Are you angry yet?<\/p>\n
I’m not annoyed by any individual dubstep song. \u00a0Even that such a word exists hardly bothers me. \u00a0The premise of a singular sound that an artist pigeonholes himself into does irritate me to no end, but that runs in every genre from the very real Flanders Recorder Quartet on up to Dimmu Borgir.<\/p>\n
I’m also amused. \u00a0I was old enough in the 1980s to remember that brand of heavy metal. \u00a0I always knew the sound had roots in my parent’s generation yet was somehow made dumber. \u00a0I listened anyway.<\/p>\n
Hair metal was almost manufactured to be\u00a0extremely\u00a0accessible. \u00a0The drum beats were spaced out from each other but played hard (ie, Twisted Sister, RATT, Quiet Riot). \u00a0Basslines could frequently consist of very few notes so long as the rhythm was intact (Falling to Pieces by Faith No more). \u00a0 Everything else was played aggressively, and the quality of lyrics was a joke. \u00a0Those bands followed paths blazed by the likes of Led\u00a0Zeppelin, Cheap Trick and Jimi Hendrix.<\/p>\n
Hair metal looked like sheer stupidity to our parents, who had seen masters of the craft also step forward to pioneer the sound. \u00a0As all popular music should, to be honest.<\/p>\n
Dubstep does all of these same things. \u00a0Sure, there aren’t five guys in leather chaps parading around a stage any more. \u00a0A lot of these guys look like nerds when you can even see them from behind their gadgets and\/or masks.<\/p>\n
Yet, dubstep comes on the heels of acts like Moby, the Crystal Method and the Prodigy, who in turn followed the likes of Thomas Dolby and Gary Numan. \u00a0Older fans of electronica listen to this stuff with the same disbelief that our Hendrix-loving parents felt listening to Cinderella.<\/p>\n
Dubstep has also set aside the work of electronica’s forefathers in favor of producing electronic cock rock. \u00a0There are long passages between the drums, overly simplified bass rhythms and distorted melodies. \u00a0The tools are different but the method remains the same.<\/p>\n
Do you think this is false? \u00a0Imagine, then, the rhythm section of a 1980s heavy metal band has been asked to cover a Skrillex song. \u00a0Are the drums going to be that difficult for the heavy metal star? \u00a0Does the bass player need to do much more than bend a string rhythmically? \u00a0 Can’t you even imagine the keyboard player frantically looking for the “Atari Dropped in Bourbon” patch on his instrument?<\/p>\n
Close your eyes. \u00a0Picture that scene and imagine what happens after the drummer counts out the rhythm. \u00a0One. \u00a0Two. \u00a0Three. \u00a0Four. \u00a0It’s not hard to imagine at all.<\/p>\n
Dubstep has also\u00a0achieved\u00a0the honor of angering this generation’s parents. \u00a0We’re wondering why we waited for Fatboy Slim to fall off the map if you were just going to replace him with this crap.<\/p>\n
My congratulations to the new generation of music fans. \u00a0They actually remade hair metal in their own image without blatantly aping this long-dead trend. \u00a0You’re even pissing off your parents in interesting ways.<\/p>\n
You did such a great job that you even fooled yourselves. \u00a0Keep up the good work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Are you angry yet? I’m not annoyed by any individual dubstep song. \u00a0Even that such a word exists hardly bothers me. \u00a0The premise of a singular sound that an artist pigeonholes himself into does irritate me to no end, but that runs in every genre from the very real Flanders Recorder Quartet on up to … <\/p>\n