The much-discussed late 90s phenomenon of big beat is essentially hip-hop put through the filter of acid house. It was the Chemical Brothers, then known as the Dust Brothers who, in the early 90s, were first known for using slightly accelerated breakbeats combined with analogue noise, guitar sounds, vocal samples and, notably, sirens. Their residency at the Sunday Social, a club they ran in conjunction with Heavenly Records (a subsidiary of Deconstruction Records) in London, also paved the way for many of today's big beat artists, with its eclectic approach to the dancefloor. DJs at the club, including the Chemical Brothers, might mix anything from hip-hop to northern soul to rock. This creative juxtapositioning and blending of styles was refreshing to clubbers who were somewhat jaded by formulaic "four-to-the-floor' dance music. However, the term big beat can be attributed to Norman Cook's club in Brighton, Sussex, England, the Big Beat Boutique, where he DJed and played this style of music from 1994 onwards. As Fatboy Slim, Cook was signed to Damian Harris" newly formed Skint Records. Cook released a number of successful singles and remixed several tracks by other artists, breathing new life into Wildchild's "Renegade Master'. His Better Living Through Chemistry received much critical praise. The Chemical Brothers" 1995 debut, Exit Planet Dust, was also widely praised and commercially successful.

The mid-90s saw the rise of instrumental and experimental hip-hop that was given the controversial term "trip-hop' by a music press struggling to keep up with dance music's perpetual cross-fertilization. Both trip-hop and big beat are examples of a familiar occurrence in dance music: a new hybrid style emerges, the music press names it and many of its main proponents immediately profess their resentment of the term and say that it should not be applied to their music. Nevertheless, it can be said that during this period those musicians working outside the mainstream of dance music began fusing breakbeats with a broader range of sounds, using anything from dub and reggae to rap, funk, punk and rock. The Sunday Social became the Heavenly Social (after Heavenly Records), and Jon Carter the new resident DJ of the club in 1995. After recording some tracks with the then newly formed Wall Of Sound label, he signed to Heavenly Records and started recording as Monkey Mafia. Both Carter and Wall Of Sound have been prime movers in developing the alternative dance sound and scene. James Lavelle's Mo" Wax Records label has also been instrumental in introducing new sounds and artists, as has Coldcut's Ninja Tune Records, although both would probably dismiss their association with big beat.

The huge popularity of this new breed was exemplified by two artists in 1997. The Chemical Brothers had UK number 1 singles with "Setting Sun" (in late 1996, with Noel Gallagher of Oasis guesting on vocals) and "Block Rockin' Beats". The attendant album, Dig Your Own Hole was nominated for the UK's BRIT and Mercury awards and "Block Rockin' Beats" also won a Grammy for best instrumental. The release of the Prodigy's The Fat Of The Land was another clear indication of the changing face of dance music. The Prodigy had already had two UK number 1s with the singles "Firestarter" and "Breathe" but no-one could have predicted the phenomenal success of The Fat Of The Land. It went straight to number 1 in 22 countries, including the USA, and sold millions. The success of these, and other acts, who might come under the big beat umbrella can be partly attributed to their enthusiasm for performing live on the festival and college circuits. This, combined with the rock sounds and dynamics of some of their music, has attracted a following way beyond that of dance music fans only.

Big beat, for want of a less clumsy term, seems to transcend the divisions and petty snobberies of the guitar-based indie scene and dance music, and this has partly been facilitated by the healthy mingling of audiences at raves and festivals such as the UK's Glastonbury Festival and the Lollapalooza in the USA. From New Order and the Cure's early tentative steps onto the dancefloor, via the remix, to Primal Scream, the Happy Mondays and the Stone Roses' embracing of the Ecstasy-fuelled days of acid house, bands have long been keeping an ear out for dance music. The growth and development of such collaboration is exemplified by projects such as James Lavelle's U.N.K.L.E. and Fatboy Slim's remix of Cornershop's "Brimful Of Asha", which was a UK number 1 in February 1998. Perhaps the reason that big beat and trip-hop are such widely disputed terms is that it is problematic to find any definitive characteristics in the music beyond the perennial breakbeat. Whether fast or slow, as long as the exaggerated kick and snare drum sound remain, whatever accompanies them seems limited only by the artist's imagination.