With the growing popularity of electronic dance music illustrated by the rising attendance rates at its massive festivals as well as the increased presence of electronic dance music on television and radio, some might ask why the abrupt change? Years ago popular music of younger crowds was dominated by rap and rock genres, but upon entering college I have been exposed, and hooked, to a different trend. The constant bombardment of new 50 Cent and Jay-Z hit singles seem to have effortlessly been replaced by the newest fist-pumping, bass-thumping dance tracks.
Some might say that this emergence is due to our younger generation’s love of dancing, but I disagree. If you look at past generations, they all loved to dance. From the Twist to the Macarena and even the Cha Cha slide, the love of dance was always there. The real answer to this question is technology.
True, while growing up I heard artists like Daft Punk being briefly played on the MTV Spring Break special, but electronic dance music wasn’t as advanced back then. I would say that the majority of party-goers didn’t even know who they were listening to at the time. Maybe this is because it wasn’t constantly being played on the radio, but I would also argue that it didn’t resonate as much with the average listener back then because the sound hadn’t been developed as much to stimulate listeners.
Today, popular acts such as Deadmau5, Justice, and Wolfgang Gartner are pushing the limits of the genre with newer technology to make hits that can be listened to in your room as well as the club and seem impossible to keep out of your head . The popularity of the genre has skyrocketed to such heights that the stars of years past are now attempting to bank off of this trend. Artists are flocking to collaborate with electronic dance music’s biggest acts by having them produce their tracks and create more dance-friendly remixes of their previous releases to keep their music relevant. In 2010, French electro producer David Guetta teamed up with pop stars Fergie, Chris Willis, and LMFAO to make the summer hit “Getting’ Over You,” further showing the influence of electronic producers on pop music on the radio today.
Dubstep, one of many electronic music sub-genres, is even beginning to see some main stream exposure. Though initially hated among many crowds for its almost obnoxious bass overload, artists have begun to incorporate it into their music making it more acceptable to the mainstream. Many cringed when they first heard dubstep in Brittany Spears’ song “Hold it Against Me” last year and I didn’t even believe it until I heard it, but soon I was laying witness to multiple girls at parties rocking out to the dubstep breakdown.
As with all trends, this one will probably fizzle out in the future, but don’t look for it to go away too fast. Newer generations will always love to dance and with our rapid growing technology, the producers will only get better at getting listeners to move their feet.
While I still do not consider myself a huge fan of house music as of now, there are definitely songs that I think are awesome. I agree with your statement that technology is one reason why electronic music has become more popular. Some of the different sounds may have seemed too futuristic at the time, but now, the music is able to flow well.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I think that people had to be eased into electronic music slowly and get used to the sound. It has happened rather slowly but it is growing exponentially right now.
Personally, I think what is really fascinating is what it says about our current culture. The history of music, and which tastes are popular when, hold a mirror to the social trends and sociopolitical or economic characteristics of the time and place of its popularity. In a lot of ways, Rock & Roll spoke of the rebellious nature of the teenage baby boomer population, something that would come to fruition by the 1960s, but also of a more integrated America. The music was distinctly and originally African American, and the point could be made that by embracing the African American culture, through music at first, that that particular generation was more susceptible to the gains of the civil rights movement and integration that would take place as they aged.
ReplyDeleteAlong those lines, Disco, a carefree sort of music with no social message or agenda, indicated the sort of apathetic sentiment that was pervasive during the 1970s. As a response to the message of revolution of music from the 1960s, the 70s was not about instigating social change, but embracing what is now referred to as the “me” decade.
The list goes on with each generation. Punk was the inner-city response to the excess and egotism of Disco. Those teens that economically could not afford cocaine and discos, wanted to express their anger and rage in a way that was altogether similar and totally different from the peace and love of the 1960s. The pop of the 80s was indicative of the commercially driven teens of the Reagan years. Grunge was the 1990s extension of punk, just with less anger. Grunge followers were less angry because, well, they did not have much to be angry within the relative tame, in a social and economic sense, Clinton years.
In judging our generations’ embrace of electronic music, I think you are very correct in stating that it is driven by the growing role technology plays in our day-to-day life. Its popularity is probably because of the inherent egalitarian nature which modern technology has provided in many different sectors. Everyone can be a DJ if they have a computer, and more and more it seems that everyone is a DJ. But going further, I think it says something about our generation, specifically that we want to separate ourselves from previous generations, and we do deserve to in that we are the first to have been raised during a period that is rivaled most recently by the industrial revolution in terms of sweeping changes to the way we live. Yet we are, like the grunge artists, perhaps too apathetic or spoiled by the sheer convenience of the technology to make any sort of true statement. Nor do we necessarily know what we would do or how we could state it. Electronic music makes no grand statements or radical notions, and it is indicative of a generation whose attention span and patience seems to grow shorter by the day. We no longer read books, but we do devour 140 character tweets. Likewise, we no longer have the patience for symphonies or the slow drawn out aspects of folk music. With electronic music, we can go beyond the content and make our own statement through a music no other generation can seemingly understand or stand listening to. In fact, we don’t even need words, except, perhaps, for those incessantly repeated in Auto tune
I think one cause is that as people are newly exposed to electronic dance music (edm) they realize that the mainstream stuff they've been listening to all along has huge underpinnings (i.e. the beats, sampling, etc) from edm, house, and techno. Another cause is definitely drugs and the rave culture. Raves are today's versions of woodstocks and rock concerts. Yet another cause is the increasingly technological world we live in...no one needs to make music anymore, they can just use technology to sample a ton of other stuff that other people have made, mash it all together, throw up a huge laser or light show and have massive speakers then somehow it ends up a hit. It's crazy how technology is changing the music industry and our lives as a whole, with edm a prime example of this.
ReplyDeleteI think it is very interesting to see how technology is affecting the way we listen to music. Not only do we now buy the newest music online and listen to the music file on an MP3 player, but also it now is directly involved in creating music. Programs such as Abelton, Massive, Traktor, and Logic Studio have mastering technologies and digital synthesizers that are used in combination to create beats and melodies that are found in today’s popular “Electro” music. While popular analog synthesizers have been around since the 1950s, their widespread availability today can clearly be seen affecting music. From Rock to Jazz, many of the core aspects of electronic music can be found within the music, whether it is background rhythms or leads. I definitely agree that it is a fad as is the case with many music sensations, but I believe that it will be around for a while considering technology is continuously advancing, making this form of music ever more intricate and interesting.
ReplyDeleteI like this post because I think it also applies to rap. What is unique about these two forms of music is that the barriers to entry are very low. Unlike traditional instruments, which are very expensive and require (almost always) a legitimate level of professional (or semi-professional) teaching, hip-hop and electronic production only takes a computer program and some fairly cheap software. Furthermore, the beats themselves mostly remix older songs (especially hip-hop which constantly "borrows" from Motown) and that allows for many, many DJ's and producers to put out their own material. All the time I am finding remixes, mash-ups, and mixtapes and often they come from people that either I don't know or most people don't know. This will allow for continued strong output and growth within these two styles of music, and I think it will allow for a long period of importance in American music.
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