The Chemical Brothers are an English electronic music duo composed of Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons, originating in Manchester in 1989. Along with The Prodigy, Fatboy Slim, The Crystal Method, and fellow acts, they were pioneers at bringing the big beat genre to the forefront of pop culture. In the United Kingdom they have had six number one albums and 13 top 20 singles, including two number ones.

In July 1995, The Chemical Brothers released their debut album Exit Planet Dust on Freestyle Dust/Junior Boy's Own. It entered the UK charts at No. 9 and featured guest vocalist Beth Orton on the song "Alive Alone". It eventually went on to sell over a million copies worldwide, and was used on the soundtrack of the science fiction TV series pilot Virtuality. Shortly after its release, The Chemical Brothers signed to Virgin Records, to which they took their own offshoot label, Freestyle Dust. For their next single, "Life Is Sweet", released in September 1995, they again used a guest vocalist, featuring their friend Tim Burgess, singer of The Charlatans. It reached No. 25 in the UK Singles Chart. The single was also Select magazine's "Single of the Month" for October. The release included a Daft Punk remix of "Life Is Sweet".

Their third album, Surrender, was released in June 1999. It featured vocals from Noel Gallagher, Mercury Rev's Jonathan Donahue, and Mazzy Star's Hope Sandoval. As "Hey Boy, Hey Girl" had suggested, the album was more house-oriented than the previous two. On one of the album's stand out tracks, "Out of Control", New Order's Bernard Sumner supported by Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie provided vocals. It reached No. 1 in the UK album charts. The Michel Gondry-directed music video for "Let Forever Be", which utilized ground-breaking video and film effects in its depiction of a young woman's nightmares, also received a lot of attention.