Genre Deep Dive: What is garage music?
Learn about garage music in the second edition of Epidemic Sound’s Genre Deep Dive.
We’ll cover:
- What is garage music?
- Why do people listen to garage music?
- When did garage music start?
- Where did garage music come from?
- Why is garage music called garage?
- What’s the difference between garage and house music?
- Who is the biggest garage artist?
- How to find the best garage music for your content
What is garage music?
Garage music is an electronic genre influenced by house, R&B, jungle, hip-hop, dancehall, and more. Its syncopated hi-hats, snares, and cymbals create a “shuffling” rhythm alongside prominent kick drums, basslines, and chopped-up vocal samples.
Most garage music relies on a four-to-the-floor house beat, which creates a steady bedrock for other instruments to build on. Playing with this formula led to two-step garage, which altered the 4/4 kick-drum pattern.
This left more room to subvert the audience’s expectations, breaking the rhythm and lending the music a more urgent atmosphere. Listen to how Artful Dodger and Craig David’s Re-Rewind (The Crowd Say Bo Selecta) switches up the beat.
Why do people listen to garage music?
People listen to garage music because it’s upbeat and catchy, and it feels nostalgic for listeners who experienced it back in the day. That’s why it’s still thriving, despite reaching its commercial peak at the turn of the millennium.
Those who were there during the genre’s prime will never forget those iconic club nights soundtracked by garage. It felt less like music and more a movement, particularly in the UK.
And for people who missed the boat: it doesn’t matter. Garage was initially popular with younger listeners because it was alive — that still holds true today. The evidence? See for yourself.
@lewisleighh Think my Parents grew up on UK garage haha 🕺 #fyp ♬ Pressure FM by Jack Marlow - JACK MARLOW
When did garage music start?
US garage took shape in the early 1980s, while UK garage came along in the 1990s. Jumping from pubs, pirate radio, and nightclubs to mainstream hits, UK garage has since splintered off into different genres, including grime, dubstep, and future garage.
Where did garage music come from?
Garage music as we now know it comes from the UK. For this reason, it’s often called UK garage or UKG. However, its roots can be traced back to the other side of the pond. Many of the traits found in New York garage house — doses of R&B, soulful chords, hard basslines, and hi-hats — carried over to UK garage.
New York garage house is also known as the New Jersey sound or New Jersey house, as it blew up in both NJ and NYC clubs. DJ Larry Levan’s stints at New York’s Paradise Garage club shaped the sound of New York garage house, focusing on gospel, disco, and R&B.
Two-step UK garage is often credited to Todd Edwards, a producer from the US. Starting in the New Jersey scene, Edwards remixed a slew of UK-based artists and went on to work with French house legends Daft Punk. London’s DJ EZ was another early trendsetter, playing UK garage on both pirate and commercial radio.
While UK garage came later and is often used as shorthand for garage, it started by sampling and remixing garage from the US.
Why is garage music called garage?
The term “garage music” was coined because its unofficial founder, Larry Levan, was a DJ at the Paradise Garage club.
What’s the difference between garage and house music?
House music is heavily influenced by disco, while UK garage leans more toward jungle and R&B, with a larger focus on MCs. There’s a lot of crossover, and the lines are blurred further when you consider the origins of house, which shares roots with the garage house style developed in 1980s New York/New Jersey.
Who is the biggest garage artist?
Newer UK garage artists like Sammy Virji, Interplanetary Criminal, p-rallel, Conducta, and MPH all keep the genre alive today, racking up millions of monthly listeners. Fred again… and Bicep often sprinkle pieces of the genre within their work, while Stormzy has taken grime, a garage-adjacent genre, to new commercial heights.
How to find the best garage music for your content
Whether you’re a solo content creator or an established brand, you’ll not have read this far unless you need garage music. Epidemic Sound’s catalog is packed with more than 50,000 world-class tracks, including a whole host of garage. Check out the playlists below.
90s Club Scene
Fueled by soulful house grooves and euphoric beats.
Sound of the UK
Beats and basslines from the modern home of garage.
Now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s close out with four elite-tier garage tracks available with an Epidemic Sound subscription. Take your soundtracking to the next level today.
dreem – u got it
You wanted UK garage? u got it. dreem’s restless, infectious banger captures the percussive propulsion that made the genre so successful around the turn of the millennium, dusting some chopped-up vocals on top for good measure. The perfect soundtrack for any contemporary, “cool” content you or your brand are shooting.
Adelyn Paik – My Stereo
A big part of garage’s appeal is the multi-genre approach, the blurring of lines, the sensation of hearing something familiar yet new. That’s what Adelyn Paik brings to the table with My Stereo, mashing up UK garage with K-pop synth patterns, throwing English- and Korean-language verses against that massive, sugar-rush chorus. This track’s a serious contender for any high-energy, quirky content you might have in the pipeline.
LeDorean – My Mind
LeDorean’s My Mind is one of Epidemic Sound’s best-performing garage tracks for a reason. Just listen to those choppy vocals grating against the smooth-as-butter beats and synth. It’s luxurious — keep My Mind in mind for any premium, high-end content you’re set to produce.
Jevon Ives – Clarity
That old-school vinyl crackle, the skipping beats, those laid-back bars — Jevon Ives glues it all together with complete Clarity. Ives’ biting lyricism is at odds with the chilled instrumentation, and that’s what makes it work. There’s grit and gloss in equal measure, but if that’s not quite the right fit for your content? No problem. Extract the stems or adapt the track to suit your vision.
Music makes your content sing. Epidemic Sound’s catalog has all the garage you need, but if it’s not the right match, don’t sweat it. We’ve got you covered.
Explore our catalog with filters like genre, mood, BPM, and more, or search with a reference Spotify link for instant suggestions. Then, fine-tune our tracks with AI-powered tools to find the perfect fit.
And even better? Our catalog is high-quality, affordable, and safe. An Epidemic Sound subscription goes beyond royalty-free music, removing the headache of licensing and freeing you up to do what you do best.
You can enjoy the safety of our license hand-in-hand with our catalog of 50,000 tracks, covering just about every genre you can think of. You’ll also gain unlimited access to our advanced search functions and editing tools — finding the right sound’s never been easier.
It’s better than royalty-free. It’s worry-free. Get started with Epidemic Sound below.
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