A history of Underworld

Underworld began as a band called The Screen Gemz. Karl Hyde and Rick Smith met at a Cardiff restaurant where the two worked. They had one release, 1979's "Teenage Teenage" backed with "I Just Can't Stand Cars".

Next came Freur, which contained future Underworld members Karl Hyde and Rick Smith, along with Alfie Thomas. The name "Freur" was represented in text by a Prince-style unpronounceable symbol. Freur released two albums: Get Us Out Of Here and Doot Doot. Doot Doot became a bit of a success, but the band eventually broke up.

Later on, Hyde and Smith got together with a new lineup under the name Underworld. The first Underworld also released two albums: Change the Weather and Underneath the Radar. The pinnacle of their career was opening for the Eurythmics during the halftime show at Super Bowl XIX, breaking up shortly after.

Disappointed with the pop music industry, Hyde and Smith parted ways. Karl Hyde moved to New York and worked as a session guitarist for PIG (Raymond Watts, that is) among others, while Rick Smith worked in production. Hyde sank deeper into alcoholism, using it as a way to write poetry and lyrics.

Eventually, Smith and Hyde decided to make music again. Hyde moved back to England, and the two met up with the then long-haired, up-and-coming acid house DJ Darren Emerson. At the same time, they started the design collective tm8o, later called Tomato, mostly to pay the bills and to radically alter the face of advertising. The trio first began recording as either Lemon Interrupt or Steppin' Razor. These two terms showed up later in their career as Underworld Mark II: their studio is named Lemonworld, and the lyric "steppin' razor" shows up in the song spoonman.

In early 2000, Darren Emerson left the group due to internal tension and Emerson's increasingly successful DJ career. Darren Price has filled in some live dates, but the group is now officially a duo.

Underworld have remixed many people: Leftfield, William Orbit, Bjork, Shakespeare's Sister, Orbital, themselves, Front 242, and not so many recently. They've been remixed by, well, see below.

Their official record company site is at http://www.underworld-jbo.com. However, all the important stuff is at http://www.underworldlive.com (archived music and video) and http://www.dirty.org (dirtyradio, web forums)

Underworld released a video compilation in 1997 in the US called Footwear Repairs by Craftsmen at Competitive Prices. It was originally released in the UK (minus the born slippy.NUXX and Moaner videos) as kiteless.

Underworld are perhaps the finest performers of dance music in the world today. Their concerts are totally live; there are no tapes, no rehearsals, not even a setlist. Their material is usually presented in a whole new way. (called "live remixing" by some people)

Accompanying the incredible live music of Underworld is the graphic nuttiness of tomato, the graphic design firm of which Underworld is an integral part.

