Urban Dance Squad

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Urban Dance Squad <tr style="text-align: center;"><td colspan="3">Image:Urbandancesquad.jpg </td></tr>
Background information <tr><td>Origin</td><td colspan="2">Image:Flag of the Netherlands.svg Utrecht, Netherlands</td></tr><tr><td>Genre(s)</td><td colspan="2">Alternative rock Funk rock Rapcore</td></tr><tr><td>Years active</td><td colspan="2">1986–2000 2006</td></tr><tr><td style="padding-right: 1em;">Label(s)</td><td colspan="2">Arista Sony BMG Triple X</td></tr><tr><td>Website</td><td colspan="2">www.uds.nl</td></tr><tr><th style="background: #b0c4de;" colspan="3">Members</th></tr><tr><td style="text-align: center;" colspan="3">Rudeboy Remmington Tres Manos Sil Magic Stick DNA</td></tr>

Urban Dance Squad was a Dutch band whose music was a blend of genres such as heavy rock, funk, soul, rap, reggae, and ska. They were one of the first mainstream acts to incorporate a turntablist in a live line-up. They are therefore considered as pioneers of one of the best known fusion trends of the early 1990's, sometimes referred to as rapcore.

In the U.S., the band is still associated with their hit "Deeper Shade of Soul", which topped at the 21st spot on Billboard's Hot 100 in 1991. "Deeper Shade of Soul" samples the 1968 Ray Barretto song of the same name. In their native Europe, however, they have enjoyed popularity throughout their career and most listeners at the time discovered them through their popular single "Demagogue" (1994).

1 Career highlights
2 Reunion
3 Members
4 Albums
5 References

[edit] Career highlights

The band was founded in Utrecht in 1987 and published their debut album Mental Floss for the Globe in 1989. They toured worldwide before releasing Life 'n Perspectives of a genuine Crossover in 1991, in the same vein but showing more maturity.

In 1993 DJ DNA left the band during their tour. Without a DJ, the band started focusing on rock with a touch of funk. This resulted in the very raw and guitar riff oriented album Persona Non Grata in 1994, followed by the smoother Planet Ultra in 1996, where the band compensated the DNA's absence by incorporating touches of groovy synthesizer, aided by their Dutch fellows of Wizards of Ooze. They also released a live album the next year, which was recorded in Beograd on November 20, 1996. This is the only release where keyboardist U-Gene is credited as a part of the band.

In 1997 DJ DNA rejoined the ranks of the Urban Dance Squad and two years later they published the critically acclaimed album Artantica.

Internal struggles led to the break-up of the band in 2000.

[edit] Reunion

The band performed at the 2006 editions of the Dutch Lowlands festival <ref>Lowlands 2006 (May 22, 2006).</ref> and Pukkelpop in Belgium, as well as at the Antwerp music club Petrol. It is, however, unlikely that this will lead to a permanent reunion or a new studio albums, as these performances were only to support their compilation album The Singles Collection in 2006.