Ed Simons was born in Herne Hill, South London, England, on 9 June 1970 to a barrister mother and a father who was not around much when Simons was growing up. Simons' two main interests when he was young were airplanes and musicals. Simons attended two South London public schools, Alleyn's School and Dulwich College.

During his school years, Ed developed a fondness for rare groove and Hip hop music, having frequented a club called The Mud Club from the age of 14. By the time he left school, his two main musical interests were two Manchester bands, New Order and The Smiths. After finishing school with 11 O levels and 3 A-levels, Ed continued on to study History, especially Late Medieval History, at the University of Manchester.

Tom Rowlands, a childhood classmate of Simons', was born on 11 January 1971 in Kingston upon Thames, London. When Rowlands was very young, his family relocated to Henley-on-Thames. He later attended Reading Blue Coat School in Berkshire, during which time he became obsessed with Scotland, developing a fondness for the bagpipes in particular. In his early teens, his interest in music broadened to other genres.

Initially, some of his favourites included the Oh What a Lovely War soundtrack, 2-Tone, and the electro sounds of artists such as Heaven 17, Kraftwerk, New Order, and Cabaret Voltaire. He described the first Public Enemy album as the record that probably changed his life, and commented that Miuzi Weighs a Ton was one of the most amazing records he had ever heard.

Rowlands also started collecting hip hop records by artists like Eric B and Schoolly D. Rowlands left school with similar accomplishments to Simons', achieving 9 O levels and 3 A levels. For University, he followed Simons to Manchester primarily to immerse himself in its music scene in general and the Haçienda in particular.

Rowlands was also in a band called Ariel prior to meeting up with Simons. Ariel was formed in London by Rowlands and his friends Brendan and Matt before they all moved up to Manchester. Their first single was "Sea of Beats". Other songs, mostly released on 12" included "Mustn't Grumble" and their most well-known, "Rollercoaster".

Their record label, deConstruction, insisted that they get a female singer and they recruited former Xpansions frontwoman Sally Ann Marsh, and after some disappointing songs like "Let It Slide" (Rowlands would later describe it as "a stinker") the band fell apart. One of the last things Ariel did was the song "T Baby" which was remixed by the pair.

Rowlands and Simons then started to DJ at a club called "Naked Under Leather", in the back of a pub, in 1992 under the alias of "The 237 Turbo Nutters" (named after the number of their house on Dickenson Road in Manchester and a reference to their Blackburn raving days). The pair would play hip hop, techno and house.

Rowlands and Simons called themselves The Dust Brothers, after the US production duo famous for their work with the Beastie Boys. After a while, they began to run out of suitable instrumental hip hop tracks to use, so they started to make their own. Using a Hitachi hi-fi system, a computer, a sampler and a keyboard, they recorded "Song To The Siren", which sampled Dead Can Dance. "Song To The Siren" was released on their own record label, called "Diamond Records" (after Ed's nickname).

In October 1992, they pressed 500 white-label copies and took them to various dance record shops around London, but none would play it, saying that it was too slow (The track played at 111 BPM). They sent a copy to London DJ Andrew Weatherall, who made it a permanent fixture in his DJ sets. Weatherall also signed the band to his Junior Boy's Own label. In May 1993, Junior Boy's Own released 'Song To The Siren'.

The duo completed university with good results, each obtaining upper-second class degrees.[citation needed] Around June 1993, the Dust Brothers did their first remixes. The first was "Packet Of Peace" for Justin Robertson's Lionrock outfit, followed by tracks for Leftfield, Republica and The Sandals. Late in 1993, The Dust Brothers completed work on their Fourteenth Century Sky EP, released in January 1994.

It contained the ground-breaking "Chemical Beats", which epitomized the duo's genre defining big beat sound, later taken up by Fatboy Slim and many more. The EP also contained "One Too Many Mornings", which for the first time showed the less intense, more chilled-out side of The Dust Brothers. Both "One Too Many Mornings" and "Chemical Beats" would later appear on their debut album. Fourteenth Century Sky was followed later in 1993 by the My Mercury Mouth EP. "Chemical Beats" was also part of the soundtrack for the first edition of the Wipeout games series, having been featured in Wipeout for the PlayStation in 1995.

