20 replies to this topic

[undo]

It's become really unfashionable for anyone to admit that they still this like album anymore. Casually dismissing it is a quick way to not just distance yourself from the whole "electronica" trend, but also to demonstrate a purer or more authentic devotion to classic rave and hip-hop music.

I still love Dig Your Own Hole, remember where I was when I first bought it, when I first heard it, and when I finally made it part of my world towards the end of my junior year of high school and deep into that that summer. It didn't happen right away for me. I still remember the first time I heard "Setting Sun." I thought it was some kind of bad industrial music and I hated it. I think "Block Rockin' Beats" was what finally converted me. Funny how that's my least favorite track on the album now.

Few albums have ever suddenly awakened me to so many possibilities, pointed me down a new path that lead so far and branched into so many new directions. Maybe that's just a testament to my ignorance of dance music in general, but in my defense, I was an American teenager at the end of the pre-internet age. Anyway, once I heard this, there was no going back. It was a revelation, a calling that cannot be denied or forgotten, a journey that never ends, pointing towards the future while looking back in time...

For a brief time, this was the coolest album in the world, a title that is almost always reserved for obscure iconoclasts, or at least bands that don't hit #1 in the UK or go top 20 in the US. They produced some decent follow-ups, each of which I like in its own right, but I do feel the bothersome consensus that each has been steadily less engaging than the last. With another on the way this June, I wonder just how interested I can try to be this time. But that's neither here or there. Dig Your Own Hole didn't change the world, but it changed a few of us for good. We were too late for the real raves, but the ones that took place in our minds, and are still going on, are probably better than the real thing was after all.

[Ѡ҈҉Ѡ҈҉Ѡ҈҉Ѡ҈҉Ѡ҈҉Ѡ҈҉Ѡ҈҉Ѡ҈҉Ѡ҈҉Ѡ]

I think it's pretty good, I didn't realize it was some kind of musical pariah. I could go the rest of my life without ever hearing "Block Rockin' Beats" again, but I definitely enjoyed this for a while until I got burnt out on it. Didn't have any major effect on me though, I just thought it was catchy.

[Wolfgang]

Good thread.

It's funny, I just got a Myspace message from a friend that informed me about some guests (dude from Midlake) on the upcoming Chemical Brothers album.

I think I was in 8th grade or Freshman in high school when I first heard "Setting Sun" and made my old man drive me to Best Buy to get it. I found out that the album wasn't out yet so I bought the single. I actually did a rap in class w/ another kid to the B-side, "Buzz Tracks", from that single.

These guys are the reason I listen to dance music today, I won't cover that up no matter how un-cool it is to admit. For people that fit into my generation (the "i" generation) these guys opened the door to all other electronic music we love now, thanks guys.

[velocity]

^^ You can say that again.

[theremin]

Good thread.

[The Good Dr Bill]

Few albums have ever suddenly awakened me to so many possibilities, pointed me down a new path that lead so far and branched into so many new directions. Maybe that's just a testament to my ignorance of dance music in general, but in my defense, I was an American teenager at the end of the pre-internet age. Anyway, once I heard this, there was no going back. It was a revelation, a calling that cannot be denied or forgotten, a journey that never ends, pointing towards the future while looking back in time...

For a brief time, this was the coolest album in the world, a title that is almost always reserved for obscure iconoclasts, or at least bands that don't hit #1 in the UK or go top 20 in the US. They produced some decent follow-ups, each of which I like in its own right, but I do feel the bothersome consensus that each has been steadily less engaging than the last. With another on the way this June, I wonder just how interested I can try to be this time. But that's neither here or there. Dig Your Own Hole didn't change the world, but it changed a few of us for good. We were too late for the real raves, but the ones that took place in our minds, and are still going on, are probably better than the real thing was after all.

I was talking with some people tonight about this album, we agreed that it was still extremely awesome (and that "Setting Sun," "Lost in the K-Hole," "Elektrobank" and the transition between "It Doesn't Matter" and "Get Up On It Like This" were the key parts of the album). We also agreed that in retrospect, it was extremely ballsy for SPIN to put this in their top ten of the 90s back in the day.

