It seems that the new hit music genre of Dubstep cannot avoid some kind of rift amongst its growing audience. Dubstep, simply put, is my favorite genre of music and in most forms I love it. I love the emotion it portrays to me; it really is the deepest music available, one that can really make you think. Illustrative of this is that I am currently listening to it whilst writing this! I am, however, to many people a newcomer and as a result am incredibly tentative to make any assertions over the genres history and origins. I first came into contact with Dubstep before I even knew what it was when I purchased the track ‘Ghost Hardware’ off of iTunes as its ‘Single of the Week’ before Burial released his second album ‘Unture’; I immediately fell in love. So I suppose in recent context of Dubstep’s meteoric rise I am not a new ‘jump-on-the-bandwagon’ fan but at the same time I am the first to admit I was no where to be seen at the age of 12 when Dubstep was morphing out of the UK Garage scene in Croydon.
In my time, however, endless change has taken place. I started with Burial and took a route into the stripped back and dark nature of Dubstep and it was here I really came to love this genre. Having left school and ventured into the club scene of University it coincided with the rise of Jakwob and the infamous wobble. This to me was perfect timing, it upped the tempo, brought a happiness and euphoria to the genre. Who wants to turn up to a pre-drinks at your friend’s house, everyone excited about a night out, to then put on a Burial track? It just doesn’t fit, Dubstep needed a lighthearted half-brother and that is exactly what the wobble gave it. The wobble whilst opening doors was maybe seen as the door too far, a wobble became synonymous with Dubstep for a time and that crushed me. I often found myself trawling through YouTube clicking on various remixes to find some musical genius had simply taken an accapella and placed a generic wobble underneath, that was no way in keeping with the rest of the song, it was a mess. The wobble made everyone think that they could be a music producer; quite simply the majority of them failed and I am glad to see that the wobble has since entered into decline.
This is not to say that I am not a fan of Dubstep’s evolution. I think those who wish to simply crowd round a turntable gently nodding their head to a deep two-step are missing the point. That may be their choice in taste of music but to become a purist is also to become an elitist and I hate that. Who are they to say what is good music and what is not? Music is about taste. I will forever be a fan of Skream, I ‘like’ a fantastic page on Facebook at the moment entitled ‘don’t talk about Dubstep if you haven’t heard of the Midnight Request Line’ and that is essentially it, although forgiven for not being at Dubstep’s conception, to be a true fan you really do need to know about its birth. And its birth did essentially, in my opinion, if not from that song, spring from that time and that producer.
Skream, however, has not been content to rest on his laurels and the pioneer has admirably been one to push the frontier of the music genre; his justification for which was what convinced me of the necessity of musical evolution. I saw Magnetic Man at Benicassim as their track ‘I Need Air’ was being released, it was incredible yet I struggled to see how it came to fit under the term Dubstep…but that’s just, it didn’t. It wasn’t until Skream released his newest single 'Anticipate' that I understood. Anticipate was written in anticipation of the birth of his son, a time of excitement and euphoria, so if that was his inspiration for writing a song why on earth would it be dark? Why would it be stripped back? The emotions Skream must have been feeling would have been light, bright and complex and that’s what he needed to portray and it’s because of that that I simply cannot comprehend those who say he has lost it. It annoys me that Skream has seemingly felt the need to react to it, in many ways I just wish he had risen above it but I understand how hard that would have been. As a result of this we have seen a recent release of songs in which he has essentially been trying to defend his position at the top, trying to prove he hasn’t ‘lost it’, something he never had to do.
That is the problem I have with these diehards, they have identified so strongly with such a narrow expanse of the genre they are missing out and not only that, they are impinging on other people's enjoyment and own personal connection to the music. Music to me is about emotions and to only like a certain part of Dubstep is like assigning yourself one emotion for the rest of your life, its non-sensical. And so in that I feel a freedom needs to be given to the genre to allow for growth.
On the other hand, the emergence of Dubstep’s steroid enhanced brother ‘Bro-step’ has come to be a gripe of mine. Considering what I have just written many may consider this hypocrisy but I will now try to explain how it isn’t. Bro-step is an evolution; as much as I spoke about the wobble earlier this new messy style of Dubstep has become fashionable but has also led to a massive split in the community. Dubstep has taken on a party atmosphere a desire to go wild and crazy, which is the antithesis to what many people feel it should be about. Although it has opened the genre to massive publicity and enabled DJs to sell out arena tours, how many of those going to these concerts have any idea of those who created the music. How many people who follow Skrillex on twitter own a Coki EP? Probably not many. Now this isn’t my problem at all, music is about taste and if that’s what people want to listen to then that’s their choice, I have no time for those who lambast Skrillex as talentless; anyone who is able to inspire such a huge following and have such great success cannot be criticized in the way he is. As a result I think its brilliant that Skream has leant his support to Skrillex as a sign of unity amongst producers. I’m sure it’s the support Skream himself would have loved as he pushed the boundaries with the more dancey releases of Magnetic Man, which have seen him come into criticism.
It is not, however, any of this which annoys me, people are free to enjoy whatever music they like, that is the beauty of music and whilst I would never buy a Skrillex album that doesn’t mean I have a problem with Skrillex the person, that is madness. The problem I have is that the Bro-step, which Skrillex embodies, is so pumped up on steroids it has crossed the Atlantic and gained worldwide recognition all the while under the guise of Dubstep. Whilst Bro-step is a form of Dubstep’s evolution I hate the idea of that being the only sound that people in America, and across the world, associate with the term Dubstep.
Dubstep is a creation of the English music scene, something we should be proud of, something that once again shows the talent we have and in that sense I feel it should be protected. If Americans are going to embrace a genre Britain created I want them to do it properly, so to speak. If all they want at these concerts is Bro-step then they should call themselves Bro-step fans. If the crowd can only go wild at full-tilt robotic noises then so be it, but if they lose interest at a slowed down and subtler alteration then they are Bro-step fans not Dubstep fans and that is the problem I have. I hate that the loud mouth Bro-step machine is essentially stealing the genre on a global scale, yes it is a relation but it should not be what people associate with the term Dubstep exclusively.
Let me know what you think. How can there be a greater differentiation so that people appreciate that these sounds are not synonymous with Dubstep and merely an evolution of a music form that has so much more to offer?
Heres the Link to that Facebook Page I enjoy so much! http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dont-Talk-About-Dubstep-If-You-Dont-Know-The-Midnight-Request-Line/110402925709709
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