find it, found out several years later it was a limited edition EP which sold out in the UK after a week!

A year or so later I jumped on the PlayStation bandwagon and one of the games I had was the original WipEout which has a great soundtrack and I could also put the disc in the stereo and play the music! One of the tracks on it was Chemical Beats which I had never heard (I also discovered the fantastic Afro Ride by Leftfield and P.E.T.R.O.L by Orbital).

In 1999 I first heard Hey Boy Hey Girl on Radio 1 which I became obsessed with until the time it was released and I went out and bought it. I really liked the B sides as well. My uncle had bought Surrender and after mentioning HBHG to him he put Surrender onto cassette for me (with the label "Chemical Toilet Brothers" on it). I loved the very unique sounds on the album, especially on Music:Response and Orange Wedge.

My dad had Block Rockin' Beats on some compilation he'd put together which I sort of knew and liked. Bought the single and also liked the rather random and noisy Prescription Beats and the fantastic Morning Lemon.

It was only in 2001 that it all came together really (Moby's Play kinda got in the way in 2000). Having a list in my head of the Chems stuff I knew, (all of which I liked ) I took a chance on Exit Planet Dust with it having Chemical Beats on and it kinda started from there. By the end of the year I had all of the albums at that point and most of the singles.

In September that year I found a website called 10.09.01.com which repeated the intro to the new single It Began In Afrika over and over again. And of course shortly after I discovered a messageboard with other people talking about the music....I wasn't alone after all .

awesome.

mcmarsh, on 09 April 2010 - 07:51 PM, said:

Great discovery story McMarsh!
I wonder if the soundtrack to the wipeout containing "Dust Up Beats" is floating around somewhere on the interweb... that is one of their older tracks that I have and really like, but it is a pretty bad vinyl-to-mp3 conversion.

It's actually an edit of the original Dust Up Beats. They edited out the intro, and some of the mix... But I was able to find the PSX disc with it.

I just found it on youtube, which means I can easily get an mp3 of it.
Good ol' youtube, it has pretty much anything that I can't easily find.

Probass, on 08 April 2010 - 07:25 PM, said:

Late response, but yeah, it's pretty bad. From what I understand we have a pretty decent dubstep scene, yet I've been hard pressed to find anyone outside of the clubs that appreciates electronic music, dance or otherwise.

On the everyday scene, everyone seems to think that I am the oddball, listening to m-tss m-tss tracks while they play their Lady Gaga or Jay-Z. The irony is that the popular DJ sets around here just add beats to these same top 40 hits, truly producing that generic m-tss sound while I am listening to smart electronic music. I'm a little too old to get frustrated by it, but in a lot of ways this forum is the only place I get to talk about the music I love.

Thats pretty much how I feel, Satur8. Except there aren't really any clubs here where I live either.
I do think it is really funny that stuff like Lady Gaga (which is only a slight step up from Britney IMO) is like generic electronic music, with a face that the populace can recognize, and yet her stuff is completely "normal" while the type of stuff we listen to is "weird."
Anyways, I've put up with it so long that it doesn't really bother me anymore either--I'm used to the general masses being closed minded to all but whatever "their masters" feed them, eg. MTV.

THIS DAY IN 'CHEMICAL' HISTORY'

3 years ago today, On April 11, 2007 - The Chemical Brothers revealed the title and full track listing for their 6th album.
'We Are The Night' contains 12 tracks and will be released on June 19th 2007.
The first single is "Do It Again" Featuring Ali Love.

We Are The Night Track Listing

1. No Path To Follow
2. We Are The Night
3. All Rights Reversed (Featuring The Klaxons)
4. Saturate
5. Do It Again (Featuring Ali Love)
6. Das Spiegel
7. The Salmon Dance (Featuring Fatlip)
8. Burst Generator
9. A Modern Midnight Conversation
10. Battle Scars (Featuring Willy Mason)
11. Harpoons
12. The Pills Won't Help You Now (Featuring Midlake)


Another forum orgy happens!..........just like the one were having right now!