In October 1994, The Dust Brothers became resident DJs at the small, but hugely influential Heavenly Sunday Social Club at the Albany pub in London's Great Portland Street. The likes of Noel Gallagher, Paul Weller, James Dean Bradfield and Tim Burgess were regular visitors. The Dust Brothers were subsequently asked to remix tracks by Manic Street Preachers and The Charlatans, plus Primal Scream's "Jailbird" and The Prodigy's "Voodoo People".

These two remixes received television exposure, being playlisted by MTV Europe's "The Party Zone" in 1995. Early in 1994, The Dust Brothers were approached in the club one Sunday by Noel Gallagher, from Oasis, who at the time were becoming one of the most prominent guitar bands in Britain. Gallagher told the duo that he had a Balearic inspired track which he had written, which he would like the Dust Brothers to remix. However, over time, Gallagher changed his mind, and in the end the Brothers did not remix it. The track was "Wonderwall".

In March 1995, The Dust Brothers began their first international tour, which included the United States – where they played with Orbital and Underworld – then a series of European festivals. Also around this time, the original Dust Brothers threatened legal action over the use of their name, and so Rowlands and Simons had to decide on a new name quickly. They decided to then call themselves "The Chemical Brothers" after "Chemical Beats" (Simons' grandmother had suggested they call themselves "The Grit Brothers").

In June 1995, they released their fourth single, the first under their new identity. "Leave Home" was released on Junior Boy's Own, as a preview of the imminent debut album and became the band's first chart hit, peaking at No. 17.

In July 1995, The Chemical Brothers released their debut album Exit Planet Dust (the title inspired by their name change) on Freestyle Dust/Junior Boy's Own. It entered the UK charts at #9 and featured guest vocalist Beth Orton on the song "Alive Alone". It eventually went on to sell over a million copies worldwide.

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, in September 1995, they again used a guest vocalist, for the release of "Life Is Sweet", featuring their friend Tim Burgess, singer with The Charlatans. It reached #25 in the singles charts. The single was also Select Magazine's Single Of The Month for October. The release included a Daft Punk remix of "Life Is Sweet".

In August 1995, the Chemical Brothers DJ'ed for Oasis at a Sheffield gig. The gig began to backfire when it became apparent that Liam Gallagher didn't seem to like any of the tracks they were spinning. The closest that they could come to pleasing him was the Happy Mondays' "Wrote For Luck". Gallagher proceeded to kick the Chemical Brothers off the turntables and procured a friend from The Verve to continue to DJ. He subsequently favoured psychedelic material to the displeasure of the crowd.

Around this period, The Stone Roses asked the Chemical Brothers to remix "Begging You", from their Second Coming album. After beginning work on a remix which they viewed as having potential, the Stone Roses changed their minds and the project was cancelled.

In October 1995, the duo returned to the Heavenly Sunday Social for a second and final run of DJ dates. They then became residents at the Heavenly Social on Saturdays at Turnmills. In November, The Chemical Brothers played the Astoria Theatre in London. At this time the Chems usually used a fusion of "Chemical Beats" and The Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows" as their encore.

During the encore, however, Keith Flint from The Prodigy jumped up on stage to dance, wearing a t-shirt sporting the slogan "Occupation: mad bastard". A few from the crowd subsequently joined in. This resulted in a power cable being kicked loose, bringing the show to a temporary close. The Chemical Brothers confessed to not being too bothered; "because he's Keith from the Prodigy, and he can do whatever the fuck he likes" Rowlands said later. Just before Christmas, 1995, they played their biggest gig to date, with The Prodigy, at the Brixton Academy.

In January 1996, Exit Planet Dust went gold. The Chemical Brothers released their first new material in 6 months on Virgin, the "Loops Of Fury" EP. The four track release was limited to 20,000 copies. It entered the UK charts at #13. NME described the lead track as "splashing waves of synths across hard-hitting beats". The EP also contained a Dave Clarke remix of "Chemical Beats", and two other new tracks "Get Up On It Like This" and "(The Best Part Of) Breaking Up".

In February 1996, Select Magazine published a list of the 100 best albums of the 1990s thus far. "Exit Planet Dust" was listed at Number 39. In August 1996, The Chemical Brothers supported Oasis at Knebworth, where 125,000 people attended each of the two shows.