Greetings, yall, JJ’s Bizarre Blog is back at it again! For this one, I bring you a very personal tale of a genre that I was deeply involved with and one that is a huge part of who I am to this very day. In fact, it was the majority of what I listened to during its heyday. Continuing off of the last entry, let’s talk about Drum ‘n’ Bass’s cousin and its very unique story – dubstep!
What is dubstep? Well, to the few of you that have never heard about it, its a subgenre of electronic music known for its midtempo, loud bass and iconic “drops”. While electronic genres are sometimes difficult to tell appart, dubstep is among the most clearly defined. Most songs follow a very specific and easily recognizable song structure. The song starts with the main beat with typically some synth melodies, samples or vocals layered on top. It then builds and builds and builds until eventually you hit the bass drop (or just THE DROP), a flurry of wobbly bass, heavy percussion rhythms, distorted synth lines, glitchy effects and Transformers sex noises. This continues for a bit before a return to the calm part. In some songs, the same will just be repeated one more time here. In others, the song builds up to another drop, which is an edited version of the first. In more creative cases, the second drop can be completely different. While there are outliers, most songs follow this structure. Dubstep is also recognizable just by its general stylistics – slower tempo syncopated beats, wobbly bass, distorted effects, chaotic melodies and a general dark and heavy sound. While the use of “drops” (as in the music kicking into full throttle after a buildup) is one of the most popular techniques in modern popular music and it can be found in a multitude of musical styles, no other genre has made it such an integral part of its identity as dubstep has. You know what, here, let one of the legends of the genre explain it to you:
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In terms of history, dubstep originated in the late 90s and early 2000s, slightly after Drum and Bass and took many stylistic cues from it. It also shares its lineage with it, also coming about from the UK garage and underground club scene and taking inspiration from genres such as breakbeat hardcore, grime, reggae, 2-step, and of course dub (where the name comes from, although the connection has become quite loose with time). As DJs and producers across the UK kept experimenting with their synthesizers, mixers and with computer software, more and more of these unique beats and rhythms came to be. One of the most notable trends to arise as early as the nineties was the “wub”, or the iconic wobbly bass. It’s called the wub because that’s what it sounds like. Its that bass line in electro that is loud, powerful and dominating and goes up and down to create the ebb and flow effect. Wubby bass lines are the bread and butter of a good dubstep drop. You’ll notice that songs of this era are more simplistic with less wacky effects and the distorted bass and synth lines take center stage. Nonetheless, the formula had been found and clubs and outdoor events all over the UK and, soon after, the world were just eating it up.
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This leads us to the next phase of our tale. Like the genre itself likes to do, the buildup started quiet, but kept piling up and up and up until the drop came – around 2010. Yes, its indeed the “golden age of dubstep”. This was the period when, for reasons poorly understood, the genre’s popularity skyrocketed and suddenly, bass was being dropped left and right, and dropping harder than the stock market two years prior. Fans all over the world were discovering this genre and falling in love with it. Skrillex, you’ve definitely heard of this guy, his haircut has become emblematic for an entire generation, well he was one of the centrepieces of this movement. He wasn’t the original breakout success, but his output around 2010 achieved great commercial success. To this day, Skrillex is the name most people associate with dubstep. In fact, there are some people out there who don’t know the term dubstep but will recognize it and call it “Skrillex noises”. The YouTube channel UKF Dubstep became insanely popular, bringing the latest tunes to the masses and their comment sections became the place where we all gathered to share music and argue who’s drops are the filthiest. By the way, that’s appropriate term – “filthy” is the chosen epithet used by dubstep connoisseurs to describe a nice, heavy drop. If a song is described as “the filthiest ever”, that’s a strong recommendation!
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By this time, the style had become more polished but also more chaotic and violent with wild glitches, loud “wubs”, distorted vocalizations and more coming to the fray. The sounds used in the drops had gone from flowing bass wobbles, electronic effects and distorted synthesizers to much more aggressive roar-like or machine-like electronic sounds creating a wall of noise to support the thunderous bass of the drops. Often these get compared to sound effects from Transformers or Star Wars. Now is also a good time to introduce you to another piece of lingo, the VIP or VIP mix. Its essentially when an artist remixes their own song to make it go ever more bananas than before, to compete in the impromptu loudness war at hand. A lot of people refer to these newer outings as “brostep” and that term was often used pejoratively. Not gonna lie though, I was quite the fan of these.
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As a sort of counter-movement, there were some artists who chose to go more melodic and actually reduce the intensity of drop, opting for a more house or trance influenced sound. In the 2010s, more melodic synth lines had already become commonplace but some artists chose to focus more on that rather than torturing their computers until they produced new weirder noises.
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Well, whatever you call it, the style had evolved and moved on quite a bit from its UK underground roots but the formula was still there. It continued to gain popularity and many labels like mau5trap, Monstercat and Never Say Die (RIP) came to the forefront with a ton of new artists and they were finding great success. Artists would also constantly remix each other’s songs as signs of appreciation and this became a cornerstone of our little community.
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With its rising popularity, dubsteps songs started appearing in all kinds of unexpected places. Every film, video game and TV show seemed to have them, even when they weren’t the most appropriate musical choice. At the same time, popular artists like Britney Spears, Avril Lavigne, Taylor Swift, Snoop Dogg and Rihanna, among others, either dabbled in the genre or had their usual style of song interrupted by unexpected bass drops.
Nu metal icons KoRn released the 2011 album “The Path of Totality”, which in its entirety is a mix of the band’s own sound with a wide array of dubstep and drum ‘n’ basss artists like Skrillex, Excision, Kill the Noize, Noisia and more. This and other dabblings from metal acts like Hollywood Undead and former metal artists who turned to electronic music, such as Excision and Sullivan King, created the so called “metalstep” sound. Honestly, metal and dubstep fit each other quite well - both are aggressive, loud, chaotic and both often get accused of being “nothing but noise”. The crossover was bound to happen.
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However, trends come and go, and as 2014 started rolling around, dubstep’s popularity began to dip noticably and many declared the golden age officially over. So, where is the genre now? Well, it’s still alive and kicking and is still quite popular among the electonic music crowd. While many prominent artists have moved on from the style completely, like Skrillex, or label themselves with the much broader term “bass music”, which includes a multitude of adjacent genres. This is probably because the dubstep label isn’t considered “cool” anymore. Nonetheless, plenty of die hard fans who fell in love with the gerne during the golden years stick to it to this day and a lot of the artists of that time are still active and still sell out venues.
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The genre isn’t dead, it just mostly retreated back into the underground, where it fits in much better if you ask me. Dubstep’s massive success was more of a happy little accident if anything. Maybe the buildup to the bass drop just really tickles the anticipation and gratification centres in our lizard brains. At its core, its a niche genre – abrasive, loud, bizarre and eclectic. It was really never made for mainstream audiences. So in light of that, now that 10 years or so have gone by since the golden times, I wanted to make this post as a celebration of this unique style and its unique story. I was hugely into dubstep in its heyday and am still a fan to this day. I'm very happy to have been part of that movement and community. I hope I inspired you to give it a listen and, if back in the day you dismissed it as “just noise”, perhaps now you can experience it again with fresh ears and maybe finds some new appreciation for it. As always, you have my playlist as your starting point. Drop it loud and drop it proud!
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