People either seem to absolutely love and get down with Dubstep. Or they absolutely hate it. No holds bars, walk out of that room in the club when it hits the speakers.
How have people justified their dislike of it to you?
Why do you personally dislike Dubstep?
How do people whom generally listen to “EDM” absolutely hate on Dubstep?
What draws people who don’t listen to “EDM” into Dubstep?
It’s something I’m trying to understand. As I’ve evolved from big-beat stuff from the 90’s, through DnB/hardcore, into breaks and house, and ever since 2007 I’ve really been into Dubstep. But as I begin to mix more, I know I love it, but I keep hitting the walls of people who just won’t give it a fair chance.
Maybe it’s hipster to not like Dubstep since its too mainstream? I don’t know.
I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that dubstep is big right now, and out front getting attention. Its like any other music genre, I know people that dislike house very much, or will ONLY listen to oldschool jungle. Dubstep is in the spotlight right now with artists like Bieber and Brittany pushing it to new audiences. Those audiences will either love the change, or hate it. I would guess the ratio of like to dislike is pretty close to even, or at the very least, similar to any genre comparison.
Because to people who aren’t familiar with the synths and structure dubstep just sounds like fax machines getting raped.
I started listening to some dubstep around the same tim you did, 2007ish. That’s also the same time I started playing with the idea of DJing. That’s also the time when dubstep moved out of its atmospheric, laid back dub and garage roots into the ripping raging synths that dominate it today. My major complaint along with many others is that mainstream dubstep eschews musical sensibilities in favor of who can come up with the crunchiest and wobbliest synth sounds, and it takes someone who not only knows music but also knows alot about music production and sound design to appreciate it.
That or it’s pretty easy to sort people into three groups: Those who are on drugs, those who emulate those who are on drugs, and those who want nothing to do with the first group.
I really dubstep… however I really don’t like the direction the genre has gone in the past couple of years, the ‘brostep’ stuff I really can’t stand most of the time, really needle in a haystack for good tunes when it comes to ‘brostep’. There’s still plenty of awesome deep and dark stuff though.
Some people just don’t like the sound. Just like some people don’t like the sound of minimal. You just don’t hear about it as often because it’s not as popular a genre.
I just don’t like the sound, the sound just doesn’t have any “intelligence” factor. Every track is trying too hard to sound annoying, and then the next artist up the food chain trying to top it and sound even more head wrecking.
I dislike it the the same way I disliked speed garage and UK garage, when it started, like I dislike a lot of DnB, like I dislike a huge amount of trance and huge amount of euro poppy electro house … and mushrooms* !!!
In saying that there is a FEW tracks I have heard which were a cut above the rest but that didn’t go all out trying to wommp wommp and sounded like they weren’t put together with eyes on a grammy.
My problem with dubstep is not that it got so popular every bros etc listen it. It is more like I can not dance to it. Pretty much this. I want to dance and jump around, not headbang my head like a metal concert. Also PLUR ^^
[quote=“Bassline Brine, post:1, topic:34007, username:Bassline_Brine”]
How have people justified their dislike of it to you?
[/quote] No, nor have I found anyone who can tell me why they like modern, hard brostep without going “waaaahhawaaawawawawawaw” and fake gangster dancing.
[quote=“Bassline Brine, post:1, topic:34007, username:Bassline_Brine”]
Why do you personally dislike Dubstep?
[/quote]I don’t like the crowds it attracts, and I don’t enjoy it musically as the basis for a DJ set or a party. I enjoyed seeing Nero, and I enjoyed staring at girls in Bikinis when I saw Skrillex. And I own a couple tracks to spin in with breaks. But I wouldn’t go to a dubstep night mostly because of the prevalence of amateurs…the kinds of people who can’t handle their liquor or other drugs and like to start fights for no reason.
[quote=“Bassline Brine, post:1, topic:34007, username:Bassline_Brine”]
How do people whom generally listen to “EDM” absolutely hate on Dubstep?
[/quote]They don’t. Fans of certain genres tend to because it doesn’t have much in common with the music they like or they dislike something about the scene. Most people I’ve talked to who don’t call themselves fans of some other kind of EDM call it “techno.”
[quote=“Bassline Brine, post:1, topic:34007, username:Bassline_Brine”]
What draws people who don’t listen to “EDM” into Dubstep?
