"White Treble, Black Bass" is the debut single by Australian
house music
House is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 115–130 beats per minute. It was created by DJs and music producers from Chicago's underground ...
DJ and producer
Sgt Slick, released in 1998.
The single peaked at number 69 in Australia.
At the
ARIA Music Awards of 1998
The 12th Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (generally known as the ARIA Music Awards or simply The ARIAs) was held on 20 October 1998 at the Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre. Presenters, including Democrats deputy l ...
, the song won
Best Dance Release.
In 2015, the song was listed at number 42 in In the Mix's 100 Greatest Australian Dance Tracks of All Time with Katie Cunningham saying the
ARIA Awards
The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (commonly known informally as ARIA Music Awards, ARIA Awards, or simply the ARIAs) is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Austr ...
"got it right" with this song winning an award in 1998, calling the song an "undisputed classic".
John Course of Vicious Grooves said this song was the label's third ever release, but remains one of the label's milestone tracks. Course said "We loved the groove and signed the track, but it had a sample which we had to clear. Ironically the spoken words it samples saying 'White people turn up the treble, black people turn up the bass' was from a music documentary and ended up being the voice of a prominent music business lawyer. The lawyer was amused that he had worked in the business for years and it was the first time he ever appeared on a record, so he was happy to clear the vocal."
Track listings
Charts
Release history
References
{{Authority control
1998 songs
1998 debut singles
Australian dance songs
ARIA Award-winning songs