About
Electronic Dance Music (commonly abbreviated as EDM) is term that represents a wide range of electronically produced music, whose genres are generally determined by percussion based instrumentals as opposed to vocals. Often performed live in clubs or at festivals by DJs, to masses of people who dance and/or rave to the mixes the DJs play. With a multitude of sub genres, and sub genres within said sub genres, along with multiple different being discovered and pioneered over the years, EDM has been a mainstay in popular culture over the years through pop radio stations and through internet meme culture through the multiple memes that have been spawned by not just the songs themselves, but the artists and fanbases attached to the music and its multitude of sub genres.
Origin and History
EDM had its beginnings in the late 1970s with the advent of disco in pop music. Over the decades, the scene of electronic music grew, with new genres being pioneered, from Electro and House in the 1980s, to Drum & Bass, Trance, and Hard Dance in the 1990s, to 21st century genres of Trap, Future Bass, and recently Vaporwave.
Impact
EDM’s staying power over the years has been shown through the ever changing landscape of mainstream pop music and pop culture. With the rise of affordable music production software (i.e. Ableton and FL Studio) and the flexible nature of the sub genres of EDM, pop music has often been impacted over the years by sub genres of EDM including, but not limited to Dubstep, Trap, and House music.
Examples of modern pop music each utilizing a different sub genre of EDM. Clockwise; Taylor Swift – I Knew You Were Trouble [Dubstep], Mark Ronson – Uptown Funk (feat. Bruno Mars) [Nu Disco], Ne-Yo – Let Me Love You [House], and Mike Posner – I Took a Pill in Ibiza (SeeB Remix) [Moombahton]Criticism
Despite its growth and staying power in popular culture, much criticism has stemmed over the years for EDM due to the non-organic sound of the music tracks and the criticism of DJs of only having to press a button for the music to play all by itself. Much criticism from prominent DJs in the EDM scene is focused on its commercialization, which has been stated by DJs Joel “deadmau5” Zimmerman (who is known for his outspoken opinions on mainstream DJs over the years) and Tim “Avicii” Bergling (who incorporates more natural instruments in his music due to his criticisms of EDM lacking longevity).
deadmau5’s criticism of commercialized EDM is exemplified in his “remix” of Martin Garrix’s Big Room House track, “Animals.”EDM culture has also been parodied before in pop culture as well. An example of such parody comes from an SNL Digital Short “When Will the Bass Drop?” that parodies “fans” of EDM who wait for the DJ to enact the bass drop on his track, as he performs off task endeavors including playing video games, cooking food, and collecting money, before pressing a button that drops the bass of the track, causing the club goers’ heads to explode from the heavy bass.
Memes
With the growth of internet culture and EDM over the years, many memes have spawned from music tracks, artists, and genres themselves.
Dubstep
Dubstep is a genre of electronic music originating from South London in the late nineties. Although it is rather difficult to define, it is generally characterized by a slow tempo, repetitive low-key beats, heavy emphasis on “wobble” bass lines and hard hitting drum patterns. (Modern dubstep is usually played at 140 BPM, beats per minute) Dubstep’s mainstream attention in pop culture is often credited to Skrillex, who helped pioneer the heavy hitting sub genre of “Brostep” into the public eye and internet culture.
Trap
Trap Music is a music genre known for its use of 808 kick drums, multi-layered synthesizers and generally dark hip-hop sound. Songs like Baauer’s “Harlem Shake” and Dj Snake’s “Turn Down For What” have been well recognized in meme culture with the former’s dance craze and the latter’s spastic music video and phrase of the song itself.
Vaporwave
Vaporwave is a musical genre inspired by electronic dance music (EDM), New Age music and the indie dance genres chillwave and seapunk. Vaporwave is known for its use of Japanese characters in song titles, 80’s smooth jazz and Muzak samples that have been pitch shifted and time stretched with music editing software. The genre has often been described as a satire of corporate and consumerist culture and modern capitalism, specifically as a critique of mainstream EDM. One of the more prominent examples of Vaporwave utilized in internet culture include Macintosh Plus’ リサフランク420 / 現代のコンピュー off of his album Floral Shoppe (フローラルの専門店).
Search Interest
