Dropping to my knees I throw my head back in
agonized confusion. A crowd of thousands pulse as one. My thoughts are ruptured
by bass.
If DJs don't drop the beat, distort the bass, and
burst eardrums, pop culture will banish them to the dark nether-region where 98° and Hanson silently weep.
From Britney Spears’ Hold It Against Me (North Americas first Billboard Top 40 dub-drop)
to Tiesto fully delving into the realm of house with bass heavy singles like Maximal Crazy and Chasing Summer, dubstep is the new pop music, and dropping a massive
bass-line is becoming mandatory within the realm of electronic dance music.
Is EDM evolving towards fruition or is it becoming homogenized
as dubstep seeps into the mainstream psyche?
Don’t get me wrong dubstep has its place. Any
EP which reaches out of your speakers and simultaneously double fists you in
the junk/face within the first 30 seconds deserves high praise: Skrillex ‘Bangerang’
grabs hold after 29 seconds of Right On
and refuses to let go for the duration of the EP.
Dubstep is transporting millions around the world to
a strange place where Ozzy circa 1974 and Daft Punk spawned a death metal dance
producing robot.
As the hoards of under-aged-pimple-ridden-short-skirt-wearing-party-loving-YouTube-junkies
push dubstep further into the limelight, EDM is opening itself to the pitfalls
of the plastic mainstream: the same relentless power which dictates that 34 of the
top 40 pop radio hits should sound nearly identical. Will this momentum force
dance music to create sub-genres? Indie
EDM?
Uneducated in the diverse and varied styles of dance
music, pubescent 12-17 something’s have flooded the world of EDM scouring the
internet for the heaviest beats with the biggest drops, and the most bass. This is creating a world
where the masses idolize Skrillex and Knife Party, but have never heard of
Armin Van Buuren, Tiesto, Paul Van Dyk, Benny Benassi, or Swedish House Mafia
(I could name dozens more). Sure a few know David Guetta and Deadmau5, however,
at best their knowledge extends to a handful of pop hits.
I fear that I will lose the artists I hold most dearly
because popular culture demands that every DJ drop a fat greasy bass line or be
benched as the sweaty mass of wannabe rebel teenager’s clamber to prove to the
world the no one understands them.
“Son turn down that
noise.” Thousands of parents call up the stairs.
.......No answer.....12-17
something quietly thinks. Never. *Thrashes
head around* Skrillex is the best. I wonder if (name irrelevant) wants to get
fucked up later. Lower some girls self-esteem and get some action. *Picks up
cell and thrashes some more*
Dubstep and incredible drops have their place within
dance music so long as the world of EDM ensures that it does not get sucked
into the pantheon of mass consumer society. To this end it would become unrecognizable
within the black hole of ‘what’s-in.’
So long as Armin Van Buuren doesn’t launch into a
fifteen minute bass heavy dubstep homage in the middle of his set this Saturday
at the Vancouver Convention Center all will be ok. However, if a Trance God falls
to the machine all will be lost for EDM as an artistically diverse genre.
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