After reading Vulture’s
article about why America loves Skrillex a few weeks back, I got to
thinking about the dichotomy of Dubstep and ‘Brostep’.
I have to admit, I’m not really a huge fan of either genre.
But Skrillex, in particular, turns me off... The fact is, MANY people love Skrillex
and I’m not one to hate on a group of electronic music lovers just because I’m
not on their vibe.
For some reason, Skrillex is so loved by America that he won
3 awards at this year’s Grammys!
There's no denying that this was a major achievement for electronic dance
music, but my question is: Is this good for the overall Dubstep scene?
The marketer in me
says yes
One could argue that artists like Rusko and Skrillex have opened
the ears of the industry. The big 5 [music labels] have embraced the bass-heavy
beats. This might change the face of future pop sounds...if it hasn’t
already.
Forget the industry, if consumers embrace Dubstep
with open arms, maybe the new fans will seek out U.K. (or other underground) sounds. Lesser known producers might actually make some money for a change!
On the other hand...
This may not happen...the American Dubstep market may become
oversaturated with the screechy, unstructured noises that overlay the ‘wob wob
waas’, and the genre’s true diversity could be lost to the underground.
If you didn’t already
know, a similar thing happened in the early ‘90s to Jungle Music.
In ’93 – ’94 Ragga vocals had virtually taken over the
mainstream Jungle scene. The quick rapping complimented the repetitive beats
and rave goers loved the vibe. It was all good until the violent, derogatory
‘Rude Boy’ mentality of ‘90s Ragga
infiltrated rave culture. This attracted
the media’s attention and the scene was thrust into a misconstrued, negative
light.
In ’94 General Levy’s Incredible
blew up (with other Ragga Jungle tunes to follow).
“When that thing blew up, it blew up for the wrong reasons.
General Levy came in and gave Jungle to the wrong people. It wasn’t the people
who initiated or instigated it. It was people who didn’t have a clue what
Jungle was … Obviously some of the DJs were playing Incredible. And before you
knew it, it blew up as the face of Jungle.” Sarah, Groove Connection, taken
from All Crews (p.19)
To keep Jungle from becoming a ‘Ragga hybrid’, a group of
influential Jungle DJs decidedly stopped playing any tracks
featuring Ragga vocals. This movement shifted Jungle into the Drum & Bass
era we know today.
People are already
talking
I recently heard an interview with High Contrast on Fabio’s show last Sunday. They discussed the different sounds of the Dubstep genre on
both sides of the pond. High Contrast commented on how Americans have shaped
the sound to make it their own:
“It feels as though in the U.K. people are looking beyond
Dubstep [there’s been a lot of talk on] post Dubstep or future Garage, but in
America, they’ve really embraced it and have made it their own...it’s nice to
see such a strong electronic scene over there.” – High Contrast with Fabio, BBC
Radio 1
Interestingly enough, Fabio talked about a re-naming of the new
American flavour and how the original founders of Dubstep, like Mala, tend to
shy away from being associated with artists like Skrillex. He also noted that
oftentimes, they’ll stay true to their own style and try to direct the sound in
their own way... or they’ll move onto a another genre altogether.
Sounds familiar. Will history repeat itself? We’ll have to
wait and see. Although Drum and Bass fell off the pop charts after the Ragga influx, the genre evolved into many different flavours which included Reggae inspired tunes. Maybe the same will happen with Dubstep?
One thing can be said about the musicians who dare to be
different though: their fans love to love them, and everyone else tends to hate
them.
I leave you with one of my favourite Dubstep mixes. It's true to the genre and features many different sounds at a 140 bpm tempo. Enjoy!
