Ever since electronic dance music emerged, there have always been artists who have straddled the divide between dance and traditional, instrument-based rock music. A handful of key musicians and groups have managed to unite the two disparate audiences, usually by combining the rhythm, beats and groove of dance music with the melody and vocals of pop and rock – the best of both worlds in a way. Dance and rock music have always had a bit of an on/off relationship – flirting and fucking with each other at regular intervals but equally having frequent spats that have seen them go their separate ways. Now so more than ever though, they are closer than a pair of incestuous twins from the Fens – with the lines between the two scenes blurred beyond recognition.

The roots of this tumultuous relationship can be traced back to the early ‘80s, when a band called Joy Division ended and one called New Order began. Joy Division were one of the first commercially successful bands to incorporate electronic synthesizers and syncopated drum beats into the realm of guitar-led rock music, and when the surviving members formed New Order, recently developed electronic musical technology was embraced even more heavily. Much of their output took fairly equal amounts of each style and blended them perfectly – Bernard Sumner’s anthemic vocals and Peter Hook’s inimitable basslines riding atop a backbone of electronic drum beats and euphoric synths. In combining these elements, they kept both commercial and more underground audiences interested, and paved the way for a whole wave of artists to follow suit. As the decade continued, hip-hop, acid house, synth pop and techno flourished without the help of guitars and real drum kits – and ‘80s were dominated musically by the rise of electronic music in all its forms. Factory Records, the record label run by the owners of pioneering Manchester club The Hacienda and home of New Order, were instrumental in pushing challenging music that crossed the divide. One of their biggest signings were Manchester nutters Happy Monday, who from their debut in 1985 towards the end of the ‘80s became more and more electronic in sound...more dance...more acid house. It was the result of bands like theirs who grew up largely on guitar music being exposed to the newly emerging sounds of house and techno, and the accompanying sonic catalyst ecstasy. Following the UK’s Summer of Love in 1988, 1989 saw them penning euphoric classics like ‘Hallelujah’ and the anthemic ‘Rave On’ – showing that this new drug and culture were clearly a major influence on their maturing sound. 808 State likewise started applying the aesthetic of a rock band to their powerful rave music around the same time. The cross-pollination of the two sounds was well under way, and the foundations were being laid for the next generation of young, exciting producers and live acts who were ready to rip the rule book up and push the crossover sound even further.

Fast forward to 1991, and rave-mania is sweeping the nation. The sound of acid house has evolved into rave, with standard four-to-the-floor beats replaced with energetic breakbeats – sampled from hip-hop tracks (or the tracks that they in turned sampled from) and sped up to breakneck tempos. The electronic ‘doof-doof’ of 4/4 beats is now matched with organic drum loops – a juxtaposition in itself. Young Essex teenager Liam Howlett starts unleashing huge, boundary-pushing slices of dancefloor raucousness such like ‘Charly’ on an unsuspecting public, beefing up the raw rave sound with a heavy-hitting, aggressive sound that felt like a heavy metal artist making dance music. With his outfit The Prodigy, he would revolutionise dance music forever, attracting a legion of fans who who were normally more inclined to rock and metal, with his brutal take on the newly emerging rave sound. By the mid-‘90s they were headlining festivals aimed at these crowds, and they were responsible for introducing dance music to a whole new generation of music lovers. Furthermore, their enormous commercial success is one of the few examples of a band making music meant for the underground – not intended for the pop charts or the radio – who refused to compromise their sound and achieved huge popularity as a result. With bland R&B and gimmicky pop songs topping the charts all too often these days, it’s bizarre to think that there was a time when vitriolic, anti-radio-friendly tracks like ‘Firestarter’ were in the same position. The Chemical Brothers likewise held massive influence over this crossover audience, stunning the dance music fraternity with their masterful debut ‘Exit Planet Dust’ in 1995 which combined phattened up hip-hop breaks with pounding techno and psychedelic indie. Utilising vocals from The Charlatans’ Tim Burgess and Portishead’s Beth Orton, they reached an even wider audience – tapping into the fanbase of two of the most popular bands of the time.

