Meat Beat Manifesto, often shortened to Meat Beat or MBM, is an electronic music outfit originally consisting of Jack Dangers and Jonny Stephens formed in 1987 in Swindon, UK. This was also the hometown of the band XTC, who helped Meat Beat get started. Meat Beat Manifesto are considered a 'best-kept secret' in the world of dance music, providing (sometimes unwittingly) the musical starting blocks for young samplists in the know (most notably The Prodigy, Chemical Brothers and Future Sound of London), and helping to form new musical styles, such as Big Beat and Jungle, with seminal tracks such as 'God O.D.' and 'Radio Babylon', respectively.
Meat Beat Manifesto | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Swindon, UK |
| Years active | 1987 - Present |
| Members | Jack Dangers |
| Past members | Jonny Stephens |
| Website | http://brainwashed.com/mbm |
Dangers and Stephens left Perennial Divide in 1988 to record an album, but the tapes were destroyed in a studio fire before the album could be released. They then recorded the LP Storm The Studio, which got them pigeonholed as an industrial act. In response, they released 99%, which was more techno-influenced, in May 1990. In August of the same year, they released Armed Audio Warfare, which was an effort to re-create the lost tracks of the would-be debut album.
The band's live show was conceived as an intense audio-visual experience, with dancers, led by choreographer Marcus Adams, in costumes designed by artist Craig Morrison and video clips accompanying live instruments, sequenced electronic instruments, and live DJing. In the United States, they opened for Nine Inch Nails on their debut national tour in 1990. Adams appeared in many of the band's promo photos with his trademark "popcorn" hairstyle (mostly shaved, with scattered tufts of braided hair) until the release of Satyricon in 1992.
Satyricon continued to show Meat Beat as more of an electronica band. In 1994 Dangers relocated from England to San Francisco, resulting in Stephens' departure from the band. Dangers continued the band as a solo-plus-collaborators project, releasing the double album Subliminal Sandwich in 1996. While this album represented MBM's major-label debut on Trent Reznor's Nothing records, it failed to achieve the critical and commercial successes of previous releases.
In 1997 Dangers recruited drummer Lynn Farmer and guitarist Jon Wilson to record and release Actual Sounds & Voices in 1998, which found the group's earlier flirtations with jazz fusion featured more prominently; the record included appearances by saxophonist Bennie Maupin. The album yielded the single "Prime Audio Soup" which was featured in the film The Matrix.
In 2002 Meat Beat released RUOK?, which demonstrated great steps in the evolution of their sound and prominently featured Dangers' newly acquired EMS Synthi 100. In 2003 they released a remix album for Storm The Studio, followed by ...In Dub, a remix album of RUOK?.
At the Center, the latest MBM album, was released in May 29, 2005. A part of independent label Thirsty Ear's Blue Series, the album is a collaboration between Jack Dangers and jazz musicians Peter Gordon, Dave King, and Craig Taborn. It has been well-received by many critics, with one reviewer calling it "one of the best albums of the year in any genre."[1]
Discography
Albums
- 1989 Storm The Studio
- 1990 Armed Audio Warfare
- 1990 99%
- 1992 Satyricon
- 1996 Subliminal Sandwich
- 1998 Actual Sounds & Voices
- 2002 RUOK?
- 2003 Storm The Studio RMXS
- 2004 In Dub
- 2005 At The Center
Singles
- 1987 Suck Hard (Limited edition of 1,500 copies)
- 1988 I Got The Fear
- 1988 Strap Down
- 1988 Re-Animator
- 1988 Let's Go Disco (This one-off project was under the alias Space Children)
- 1988 GOD O.D.
- 1989 Cuts From The New LP & CD
- 1990 Dog Star Man
- 1990 Helter Skelter/Radio Babylon
- 1990 Psyche Out
- 1991 Version Galore
- 1991 Now
- 1992 Edge of No Control
- 1992 Mindstream
- 1992 Mindstream Pt. 2
- 1993 Circles
- 1993 Peel Session
- 1993 Australian Tour EP
- 1995 Nuclear Bomb
- 1996 Transmission
- 1996 Asbestos Lead Asbestos
- 1996 It's The Music
- 1997 Original Fire
- 1997 Helter Skelter '97
- 1998 Acid Again
- 1998 Prime Audio Soup
- 2000 Eccentric Objects (Limited edition of 1,000 copies)
- 2002 Free Piece Suite
- 2002 What Does It All Mean?
Videography
Videos