Evolution of Dubstep in Popular Culture Essay Example
Introduction and The Origins of Dubstep
If you were asked ten years ago what dubstep was, chances are you probably would have never heard of it before. At the time it was still in its experimental stage and only existed in dance clubs in South London. Since then, the popularity of dubstep has grown rather quickly in comparison to musical genres of the past. Now, dubstep is everywhere. It has a large following of fans, it is all over the Internet, it can be heard on popular radio and television, and new artists are constantly emerging all around the world. A quote from writer Karl Puschmann describes the rapid spread of dubstep: “The sound has blown up terribly quickly but it’s fair to say the masses haven’t really got a handle on what it is, what it sounds like, and just why other people like it.” The problem is, will the masses ever really understand what dubstep was originally all about? Or will the origins of a music genre that grew so quickly be completely lost in cultural appropriation and its meaning will transform into something entirely different? In this paper I will examine how dubstep has entered into mainstream music and media and how this has caused the meanings of dubstep to evolve and change by analyzing the particular visual styles and culture surrounding the genre and its followers.
Dubstep is a style of music that emerged on the electronic dance music scene in South London during the late 1990s. In the beginning, tracks were very experimental, spreading through an underground network of dance clubs and pirate radio. It wasn’t until 2002 that the term dubstep was first used to describe the genre as the sound became more noticeable and distinct, differentiating from other genres of electronic music. Dubstep began to spread outside of the London underground scene once it hit the Internet in 2005 and 2006 with tracks like Skream’s “Midnight Line Request”, which allowed it to reach the masses.
One example of a dubstep movement emerging in a
If you were asked ten years ago what dubstep was, chances are you probably would have never heard of it before. At the time it was still in its experimental stage and only existed in dance clubs in South London. Since then, the popularity of dubstep has grown rather quickly in comparison to musical genres of the past. Now, dubstep is everywhere. It has a large following of fans, it is all over the Internet, it can be heard on popular radio and television, and new artists are constantly emerging all around the world. A quote from writer Karl Puschmann describes the rapid spread of dubstep: “The sound has blown up terribly quickly but it’s fair to say the masses haven’t really got a handle on what it is, what it sounds like, and just why other people like it.” The problem is, will the masses ever really understand what dubstep was originally all about? Or will the origins of a music genre that grew so quickly be completely lost in cultural appropriation and its meaning will transform into something entirely different? In this paper I will examine how dubstep has entered into mainstream music and media and how this has caused the meanings of dubstep to evolve and change by analyzing the particular visual styles and culture surrounding the genre and its followers.
Dubstep is a style of music that emerged on the electronic dance music scene in South London during the late 1990s. In the beginning, tracks were very experimental, spreading through an underground network of dance clubs and pirate radio. It wasn’t until 2002 that the term dubstep was first used to describe the genre as the sound became more noticeable and distinct, differentiating from other genres of electronic music. Dubstep began to spread outside of the London underground scene once it hit the Internet in 2005 and 2006 with tracks like Skream’s “Midnight Line Request”, which allowed it to reach the masses.
One example of a dubstep movement emerging in a