And I think I've talked with you before about the "rave for kids that had no idea what rave really was and probably didn't actually want to know" appeal of this album. Totally true--I expected this would be a landmark album among the rave set and that when you went to raves, the Chems (and DP and Prodigy) were the artists you'd hear at least three times a night. It took me a really long time to figure out that ravers actually mostly partied to a very specific type of dance music, and that the Chemical Brothers had very little to do with that music. Disappointing. Maybe there'll be retro clubs for this shit some day.

Anyway this album is very very close to perfect and it might be the best structured and paced album since Daydream Nation. Cohesive like a motherfucker.

also: what a fucking great cover. Iconic in a totally unexpected way.

[Bruegel]

Great thread. I sat there trying to figure out which album could have been released on that date, so I thought back to what I was doing at that time....first year of uni, lots of dangerous liaisons, lots of controlled substances....then I tried to remember the soundtrack to that particularly hedonistic spring and of all the contemporary releases DYOH loomed large. It was cool to open the thread and have my suspicions confirmed by a king-size rendition of that familiar black and white image. Thanks for the memories.

[Mitchell]

Good thread,

Impossible to really judge the effect that this had on a generation of music listeners. Along with The Prodigy, The Chemical Brothers got the rock kids, even those that just liked Oasis and though Blur and Pulp were 'a bunch of poofs' into a different genre of music and the waves that it (the band not the album) made could be felt on U2's Pop the next Oasis album and many other bands. It also saw them remixing Spiritualized and Mercury Rev.

I'm going to be listening to this on the train today, thanks for reminding me Undo.

[throughsilver]

Nice one. I was never a massive fan of this album, but I do have cool memories of when the singles came out. Like the weirdness of admitting I liked a song Noel Gallagher was on.

On a more rock-y version of the decadular festivities, might I gently nudge boarders in the direction of my post on the sorely missed Kerbdog. There's even a song to download.

I loved early '97; the sun seemed to shine that bit brighter back then.

[Mitchell]

At least until that June anyway.

[Pavement Ist Rad]

"Setting Sun" is incredibly awesome. I was listening to it before Anatomy/Physiology once, and the teacher dude who had just replaced this pregnant lady who had to leave because she was pregnant was like, "What are you listening to?" And I showed him, and he was like, "Dude, I saw the Chemical Brothers live and they did this song and they had Noel Gallagher come out and sing his part, it was awesome." I was just like, "Cool. Heh..." I saw that guy at Intonation '05, Intonation '06 (and he was at P-Fork), and at the T&G 25th Anniversary Festival where he kept being like, "Aaaaaaaagh. I'm gonna go get another beer!" lol @ science in the schools of America being taught by dorky indie rock guys.

Is this album a total "had to be there" thing? Never heard it (save maybe three tracks), but it sure seems like it would be. I mean, in today's age of James Murphy and microhouse and such, it's too late for me to have some massive "dance music rules" revelation, right? And I would have had to have been big on the whole Pulp/Oasis jive, anyway? Besides, a year later, popular culture's embrace of rave culture would be further revolutionized when Eiffel 65 would beat the Chems at their own ga

Kidding.

[LOL Alzado]

i don't like this album, or the chemical brothers, but i would never want to distance myself from the whole "electronica trend." i just think that if you dig a little deeper, you discover where the meat's at.

[Pavement Ist Rad]

Well, yeah, maybe, but I'm under the impression that Dig Your Own Hole served as a huge transitional record for kids who were already into Blur, Pulp, Oasis, etc. You know, dudes who really had their tastes formed from about '97-'02. They hear this shit, and are like, "Oh, yeah, music can have phat beatz and synths and shit. It all makes sense!" It's like DYOH is to dancey bleep bloop shit as Pavement's Slanted & Enchanted is to "indie rock" or the Dead C's Harsh 70s Reality is to noise.

