Underworld became one of the most crucial electronic acts of the 1990s with their synthesis of old and new popular music. The duo Hyde and Smith finally hit it big after recruiting the young DJ Darren Emerson to add the sound of techno and trance music. Instead of adding small elements of techno, Underworld used it as the dominant force to the pop or rock formula. Their traditional pop style was dumped in favor of Hyde's particular vocals and surreal wordplay. The trio debuted with two singles in 1992, ‘Dirty’/’Minneapolis’ and ‘Bigmouth’/’Eclipse’. The following ‘Rez’ and ‘MMM...Skyscraper I Love You’ caused a minor sensation in the dance community. Their debut album, Dubnobasswithmyheadman, was praised by many critics.
The triple-CD ‘1992–2012’ featured previously unreleased collaborations with Brian Eno, Tiësto, and Mark Knight & D. Ramirez. Following, Hyde also collaborated with Brian Eno that recalled the pioneering work with Talking Heads and David Byrne during the '70s and '80s. In 2016, they returned with new music at a new label for the album ‘Barbara Barbara, We Face a Shining Future’. Underworld also had their own graphic design company Tomato - responsible for commercials from Nike, Sony, Adidas and Pepsi – in addiont to remixing work for Depeche Mode, Björk, St. Etienne, Sven Väth, Simply Red, and Leftfield.
The association here is the issues of the so-called Underworld Game Category that was talked through in the UU Theme ‘The 5th Pyramid’ (UU 2016.mai.13 – UU 2016.sept.23). Reflecting some ‘underworld’ nature on stage should not be confused with real Game players’ of such hardcore psychosocial Underworld Games, though.
Underworld - Barbara Barbara Live at Bristol UK 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=he8JwYDL1wk
The roots of the band Underworld go back to the 1980s, when Hyde and Smith formed a new wave band called Freur. The group released ‘Doot-Doot’ in 1983 and ‘Get Us Out of Here’ two years later. ‘Doot-Doot’ got #59 on the UK Singles Chart and was promising. The band released five more tracks, "Matters of the Heart", "Runaway", "Riders in the Night", "The Devil and Darkness" and "Look in the Back for Answers". All failed at the UK chart. The band disintegrated. However, Hyde worked on guitar sessions for Debbie Harry and Prince, and then reunited with Smith in 1988 to form an industrial-funk band called Underworld.
Freur - Doot Doot (Live 1983) + Lyrics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5QRT1CbMN0
http://www.lyricsmode.com/.../f/freur/doot_doot_lyrics.html