Junglist posse! The latest in our authoritative series of 'Top 100 Most Important Tunes' moves onto drum & bass the September issue of DJ Mag, following lists of the most important house and techno tunes. And what a task this was! There have been literally hundreds of thousands of jungle/drum & bass tracks released over the past 20 years, and it's been an incredibly tricky task whittling the list of the most important down to just 100. There have been thousands of great tunes, but we reckon this list is pretty definitive as to the principal game-changers.

From Fabio & Grooverider cutting up breakbeat hardcore vinyls at Rage to hardcore producers introducing breaks into the rave, jungle grew out of the whirlpool of creativity that was the early '90s UK rave scene. Principally centred around London at first, envelope-pushing productions by people like Goldie, 4 Hero and A Guy Called Gerald — and the full-scale embracing of polymorphic riddims, particularly the Amen break — quickly led to jungle becoming the most exciting new urban scene around in '93/'94. With its DIY culture (independent labels, establishment of its own underground networks), some likened it to punk, and as different flavas began flowing into the sound it morphed in the mid-'90s into what we still today call drum & bass. Unlike what arguably happened with house and techno, however, the black innovators remained at the forefront of the exciting new British scene -- and have done so ever since.

You can read about the choices in the September edition of DJ Mag.

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