[Rob Gordon]

My memory of this. Picked it up days before we headed out to Vegas for vacation. Took it with me. By happy circumstance U2 was kicking off their Pop tour at Boyd Stadium on our last night there. Scored great field seats. Cranked that Chem Bros while tailgating before the show. Got a good amount of curious folks asking what it was I was playing. Good times.

[AFTERSHOCK]

Dig Your Own Hole is decent, but Exit Planet Dust was the bomb when it came out! Clubs were spinnin' 99% of that album for years, whereas DYOH only had a few tracks that sorta came + went. Looking back, I must admit that DYOH has aged really well altho I do feel it's the Chemical Brothers' 2nd best work.

[yancy]

i don't like this album, or the chemical brothers, but i would never want to distance myself from the whole "electronica trend." i just think that if you dig a little deeper, you discover where the meat's at.

Yeah. Never liked 'em. Always sounded like fast food commerical electronica generica to me.

[undo]

Maybe in Britain this was the album that bridged the gap between Oasis/Pulp/Blur and dance music, but I really don't know what its place in America was. I think that rock was just stagnating in the US, and radio was just playing stuff like Tonic, Bush, and Live all the time, and there were just enough people who wanted something new for this to come along and change things, if only for a really short time.

And I think I've talked with you before about the "rave for kids that had no idea what rave really was and probably didn't actually want to know" appeal of this album. Totally true--I expected this would be a landmark album among the rave set and that when you went to raves, the Chems (and DP and Prodigy) were the artists you'd hear at least three times a night. It took me a really long time to figure out that ravers actually mostly partied to a very specific type of dance music, and that the Chemical Brothers had very little to do with that music. Disappointing. Maybe there'll be retro clubs for this shit some day.

Yeah, I really don't know if I would have enjoyed myself at something like this or not, not back then and certainly not now. My vision of it was always much more civilized (I don't mix well with chavs and hooligans), but that's an ideal that might not have ever existed. I won't even say anything about American ravers and their choice of tunes.

It's like DYOH is to dancey bleep bloop shit as Pavement's Slanted & Enchanted is to "indie rock" or the Dead C's Harsh 70s Reality is to noise.

Probably. "Da Funk" and "Around the World" were huge but no one really bought Homework when it came out, and Underworld never had an album with "Born Slippy" on it so they never could capitalize on the moment. Of course, Prodigy were huge but they were too wierd for anyone to really take seriously (plus The Fat Of The Land just didn't hold up for most of the people who bought it), so Dig Your Own Hole became the album of the moment instead.

Yeah. Never liked 'em. Always sounded like fast food commerical electronica generica to me.

Their success paved the way for Fluke, Crystal Method, et al. but I wouldn't say they're quite on the same level.

[Sam]

Great album. Great thread. 1997. 20 years old and was a junior in college in middle-of-nowhere Eau Claire, Wisconsin. FM radio dominated entirely by country music with an oasis or two of cheesy classic rock or top-40. Our campus station was light-jazz only. Internet was still kinda lame, so pulling new music off it wasn't a realistic option. Living in a monstrous house with 5 friends. We pooled our stereo equipment in the living room to make the worlds most obnoxious home theater system. Cops over all the time because of the noise. Our bass was so ridiculous we would bounce the silverware off of our neighbor's dinner table when they were eating. hahaha Needless to say, this album blew our collective minds. After spending 5-7 years listening to grunge and its aftermath, and getting snippits of Britpop via Oasis, Blur and Radiohead, this album was a complete mindfuck. It was the perfect album for that time in our lives. Loud, fast, exciting, had a bit of swagger and completely fantastic. I remember the afternoon I came home from class and my roommates were banging out Block Rockin' Beats like it was yesterday. I fucking loved it. Ive never really given a damn about the popular backlash against these guys. I always look forward to their new stuff. Good times. (all that being said, damn i feel old.)

[hunglikebear]

I thought that this was going to be a thread about Large Marge...oh well

[Oldster]

... could be felt on U2's Pop ...

No kidding. "Mofo" is such a "Setting Sun" ripoff it's not even funny.