UK garage music at 30: It’s not dying, but a way of life

It has been 30 years since the rhythm and beats of garage music took the UK by storm.

The genre has consistently evolved since the 1990s, becoming a party-starting sound and influencing bassline, grime and dubstep.

More recently artists including AJ Tracey, Disclosure, PinkPantheress and Rudimental have all released tracks which carry elements of UK garage.

But for some of the genre’s icons, it is more than just music.

"Garage is actually a way of life," says MC Bushkin from Heartless Crew, which formed in the 90s.

"When I hear garage, I just think of uplift, vibe and fun. Good music, dancing and fashion," he tells BBC Newsbeat.

Neutrino from collective So Solid Crew feels the influence of UK garage is on par with cultural movements from the 1970s and 80s.

"From punk rock ska, the New Romantic movement… there’s always something the youth align themselves with.

"If you go back to the late 90s, early noughties, you’ll see the fashion culture where it was Moschino, Patrick Cox, Versace… you see a lot of throwbacks now where people are taking influence from back then."

• Listen to the Heartless Crew celebrate 30 years of garage on 1Xtra

Though it’s been three decades, those linked with the genre do not believe the sound is fading, but do feel the grassroots needs more attention for the culture to grow.

"The music can’t die out," says MC Bushkin defiantly, though he admits garage may not be "as popular as it once was".

"The scene is still thriving, there are still lots of events and festivals."

While "festivals are great", DJ Fonti from Heartless Crew says the clubbing arena is also important.

"The actual scene of garage was built because people used to come out every week and go to a certain place and hear that music.

"That is not really being pushed as much anymore."

The rise of grime, which developed out of garage in the early 2000s, eventually saw controversial connections being made between music and real-life violence, with traditional UK garage pushed underground because of the links some individuals had.

Fonti says there had been "a stigma" attached to garage because of a minority causing trouble, which hurt its popularity.

"Nobody blames a football team when there is a bit of trouble [with fans]. All of a sudden one bit of trouble brought this negative vibe."

Lately financial pressures have also hit, with data suggesting close to 400 clubs permanently shut down between March 2020 and December 2023, according to the Night Time Industries Association.

"I think the authorities… the government, need to get involved, come down and check out the grassroots and what’s really going on," Fonti says.

"It's just honest conversations and people not being afraid to take a chance and to look into things."

Taking a chance is a motto that Heartless Crew adopted when helping to evolve garage from the 1990s.

MC Bushkin describes their contribution as "adding a bit spice to it", saying earlier MCs would be more "behind the music and hosting… but we changed it".

"We were front and centre, jumping around and reloading tunes, speeding them up.

"We were bringing other genres in. It’s why people see us as changing garage and starting grime," he says.

Reflecting, Fonti name checks individuals such as MC Creed as one of the people that "pricked up my ears" and producers like M-Dubs and MJ Cole that have helped "develop and change up the sound".

When they first started, Fonti says the rhythm of garage was "four-in-the-floor", which then developed into a "2-step sound".

"And that's where a lot of those producers started to get stuck in and really evolve music in some great ways."

"Around those times [at the start], there was no Instagram or even Facebook," he says.

One of the pioneers of the 2-step genre was Ms Dynamite, with her 2001 track Booo!.

"Someone like me can't just jump on certain trends," she told the BBC Sounds podcast series Music Uncovered. "Because that's not me or where I've come from.

"What I can do is join a little trend and mash it up a little bit and make it something different from what it is as opposed to trying to do what everyone else is doing."

Ms Dynamite became a poster girl for the genre, even being recognised with an MBE for her services to music, and was significant in inspiring other female artists.

"Listening to female vocalists on UK garage allowed me to see it could be done," says DJ Eliza Rose, also speaking to Music Uncovered. Her track B.O.T.A made it to number one in the UK in 2022.

She performed it live at the MOBO Awards that year alongside garage legends Sonique and Sweet Female Attitude.

"That was the first step in a life-changing moment," she says.

"Being next to two amazing, talented, incredible women and feeling like I belong there really helped with my journey.

"I was then able to step into that space."

Not all change through the years has felt positive though, according to So Solid Crew’s Oxide and Neutrino.

They feel the genre has now developed into being less MC heavy and more production DJs - away from what both Heartless and So Solid pioneered.

"Which is a shame because that is not where we have come from," says Neutrino.

"It was all about the beats, the bassline and stuff like that. So I think I feel that's getting a bit lost."

To get back to that, Oxide feels it’s important to be patient and remember "what people want".

"There will be another time when it’s more MC-driven. But people have taken a step back for the time being."

Aspiring garage artist BVNQUET agrees it’s a different era now.

"It's a lot of like crossing over from rap and hip-hop culture and less like the classic garage MC," he tells Newsbeat.

"I think we will continue to work with rappers and MCs but there's been a shift in culture for sure."

BVNQUET says he’s been influenced by 90s soulful garage and the sound of So Solid Crew from the early 2000s.

The 24-year-old has recently produced a remix of Sophie Ellis Bextor’s Murder on the Dancefloor, which he says had "soulful garage" in it.

He also uses TikTok to promote his music, a difference from the earlier era with a greater emphasis now on needing to promote yourself.

"You've got to be an all in one guy, that does everything," he says.

"I just try and focus on the music. But I always try and [have] a few edits which do well on social media."

When BVNQUET thinks about the future for both garage and himself, he is optimistic.

He says he's not seen as many people listening to garage at one time as they do now.

"It will 100% keep expanding. There’s a gap in the market there for sure."

For continued success, Neutrino says it’s important to have "an actual scene" the younger generation - like BVNQUET - can identify with.

"Old school and new school, if we can keep playing I think it’s got longevity.

"Different sounds come into fashion and we might lean into something like jazz… but that’s the beauty of sound," he says.

Fontie adds: "People might try and say garage is dead or dying, but it’s been evolving since it came.

"It’s why you have these other genres like grime, bassline, dubstep, which you can say are the children of garage."