The legacy of “Club Classics”: From Goldie to Charli XCX
Words by Rebeca Ravara, Writer
For many, the sound of 2024 has consisted of Charli XCX: from releasing snippets of Von Dutch around February this year to the brat album in June, her name and sound are inescapable. Focusing on friendship, love, and dance themes, Charli effectively blends club culture with popular culture.
From its emergence, club culture has served as a space for marginalised and avant-garde communities as opposed to the mainstream crowds. As a site booming with noise, lights, and people, clubs have historically attracted a specific style of people: most notably, anyone seeking an escape and wanting to be surrounded by like-minded, expressive people. Though clubs have a multitude of subgenres, this article focuses on a specific subgenre committed to electronic music as its ‘sound’, though this has adapted to a variety of other genres as time went on.
The notion of a “club classic” does not solely arise from Charli XCX’s 2nd track on brat, but rather as tracks that have served to define or symbolise fundamental movements in electronic music. Often noted as one of the most prolific members of the UK Club scene - much like how Charli XCX’s reign on club culture is still going strong now - Goldie was a crucial actor in the creation of “club classics”.
Mainly focusing on the drum and bass genre, generally associated with contemporary UK rave culture, Goldie was influential in the formulation of the underground UK club scene. With his debut album Timeless in 1995, his fusion of jungle, drum and bass, and elements of atmospheric sound set the foundation for a multitude of artists following him, including Aphex Twin, Timbaland, James Blake, and more. This fusion of genres drew in those on the fringes of mainstream society through its gritty and raw energy, unlike popular music of the 1990s. As such, this album was iconic for a new era of club culture, leaving early techno and house from the 1980s behind to a more active and electronic sound. Even as styles and sounds evolved, clubs have remained spaces of experimentation and counterculture: Goldie’s new sound provided an intense and unfiltered form of musical release.
Charli XCX’s music video for Boom Clap, 2014
Charli XCX is not a new artist, as a matter of fact, many of her songs have garnered accolades decades ago, like Boom Clap, Boys, or Vroom Vroom. Nevertheless, these scattered successes hardly amounted to a sustained following. That being said, she underwent a certain rebranding over the past year, which, in collaboration with an extensive amount of online promotion, amassed an intense cult following even prior to the album’s release. Charli used brat not only as an album but as a tool to dispel long-held internet rumours like her relationship with Lorde, as well as her experience with grief following SOPHIE’s death. To this extent, Charli XCX was straying away from the more popular sound she had been known for beforehand to a blend with hyper pop. As a genre known for its maximalist and futuristic sound, Charli not only uses hyperpop to pay homage to SOPHIE - one of hyperpop’s pioneers - but also connects with its roots in club culture as much as embodying a new wave of contemporary music appealing to younger audiences. Additionally, hyperpop is an extension of drum and bass and popular electronic sounds of the internet era, with its aggressive beats and atmospheric elements. To this extent, Charli’s new album merges with the electronic aspects rooted in earlier club culture with a more experimental and fresh twist.
Both Charli and Goldie have earned their respective statuses as influencers of popular culture, having emerged in underground club scenes and despite gaining a certain mainstream following, they have remained true to their distinct and unique sounds. Consequently, Goldie’s gritty jungle beats and Charli’s hyper pop anthems have served similar purposes of musical refuge and release for different generations.
The influence of club classics from past to present is musical and cultural, embodying social movements and expressions of freedom. “Club classics”, subsequently, connect different generations through a shared ethos of experimentation and community. Artists like Goldie and Charli XCX are not finalizing the club scene, but instead laying the groundwork for future artists. They are providing a space of self-expression and musical experimentation for their generations, all the while aware of their place in the ever-changing designated list of “club classics”.