While stopping by a local “Gentleman’s Club”, I noticed about 50-70% of the music the dancers were using was Dubstep.  If you are unfamiliar with Dubstep, just watch any new movie trailer, commercial, or radio station geared toward the 12-35 year old demographic. Seriously, its effing everywhere.

Now, this scene/format is not new by any means.  Until recently it’s kind of been considered underground. I remember local DJ’s tossing in a mix here and there at the clubs back in 2002. I’m sure it’s been around longer than that.. I’m not saying I’m an expert  on the subject, so hold your tongue. The reason this recent influx of Dubstep really interests me, is it’s ability to cross over into other music styles.  Mainly Rock/Metal.

I’ll be the first to admit, I do love me some dubstep.  Something about the sound of robots throwing up, and the build up and the bass drop somehow speaks to me. It’s like the build up in a metal song and then hearing the front man screaming “GO!”, and then all hell breaks loose. (Think Metallica, Primus, or Of Mice And Men). However, I don’t believe this fad will last. Right away it reminds me of the Disco era of the 1970′s. It was one of the biggest music fads to date, and it started crossing over into music genre’s that were a highly unlikely pair. In 1979 one of the biggest hard rock bands, KISS, released a disco-ish song called “I Was Made For Loving You”, and it completely pissed off the entire KISS ARMY. Here is the kicker though: *It was the band’s second Gold single, selling over 1 million copies. The single was certified Gold in the US on August 16, 1979,^[1] and in Canada on August 1, 1979.

This track was one of their biggest to date because it crossed over to the mainstream. They took advantage of what was “hot” at the time, much like what many of the Rock/Metal bands are doing with Dubstep.  Recently, veteran rockers, KORN released a new album (Path Of Totality) that is completely mixed in Dubstep, and it was highly successful. *The Path of Totality sold 55,000 copies in its first week to debut at number ten on the Billboard 200,^[24] making it Korn’s eleventh album to peak within the top-10. The album has sold about 200,000 copies in the US as of March 17, 2012.

Many bands have since followed suit re-mixing their latest singles into Dubstep tracks. Everyone form In Flames, Rammstein, Five Finger Death Punch, and many more.

Korn had almost the same reaction from their life long fans as KISS did back in ’79.  The hardcore fans weren’t happy about the mainstream sound.  They felt betrayed, or that Korn was selling out. When I step back and look at the full situation, I realize the bands are just trying to reach a broader audience. They want to get their music out to as many people as possible, even if that means changing their style a bit. You can’t fault them for that. (Although I believe the record company’s have a big say on re-mixing these tracks to gain sales. I don’t think all the bands necessarily wanted to re-mix their music)

As I get older and open my mind about different music styles, I realize I might have been wrong the whole time. I have been a stern elitist when it comes to Rock/Metal. “The music I like is right, and if you don’t like/listen to it YOU ARE WRONG!” You just can’t go about your love of music that way, or you are going to miss out on a lot of rad shit. Trust me. It doesn’t matter if someone loves Dubstep, Metal, or Disco.  That is their choice, and they like it for a reason.  Just like you have your reasons for your love of certain style.

Disco died out, and soon Dubstep will return to the underground. You have to remember that truly good music will always live on. While I love Korn’s “GET UP” track, I don’t think it will be on radio 20 years from now. Black Sabbath will.

*Source: Wikipedia