The term 'big beat' was coined in 1989 by Iain Williams of Big Bang, predating the 1990s genre

The term ‘big beat’ was first used for electronic music by Iain Williams of the English duo Big Bang in 1989, in a Metropolitan magazine article headlined ‘Big Bang in Clubland – Could Big Beat be the 1989 answer to Acid House?’ Their sound combined heavy drum beats and synthesizer-generated loops with a European trance-like quality. The term itself was later picked up and adapted by club DJs and producers who developed it into the mid-1990s genre. The key fact: the label predates the genre it now names, and was coined to describe one duo’s style rather than the later Chemical Brothers/Fatboy Slim sound.

Examples

Big Bang’s first release: an Arabic-inspired dance version of ABBA’s ‘Voulez-Vous.’ The Metropolitan article (issue 132, 6 June 1989) is the coinage document. The term only became a mass genre label years later via the Big Beat Boutique.

Assessment

Who coined ‘big beat’, in what year, and for what music? Explain why the 1989 coinage is not the same thing as the 1990s genre it eventually named.