Underworld mkII (Smith/Hyde/and sometimes Emerson) aka Lemon Interrupt aka Steppin Razor discography
• the songs Dirty (later known as dirty epic (dirty mix)), Minneapolis, Big Red X, and others as Lemon Interrupt
• Mother Earth/The Hump (1992) self-published vinyl, around 500 copies
• rez, with why why why or cowgirl as a b-side (1993) 12" junior boy's own
• dirty guitar (1993) junior boy's own
• spikee/dogman go woof (1993) 12" junior boy's own
• dubnobasswithmyheadman (1994) junior boy's own
  spawning the singles
  • Cowgirl with the "winjer" and "irish pub in kyoto" remixes
  • dirty epic, with "dirty" and "dirty guitar" mixes.
  • dirty epic/cowgirl, including all remixes, plus rez and river of bass
  • dark & long, featuring several of these b-sides, some up to 20 minutes in length! The CD versions of dark & long can almost be considered remix albums of dubnobasswithmyheadman
    • dark train
    • thing in a book
    • spoon deep
    • dark hard
    • burts
    • most 'ospitable
    • 20 miles home
• second toughest in the infants (1996) junior boy's own. some versions have a second disc with rez and born slippy.NUXX
  spawning the singles
  • Pearl's Girl
    released in various versions accompanied by one or more of
    • Pearl's Girl (Tin There) which appeared on the Wipeout XL/Wipeout 2097 soundtrack
    • Pearl's Girl (14996 version)
    • Pearl's Girl (carp dreams...koi)
    • Pearl's Girl (jed the fish edit)
    • Puppies
    • Mosiac
    • Cherry Pie (remix of rowla)
    • Oich oich
  • rowla/juanita - US only 12" on Wax Trax!
• Born Slippy (1995)
  accompanied by
  • Born Slippy.TELEMATIC
  • Born Slippy.NUXX
• Born Slippy.NUXX (1996 after Trainspotting put Underworld into the spotlight) Wax Trax!/TVT
  accompanied by
  • born slippy.NUXX.DEEP PAN
  • born slippy.NUXX (darren price mix)
  • born slippy.NUXX (darren price remix)
  • dark train
  • banstyle (alex reece mix)
• Moaner (1997 for the Batman and Robin soundtrack) warner brothers
  accompanied by
  • moaner (long version) an edit which appeared later on beaucoup fish
  • moaner (short version)
  • moaner (relentless legs remix)
• Beaucoup Fish (1999) V2
  spawning singles
  • Push Upstairs various versions including
    • 2 Adam Beyer remixes
    • 2 Roger Sanchez remixes
    • Darren Price remix
    • Please Help Me
  • Jumbo various versions including
    • Jedi Knights remixes
    • François Kevorkian remix
    • Future Shock remix
  • King of Snake various versions including
    • Fatboy Slim remix
    • Ashley Beedle remix
    • Dave Clarke remix
    • Dave Angel remix
    • Barking mix
    • Bungalow mix
  • Bruce Lee various versions including
    • Bruce Lee - Dobropet
    • Buffalo Daughter Remix
    • Micronauts Remix
    • Cups - Salt City Orchestra Vertical Bacon Vocal
  • Singles Collection - 3-CD pack featuring nearly all remixes and edits
• Everything, everything - live album/DVD
  spawning one single
  • Cowgirl including Bedrock and Future Shock remixes
• A Hundred Days Off - (2002) v2
  spawning the singles
  • Two Months Off with remixes by King Unique and John Ciafone plus B-sides Head Set and Tiny Clicks
  • Dinosaur Adventure 3d with remixes by Funk D'Void, Darren Price, 2 from Underworld, and Sharpside, plus B-sides Ansum and Like A Swimmer
  • Twist cancelled
• Back To Mine compilation with assistance from Darren Price
• Born Slippy 2003 with remixes by the likes of Paul Oakenfold, Atomic Hooligan, and Rick Smith
• In 2003, some bootleg hard house mixes of Rez showed up, along with a completely separate EP of Cowgirl/Rez breakbeat mixes. There is also a "Tribal" edit of Born Slippy.NUXX which makes me want to give up on techno forever, and some weird mashups with Born Slippy.NUXX vs. Pink Floyd, or Born Slippy.NUXX vs. Paul van Dyk's For an Angel. Honestly, these are also lame.
• A three-CD live album recorded in late 2005 in Japan
• RiverRun, a three part project
  • Lovely Broken Thing, a half hour "bundle" of new tracks and photos released in late 2005
  • Pizza for Eggs, in December 2005
  • i'm a big sister, and i'm a girl, and i'm a princess, and this is my horse, release in late 2006
  • The Misterons Mix - the previous three projects cut up and spliced together
  • singles JAL to Tokyo, Vanilla Monkey, Play Pig, and Peggy Sussed released on the iTunes Music Store and on 12" vinyl
• The soundtrack to Anthony Minghella's film Breaking and Entering was released in 2006. This was a collaboration with Gabriel Yared.
• Oblivion with Bells arrived in 2007, with associated singles Crocodile, Beautiful Burnout, Boy, Boy, Boy, Phonestrap, and Ring Road. In addition, many live albums, and the deluxe remix/music video compilation The Bell, The Bells.
• In 2008, the long-awaited soundtrack to Sunshine was released exclusively through the iTunes Music Store.

discography sources: sakke, darktrain.org, and my record collection.