Since then, the most commercially successful and widely-loved electronic artists have generally been the ones that combined the rhythm, groove and innovativeness of dance music with the vocals and attitude of rock music. Fatboy Slim’s big-beat sound was as laden with guitars as it was with scratching and sampling, Daft Punk’s monumental 1997 debut ‘Homework’ took thumping techno and quirky house and blended it with, well, punky boisterousness, and the likes of Basement Jaxx and Groove Armada saw their fanbases grow massively once they embraced a full-on live rock-style set up in their show. In the years when trance and house music dominated (1997 to 2001 let’s say), the clubs and airwaves weren’t supporting the crossover sounds, and it wasn’t ‘til the emergence of the electro-clash scene that guitars and drum machines started getting it on again. Although the sound was initially more an update of the ‘80s synth-pop sound, as the years went the artists involved in the scene began to take more influence from rock and indie music. The arrival of 2ManyDJs in 2002 with their ‘As Heard On Radio Soulwax’ mix CDs spearheaded a fresh approach to DJing – opening up people’s minds to the fact that when put together in the right fashion – rock and dance music records can both sit side by side and can both make people move their bodies. Their first volume mixed Salt ‘n’ Pepa, The Stooges, Daft Punk, Basement Jaxx, Paul Simon, The Spice Girls and a whole loud of other incredibly disparate artists – and made it sound damn good. They really did come as a breath of fresh air at a time when new ideas were thin on the ground in either genre.

And of course no account of the rise of this sound, or rather attitude to making music, would be complete without a mention of Erol Alkan’s legendary, uber-influential Monday night Trash at The End in Central London – which finally closed last month after 10 years of amazing parties. Over the years, Trash helped to shape the sound of hundreds of bands and DJs under the guidance of Erol’s potent blend of indie, pop, punk, electro, techno, house, and anything else he felt fit to throw into the mix. He was truly a visionary, bringing artists and bands like Bloc Party, The Scissor Sisters, The Rapture, The Klaxons and Peaches to the club for some of their earliest UK performances. Basically if you got asked to play there – chances were you were going to make it fairly big, such was Erol’s impeccable ear for talent. He wisely decided to finish Trash “before it got shit”.

Over the last 2 years, the effect of the pioneering work of the likes of Trash and 2ManyDJs coupled with the aftermath of electro-clash has seen the emergence of a whole host of bands and producers who blend the best of both worlds. Producers like MSTRKRFT, Boyz Noise and Digitalism make raw electronic music with plenty of guitars, distortion and live drum type sounds, while bands like New Young Pony Club, Goose and LCD Soundsystem take it from the other angle – incorporating fat electronic sounds into their raucous songs. London nights like Chalk, Together, Slaang, The Insomniacs’ Ball, Neu-Noise and Issst are carrying on the baton from Trash (its successor Durrr is already off to a great start too), deftly combining live performances with world-famous DJs and DJ sets from bands. This combo is keeping things as spicy as possible, while bringing indie kids into the seedy world of all-night clubbing and proper rave-ups, with consistently excellent labels like Kitsuné and Modular putting out some of the most acclaimed tracks in the “genre”. Some call it new/nu-rave, although the term is much maligned, despite only being conceived less than half a year ago. Electrock anyone?

With bands like The Gossip now deservedly taking over the airwaves with their rowdy, accessible appeal, this is one musical movement that shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

SLAANG launches on Saturday 3rd March, featuring The Futureheads, The Mystery Jets, Arnaud Rebotini, Sweetlight and many more....: http://www.dontstayin.com/uk/london/a-secret-location/2007/mar/03/event-99598

Photos top to bottom: Issst girls (by Beth Crockatt), crowdsurfing at Chalk, Who Made Who @ Together, 2ManyDJs, Issst NYE (by Tay Matrpaon), SLAANG flyer)