The Biggie explosion, together with strong sales of current albums by such acts as Jewel and Celine Dion, has raised hopes in the music industry that a two-year sales slump, widely blamed on dull music, may be coming to an end. If so, dance music is part of the reason why.

With so-called "alternative rock" now just another name for mainstream business-as-usual, the real action in pop right at the moment is on the dance scene, where a coalition of DJs and remixers is whipping up new sounds, styles, and atmospheres for a new generation of fans.

In the past, these studio technicians would have stayed behind the scenes, yielding the spotlight to faceless singers and pre-fab stars. Today, however, the men behind the music are stepping forward to take the bows themselves, as stars in their own right. Here's the story.

BECK: I'm in awe of DJs because they are doing something supernatural.

BECK: You can learn how to play a chord, anybody can look at a diagram in a book and play a chord but a DJ is doing something else, supernatural, you know?

GABRIEL HERNANDEZ, No Mercy: They're the people out there bringing out the new sounds and bringing out the new trends.

ARIEL HERNANDEZ, No Mercy: They're the ones that are livin' it every night at the night clubs, you know?

KEITH FLINT, PRODIGY: We've watched the DJ go from a very quiet darkened corner to center stage with his own light show. And, you know, we watched that happen and we suddenly thought, "Hang on. The DJ is emulating himself into the rock star.

JOSH WINK, DJ, Producer: The reason why DJ's, I think, are getting attention now is because they are also known as artists, not just as DJ's.

DAVID MORALES: People, you know, they come out in droves for you. They drive miles and miles, some of these kids come to just to hear you play.

GOLDIE: I'm an artist. I just arrange, if you like, so if I'm going out there to play a set, I'm not going to DJ, I'm arranging a set.

WINK: There are certain DJs that just play the record. There are certain people that like to manipulate or like to change the music that's being played, in terms of EQ manipulation and working with the crowd. People would cheer if I brought the bass out and tweaked the treble... and you know, kicked it back in at a certain time.

WINK: I like to do a little bit more, kinda perform a little bit and give the crowd a little bit something else to yell at. If they're not cheering, bring the volume down for a bit and then slam it back in! I think a lot of DJs who are getting attention are also producers. They produce music.

ALBUMS BY: ARMAND VAN HELDEN, DANNY TEGLIA, TODD TERRY, MASTERS AT WORK/NUYORICAN SOUL, FRANKIE KNUCKLES, L.T.J. BUKEM, MURK/FUNKY GREEN DOGS, [QuickTime, 924 K] DJ SHADOW

SPOOKY: What's happening is that everybody's kind of gotten bored with normal music structure. You know, it's like there's only so many guitar riffs you can hear.

Q-BERT: I was in Japan and, you go to the guitar store and there's more kids buying turntables and mixers more than guitars are now. So it's like, whoa, that's something to think about.

WINK: They're buying turntables, they're buying samplers and they're just making it very accessible to be able to make music out of your bedroom.

RALPH FALCON, Murk/Funky Green Dogs: It's the future, you know, things have to change, you know, it's not just going to see the rock band play at you know, wherever, DJing is a fresh forum.

ED SIMONS, The Chemical Brothers: People don't want to be in small little beer-stained pubs playing their guitar, they wanna be in glamorous dance floors, that's probably why the turntables are more popular than guitars now, you know? And that's cool by us, yeah!

TOM ROWLANDS, The Chemical Brothers: (SINGING) Everybody wants to be a DJ!

KURT: Predictably, the new wave of star DJs now find their sonic services much in demand. Frankie Knuckles, Todd Terry, and David Morales have all added their golden touches to the upcoming Michael Jackson re-mix album "Blood On The Dancefloor," and the British DJ Tricky is now at work on an extended re-mix of a "Notorious B.I.G." track.

As for another of the more celebrated new sound sculptors of the dance world, DJ Shadow, he's now on tour, and plays San Diego on Sunday with De La Soul. And Prodigy, also seen in that report, has pushed its U.S. tour launch back to late May.