Tuesday, September 13, 2011

What Dubstep is to Me

What Dubstep is to Me

Dubstep isn’t rose petals and spring flowers and sunny days. Dubstep is a reflection a sign of our times, the beat, the heart and soul of my generation. Dubstep isn’t cheery, it isn’t pop, some have called it the punk side of electronica. But I think a better parallel could be drawn if we compared it to Grunge. Just as grunge rock broke out during the early nineties during a hard deep recession, where everyone’s eye, everyone’s focus was again on the working class, the unemployed, Grunge music fans even wore the signature work boots, and very much the working man’s uniform the flannel shirts, everything about grunge was proletariat (yes I know flannel was more about practicality because Seattle was very cold rather than fashion). Grunge rock was filled with angst ridden lyrics like “rape me my friend” and “black hole sun”, those lyrics screamed out for the down trodden voiceless masses. The same thing is occurring today, Dubstep represents the unemployed populace the devastated and distraught youth of today, Dubstep speaks out to the rising number of the new American poor. The heavy pulsating beats are the uncontrollable heart beat of someone stepping in to that rudely intrusive and interrogative job interview knowing beforehand you won’t get the job, the wobbles and screeching highs are all the negativity, all the doubting voices we hear each day whether the source is external or internal, it doesn’t matter. Dubstep is the cathartic explosion of all that is mean, rough, gritty, nasty, dirty, dingy, angry, bottled tightly inside many of today’s youth manifested in musical form. Dubstep is the foul pot of evil witches brew that is brimming to the top, all the built up pressure will result in an inevitable climatic explosion. Dubstep is not your older brother’s electronic music, there are no remixes of Bryan Adam’s Heaven. There are no songs with lyrics like “we’ve come a long way together” Dubstep is not pretty, Dubstep is not your first choice to prom, but rather the 5 or 6th girl you’ve asked that week regardless of what your first impression will be, she will give you a night you will never forget. That is what Dubstep is to me.

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