“Dubstep is dead.”
Every once and a while, we hear an artist express this sentiment, which evidently follows major discussion throughout the dance music world. Lorin Ashton, better known as Bassnectar, is the latest artist to express disenchanted views over the current state of the genre in an interview with Star Tribune last week,
Dubstep obviously is already a thing of the past. This new wave of shoegazer, hipster brand of dance music that’s popular this year — which I think is boring as hell — will soon be a thing of the past. New terms and styles will emerge. But the broader brand of electronically enhanced dance music — which I just think of in my heart as just music — will always have an audience.
Dubstep has evolved through many phases. Now the expertly chosen soundtrack to Hollywood blockbusters and sports car commercials, it has taken on a new life. Derived over time through a combination of two-step, UK garage, and Jamaican sound system culture, the American dubstep flavor we are familiar with now is very much different from its origin. Different in a bad way? No. Just different.
Frankly, there’s no place in the electronic music landscape to be a purist. In the similar vein to what Bassnectar said, dance music is in a constant state of progression with new styles and genres emerging all the time. Riddim, brostep, liquid, wonk…however you label it, it all means one thing. Right now, dubstep is the furthest thing for being dead.
But thirty years in the future when EDM fades into obscurity, and the kids are listening to whatever newfangled music is popular at the time (as long as they get off my lawn), here are a few iconic dubstep favorites we’ll be shamelessly jamming out to – a mix of early tunes and the newer variety. You won’t see I Can’t Stop or Sierra Leone on the list as these are all throwbacks you probably haven’t heard in some time. So sit back and enjoy.
[divider]The DMNW Throwback Dubstep Playlist[/divider]
Help us add to our playlist! What are your favorite dubstep throwback tunes or artists that we’re missing? Let us know in the comment section, on our Facebook, or shoot us a Tweet!
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