Underworld (band)

Underworld is a British electronic group featuring duo Karl Hyde and Rick Smith since around 1980. The band's music ranges from House, Techno, Trance, electropop and pretty much everything in between.

Adopting the Underworld moniker for the first time when the members of the band Freur formed a new project after they disbanded in the 80s. This time is referred as Underworld "Mark 1" due to the first iteration actually sharing the fate of its members' previous act and disbanding.

Eventually Hyde and Smith reassumed the moniker of Underworld in the 90s and the duo were joined by DJ Darren Emerson. "Mark 2" began Underworld's foray into the mainstream dance that emerged after the former popularity of acid house in the late 80s.

In 1996 the band gained greater renown after being featured in Danny Boyle's film adaptation of Trainspotting with tracks such as "Dark & Long (Dark Train)" and "Born Slippy .NUXX", the latter unexpectedly becoming their most successful and popular track ever.

Band Members:

• Karl Hyde (Born 10th May 1957, Worcester, England) - Vocals, guitars (1986–present)
• Rick Smith (Born 25th May 1959, Ammanford, Wales) - Keyboards (1986–present)
• Darren Price - Keyboards, mixing and live assistant (2005–present)
• Darren Emerson - Keyboards and mixing (1991–2000)
• Alfie Thomas - Guitar (1986–1990)
• Bryn Burrows - Drums (1986–1988)
• Baz Allen - Bass (1986–1990)
• Pascal Consoli - Drums (1989–1990)

Discography:

Albums

• Underneath the Radar (1988)
• Change the Weather (1989)
• dubnobasswithmyheadman (1994)
• Second Toughest in the Infants (1996)
• Beaucoup Fish (1999)
• Oblivion with Bells (2007)
• Barking (2010)
• Barbara Barbara, We Face a Shining Future (2016)

Soundtracks

• wordimagesoundplay (2004)
• Breaking and Entering (2006)
• Sunshine (2008)
• Frankenstein (2011, stage play directed by Danny Boyle)

EPs

• Lovely Broken Thing (2005)
• Pizza for Eggs (2005)
• I'm a Big Sister, and I'm a Girl, and I'm a Princess, and This Is My Horse (2006)
• The Misterons Mix (2006)
• Teatime Dub Encounters (2018, with Iggy Pop)
• DRIFT Episode 1 "DUST" (2018)
• DRIFT Episode 2 "ATOM" (2019)

Compilations

• 1992-2002 (2003)
• 1992-2012 (2012)
• A Collection (2012)
• A Collection 2 (2016)

Underworld provides examples of the following tropes:

• Ambient: A notable example is "To Heal", aka "Capa Meets the Sun" on the Sunshine soundtrack.
• Electronic Music
• Epic Rocking: Many of their songs (and almost all of their remixes for other artists) go on for over ten minutes.
  • Every song on dubnobasswithmyheadman, except "Tongue", lasts more than seven minutes.
  • "Beautiful Burnout" (8:09) and "Best Mamgu Ever" (9:13), from Oblivion with Bells.
  • "A Very Silent Way" (10:31), from DRIFT Episode 1 "DUST".
  • "Appleshine (Film Edit)" (9:40) and "Threat of Rain" (14:50), from DRIFT Episode 2 "ATOM".
  • "Appleshine Continuum", with The Necks, is a whopping 47 minutes.
• Improv: Most of their live performances feature heavy improvisation, especially in the early years as they didn't have much material to work with otherwise. And then there's this.
• Shout-Out: The names of several Underworld tracks are actually taken from greyhounds that raced at Romford Greyhound Stadium. "Born Slippy", "Pearl's Girl" and "Sappy Curry".
• Word Salad Lyrics: Most of the time. The lyrics to "Born Slippy .NUXX" were released publicly after its single release, so people knew just what the hell he was singing.
  • Lampshaded in "Downpipe":

"Don't give me that pain
Don't corner me on that 'poetry' thing".