EDM M*#()@!$(%@, Do You Speak It?
Hear ye! Hear ye! Take a break from your free radio music sessions at work and listen up. Ladies and lady-seekers (or whatever way you swing, we don’t judge), Electronic Dance Music has gone mainstream. Before you dismiss me by saying, “Tell me something new!”, just hear me out now. As I pulled into my driveway listening to the 5th David Guetta song on the radio over a 23 min drive, I had an epiphany.
Apart from realizing that’s one David Guetta song every 4.6 mins, I also reminisced about how not too long ago this genre was viewed as the dirty little secret of pale-skinned, colorful pill-popping, neon-light sporting ravers who would fist pump their nights away at least 50 miles away from the nearest Ricky Martin or Puff Daddy concert.
Although many have happily jumped on board this cool genre hybridization, there are plenty of EDM fans who are now viewing it as unwelcome genre bastardization.
While it’s a pleasure to see DJs like Tiesto, AVB, Afrojack and David Guetta gain even more mainstream recognition and rope in new fans, the truth of the matter is that the evolution of EDM ended the day opportunist producers and artists schemed to make the one-off success of Kanye West’s Daft Punk-sampled “Stronger” the hottest new thing.
For those of you calling it a genre evolution and a “survival of the fittest” game, understand this: evolved music = better music, and that’s just not true. Any longtime EDM enthusiast can easily point out how elementary David Guetta sounds in contrast with how skilled and multi-faceted his beats used to be.
DJs have quit constant experimentation with various samples and quality beats to produce their electronic sets in favor of finding the next big pop-tart or hip-hop playa with the biggest Twitter following to collaborate with and mint money. It’s pretty fucking perplexing to hear someone literally just talk (not even sing) over a good beat and be a superstar for doing it. I’d rather cheer for my angry kooky uncle when he ruins my wedding toast than cheer for that “music”.
I’m not a skeptic, I’m a realist….and although I still plan to attend a major EDM event this Christmas, I’m fairly certain I’ll smoke a bud instead of popping an E just to make my protests more apparent.
Sincerely,
An EDM fan
P.S. Hey Pitbull, go fuck yourself!