The biggest beats of all

Dig Your Own Hole saw the Chemical Brothers move on from being the guiding lights of bigbeat to it's ultimate assassins. It saw them move from quirky underground experimentalists to become the Black Sabbath of dance music.
From the dark moody cover and psychedelic sleeve images to the title itself, their whole persona screamed experimentalism, drugs and exhibitionism. Curious when you consider how mild, reserved and good natured they actually seem to be.
But when you hear those grinding bass lines that resonate with more power than a meltdown at Sellafield, the shuddering drums and tripped out musical tangents, you know that these boys are burning with an inner rebellion.
Right from the opening bombastic Block Rockin’ Beats (vocals courtesy of Schooly D incidentally) through to the incredible (and still finest ever Chemical Brothers song in my mind) Private Psychedelic Reel it's an album that can never bore, never fail to inspire and always surprise you. Elektrobank (introduced by another hip hop hero Kool Herc) with the heaviest bass lines ever, Setting Sun featuring of course Noel Gallagher and the dreamy Where Do I Begin sung by Beth Orton all show the diversity of this incredible album.
While this album marked bigbeat's finest hour it also heralded it's imminent demise. Dig Your Own Hole quite simply couldn't be followed. Even Fatboy Slim for all his considerable commercial appeal, looked loonish next to this album. From here big Beat fragmented and either looked to it's underground b-boy roots, became watered down and pop friendly or just plain daft.
But for all it's Beatles-esque, psychedelic, genius the album pails in significance next to the live experience. But that, as they say, is another story.