[/quote]Brostep is very hard, very obvious, and requires neither careful listening nor an attention span to go ape shit with. I’m not saying that’s all there is to it, but that’s where I see the appeal.
There are other kinds of EDM that do that too, but they’re not as widely recognizable to an untrained ear…and they’re not as popular right now.
Thsoe are my biggest complaints. I vaguely heard dubstep a few years ago, but I wasn’t aware it was called dubstep at the time…it was just another groove. Still not my favorite, but I really just don’t like anything when it gets too hard. There’s little–if any–contrast in the synths, the melodies, the structures…or the parties. Full on, full time.
Meh.
Dubstep–even hard brostep–is awesome as one more groove to throw into a breaks set. Some songs can even work with house if you can manage to slow them down enough without getting artifacts (offline pitch shifting helps) and can pull off the different groove. And those kind dubby bass carrying the melody half time structures are making inroads to hip hop that sound great (Lupe and Kanye have used them off the top of my head). It’s a fun groove, but once it gets that hard…it attracts amateurs and people who have no appreciation for the culture that’s built up around dance music for the last 40 years and no idea how to behave themselves.
There are exceptions. I enjoyed the time I saw Nero play at least as much as anybody else there, and despite having that brixton swing, they’re not exactly subtle…but some of it is just too much.
Personally I dont hate it, I think theres some tracks that are okay, but for the most part I dont care for it. I just dont get why anybody would enjoy listening to a bunch of wobbles and womps that sometimes dont even sound like theyre rhythmic in any way (for the most part). I think its a trend that will eventually die out and people will forget about and move onto the next thing.
Its similar to when people say they don’t like Americans. Sure some Americans are redneck, racist, semi retarded, arrogant, overly nationalisitic, xenophobic bell ends. But most aren’t. And most people judge based on the crappiest folks they meet, or shittiest examples of the music they hear.
The rednecks are main stream mid frequency, dubstep by numbers (skrillex et al). The rest of the dubstep genre, be it the rolling dub end of the spectrum or the minimal/ambient techier side of things are the other American folks.
Its like me saying all trance, including psytrance and probably even progressive house, is the most rubbish genre in the world because I once heard a Tiesto set…
I think the thing is that it’s a slow BPM in an EDM category which makes it hard(er) to dance to. A typical dance beat is going to be 115-125. Dubstep wildly falls short of that. Also, like it or not, the main ingredient of the genre is bass lines that all do have a very similar sound… and are a bit aggressive. It’s really very similar to old school punk rock in that it’s great for a angst ridden audience.
i dug that originally it seemed like a lot of odd dudes doing their own thing with a hodge podge of whatever bit of tech they could get their hands on. what i dont dig - on some levels its become some “paulie d” style douche bag shit. it seemed like the original wave was a bunch of dudes pushing in new directions what sort of sounds you can expect out of synths and samplers, the current wave - carpetbaggers.
there is nohing I like better than letting go of the wheel and letting breakage steer for a while, the guys a musical mutherfuckin’ genius! brostep has a time, but it usually not now, unless I’m wasted being a type one person, I’d never play a whole set of it though..
But it happens to every genre I have followed, trance became hard trance, then hardstyle, then jumpstyle hopefully dead soon LOL… breaks, was underground, funky and deep, then semi commercial, then warehouse now electro, dnb was liquid, jungle, jump then techstep now neuro, dub was chilled, deep, dark now insane
Some of the metal heads I know really hate dubstep. For no reason. They just dismiss it. Which makes no sense, seeing as the only dubstep they’re probably heard is Skrillex and his lot, which is fairly similar to metal.
What I’m trying to say is people hate dubstep because of the representation it has, the stuff most people hear IS all about “the crunchiest” or “wobbliest” synths, which sucks. I love the laidback, groovy stuff.
Hell, I really like Dubstep, but I can’t stand Brostep that is nothing but angry, buzzing mid-range sounds.
Deep, Dubby, Dark and oldschool Dubstep however is nom (wobbly or not), stuff like Skream, Benga, Sukh Knight, DMZ, Shandy, Unitz, Black Sun Empire… The list goes on. My point is, there is loads of great non-brostep Dubstep out there.