US radio, and all its politics, just did not know what to do with UKG/2step/dark garage/speed garage. The few terrestrial radio shows that did have UKG were slotted at 1am-3am, and other than that it was college radio and AM radio, and those both had the same schedule problems...in the middle of the night, very few listeners except for a small core following. US radio is full of fucking politics and they don't take risks, unless there is a profit motive. Back then Radio was owned by conglomerates like Clearchannel.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clear_Chan ... unications
Add to that...UKG never really had any *superstars* here in the US, which makes everything much harder. Craig David was as near as it got, and he had to be the poster boy for the whole of UKG, which was never going to work. His record label made him out to be cassanova RNB man over here, instead of a broader electronic/dance artist, which would've been more successful. The BPM at 130-140 didn't do UKG any favors either, as at that time, house was predominant in nightclubs. Jungle was still fairly new.
A few US record companies like V2 (Virgin) did do some UKG/2step compilation albums, and tried to build a market for it, but again, they aimed it at RNB's crowd instead of the electronic music crowd. This was one of the biggest cd's that came out in 2000. At that time I was working for a major label in radio promo, and I distinctly remember trying to push this album to some radio friends of mine, and them saying to me..." What am I going to do with this? Its not house. No ones going to get it..."
http://www.amazon.com/Vital-2Step-Vario ... B00005IAFR
1. Re-Rewind - DJ Edit Listen
2. 138 Trek - DJ Zinc Listen
3. Down On Me - Wookie Listen
4. Call It Fate - Richie Dan Listen
5. Buddah Finger - Reservoir Dogs Inc. Listen
6. Enough Is Enough - Y Tribe Listen
7. 1999 - Groove Chronicles Listen
8. Joyrider (Y-Tribe Mix) - Colourgirl Listen
9. Melody - Master Stepz Listen
10. Happiness (XMen Remix) - Bini & Martini Listen
11. Basslick - Second Protocol Listen
12. I Feel For You - Nadine featuring Captain T Listen
13. Millenium Funk - Groove Chronicles Listen
14. Don't Give A **** - T-Tree Listen
15. Ooh Don't You Want Me - Capital T featuring Rhalia Listen
Here's also an example of the height of dance music in 1998-2000. This is the Moonshine Over America tour documentary. Arguably, one of the biggest dance music tours of that time 1998-2002. Notice that there's no UKG at all, yet house/acid house/techno/trance/jungle all heavily repped.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWMXT2eg ... E00997E60B
speed garage was huge for a minute!
