Big beat (also Big Beat) is a style of electronic music developed in the mid-to-late 1990s. It is a hybrid of sounds based on breakbeat rhythms, but also borrowing considerably from rock, hip-hop and jazz.
Popularized by artists such as the Chemical Brothers (oft quoted as the genre's creators), Fatboy Slim and (to some extent with their later work) The Prodigy, Big Beat features distorted, compressed breakbeats at dance tempos (120-140 beats per minute), acidic synth lines and heavy jazz loops. Often punctuated with punkish-style vocals and driven by intense, distorted basslines, songs typically use pop and techno structures.
Beat Beat is also a recording company with such names as the Baja Men.