I still remember like it was yesterday (okay 4 or 5 years ago) sitting in my freshman dorm room with my brand new desktop speakers browsing through music websites and downloading Kap Slap’s mashups, I was hooked immediately. These machine created drops, multiple songs mashed into one, female vocalists crushing these passionate collabs, its EDM. EDM is not a song, it’s not a festival, it’s not an artist, EDM is a musical movement, a showcase of talent young and old, EDM is a community and a family.
Fast-forward a few years and here I am, blogging for a music website and still as hooked on EDM as ever. EDM or electronic dance music may be one of the most polarizing topics in music today. Is it a fad, or is it the future of music as we know it? Some people love it, others hate it, and some don’t understand it. In a culture submerged in technology and instant connection, EDM serves to those as a fast paced and high-energy movement sweeping the world.
So is EDM just a fad? Here for now, gone in the future, a temporary fill for something bigger and better in the future? Grandpa would tell us “they don’t make music like they used to!” Well yes grandpa and Coke isn’t a nickel and gas isn’t a buck anymore either. The point is clear though, with time comes change, and with changes comes music created with the help of computers. This doesn’t necessarily mean the days of Jimi Hendrix shredding on his guitar are forgotten or necessarily gone for that matter. A few years ago, Skrillex collabed on a song “Breakn a Sweat” with The Doors. Or how about in 2013 when Avicii released “Wake Me Up” with vocals from soul singer Aloe Blacc and acoustic guitar from Incubus’ Mike Einziger? EDM isn’t destroying genres’, its creating them. By applying and reaching out to numerous groups of people of all ages, EDM opens its doors to all listeners.
Some people still like to fall back on the argument of “EDM shows are trashy and filled with drug ridden teens who come for the high and not the music.” Sadly there are accidents that happen at concerts, but the burden should not be thrown simply on EDM shows. For example back in July of 2014 it was reported that 22 people at a Keith Urban concert were hospitalized due to alcohol related incidents, and 55 were arrested. Not trying to point fingers and make a stir here but the facts are simple, people make mistakes and accidents happen, whether it is related to EDM or not.
With a concert like Ultra Music Festival in Miami going on this weekend, over 100,000 fans are expected to attend and countless websites providing live streams of the concert as well as “twitch” launching its own “Ultra Live” stream, it seems as though EDM is as popular as ever.
All in all, music is such a diverse industry. People have varying tastes and everyone is entitled to enjoy whichever “genres” they choose. As far as EDM goes, every year new genres are created, new festivals are named, breakout artists are discovered, and so many memories are made enjoying what we love, the music. So is EDM just a fad? No, EDM is a movement, a culture, a family, and EDM is here to stay.
