Shimon & Andy C* ‎– Body Rock

Buy this record. All around awesome track to dance and to listen too!
I would compare it to Brown paper bag, in terms of quality and last appeal. Enjoy this one.

On the flip side, orient express is also a sweet track. Nice complement to body rock. All around solid D&B.

I have never, ever known a track to have as much buzz about it as "Body Rock" did.

I remember specifically the first time I heard it - probably the first time Andy C ever played it - at Movement at Bar Rumba, as the last tune. The build up with the flanged, filtered drum loop, it had the dance floor captivated. We knew something special was about to go down. And when it dropped it got the biggest reaction I have ever seen from a drum & bass tune.

It was all in the swing beat of course, never ever used before in a hardcore/jungle/d&b tune. They achieved the beat using what's known as the "Beat Munger" processing effect in the E-MU sampler. The swing gives the beat a very special rhythm that crowds can connect with.

Roni Size once said "Body Rock" got rewound EIGHT times at a summer festival - it was that big. There's also a rumour that it was rewound 17 times at fabric by Grooverider, although I find this hard to believe.

"Body Rock" is not to everyone's taste, as you can see from some comments below. Most criticisms about "Body Rock" are not of the track itself but of the influence it had on other producers. DJ 808 calls the beat "negative" which seems to be a comment stemming from his frustrating with the drum & bass scene in general, not the actual track. The beat is in no way "negative" in and of itself, in fact, it's positively upbeat. To recap – "Body Rock" got the biggest reaction of any drum & bass tune in history, and at the time it felt like some kind of revolution. It was controversial back then too. People were divided over how good "Body Rock" really was, with half the people saying it was the start of a new era, and the rest thinking it was throwaway. For me, I thought it would bring in a revolution and a new splinter genre, such were the reactions it was getting.

The revolution never happened, and the "gimmick" got old fast. "Body Rock" spawned other swing beat tracks, easily made without a "Beat Munger", using a sequencer's quantise functions, like "Space Hopper" by Fresh (amazing), and "Lazy Bones" by Moving Fusion (a big track in its day). The swing beat style pioneered by "Body Rock" found its way into Pendulum's breakthrough "Vault" track (on a brief drum edit after the tune dropped that sent the crowd nuts and caused instant rewinds), and later on their defining "Another Planet" anthem during the mid-section.

"Body Rock" was basically the peak of Andy C's production career, before records stopped selling and making money and he turned to the more lucrative DJing full time, later falling out with Ant Miles and Shimon. For me, it was an irresistible dance-floor track - a circus ride on stereo. I don't think it is "clown step". I think the original tracks that kick-started "clown step" were all quality, and "clown step" was created by the sheep mentality of the D&B scene, where producers tried en masse to imitate these original tracks. Another track that could have created "clown step" is the excellent heavyweight "Twist 'Em Out" by Dillinja.

I remember being at Legends of the Dark Black when Andy C dropped this-----the reaction of everyone (I have goosebumps while writing this and remembering), and I mean everyone, was like no other dnb tune I have known since. This did something that was so different in sound as to what everyone else was making that it just blew the crowd's mind. You can say what you like about it, and there is no denying that anyone who knows nothing about dnb loves this tune, but even if you don't like hearing it on it's own, it can still be mixed with quite a lot of records to make something quite astounding.

What the reviewer above doesn't realise is that when it comes to dance music, sometimes a simple yet banging track is perfect for raving to and that is what this record is. Simple, syncopated rhythm with a massive bassline guaranteed to rock any club to the ground and it did for many years. Drum n Bass does not all have to be amazingly complex production and cool people. Sometimes it's good to have something to dance to and as a producer if you make a phat beat that you know will rock the crowd then you press it up and play it out and rock them. Get off your high horse, this is a classic, cheesy or not.

Shameful dnb tune. Extremely repetitive, lame beat, limp sounding synth. I guess its fun to bounce around to like a tool when you're high. I'm still puzzled as to why so many people enjoy it when it's the complete opposite of what a really good dnb track is. This alone proves that you can make utter poo gold if you're popular enough. I'm making myself depressed just thinking about it. Too bad there's a 75-word minimum review rule, because you could really just sum up Body Rock in two words: "utter shite".

Body Rock, yes unique at the time of released and the sound was then dubbed clownstep. The name originated from producer Dylan. Dylan created the term as a description due to its swingbeat sound that inspired an image of clowns dancing. The phrase was then popularised by Dylan on the drum & bass webforum Dogs On Acid. The phrase was censored by the site's moderators, appearing in posts as "*********", due to its derogatory usage. A "clownsteppa" smiley was spawned, and now appears in DNB-related forums worldwide.

Super funky! This track just came out of left field and threw everyone for a loop with it's odd tempo. I got into it immediately, and it seems like alot of the DNB guard figured out that they have to be on top of their game, because trax just seemed to get better afterwards. Great dancefloor material. And that's not a bad thing!!

Bodyrock is track that created a new type of drum'n'bass... in the Netherlands it is called clownstep. Don't know who invented that term but is sums up the feel of this track pretty good in my opinion... never the less is can give a nice twist to a party where much of the same style drum'n'bass is played. The effect on the floor is the proof. I hope more will follow Andy C's example of making deviating types of drum'n'bass.

Don't believe the hype. This tune was a bit mad the first time you heard it. That's it. Totally gimmicky and, I reckon, the most overrated record in Drum and Bass, ever.

Orient Express is a good solid tune from Ram.

You know this tune. It's an utterly stupid, fucked piece of genius. A monster track that apparently got 17 rewinds at Fabric once - i'm not surprised. If this doesn't make dance like a fool, nothing will.