I have always been heavily involved in the music scene. Whether I’m playing in bands or going to shows, I try to find new and interesting music constantly. The internet has made this obsession of mine incredibly easy because there is an endless supply of blogs and websites devoted to finding and promoting new music. Some blogs are very genre specific; they know their audience and they post bands that will appeal to their readers. I spent a large portion of my younger years scouring “Hardcore” blogs, searching for bands that sounded a certain way, and if I liked them I would purchase (and by purchase I mean illegally download) their album. I became obsessed with finding artists this way.

Nowadays, music transcends genres constantly, and these blogs have a difficult time categorizing the music that they post. Rather than saying that a band is experimental rock, it isn’t unusual to see a band with a description like “post-rock/shoegaze/hardcore/thrash metal/bluegrass/showtune-core.” It can be slightly confusing at times, but the amount of sub-genres that have popped up over the years is actually really exciting, because it shows how fast music is evolving.

I know some music fans hate all the sub-genre labels, and wish people would just refer to the music as “rock” or “jazz,” but I think music has evolved too much to simplify it to that extent. If someone tells me that they are a huge fan of The Rolling Stones, I wouldn’t assume that they would also enjoy hardcore bands such as Converge, even though, at their roots, they are both “rock” music.

One genre of music in America that has fascinated me because of how fast and frequently it evolves is Electronic Dance Music (EDM). Now, ever since I was a kid this very broad genre has had many names, and has spawned numerous sub-genres, but to make things easier when describing the genre as a whole I will use the term 'EDM.'

Even though all genres of music tend to breed their own style of fashion and cultural trends, none have evolved and borrowed from other genres quite as rapidly as EDM. A lot of the fashion has remained relatively similar over the years, such as glowing jewelry, eccentric hair styles, and outfits that are aesthetically pleasing while taking substances such as Molly or LSD. But the overall vibe of these festivals is very different now from the raves of 10 years ago.

Obviously, different styles of EDM have come and gone in popularity throughout the years, and some get more mainstream attention than others. When I was first getting into the scene, drum and bass shows were the most fun and wild shows to attend, even though the DJ’s like Oakenfold were getting the huge crowds at outdoor festivals. Some D&B DJ’s would transcend into the mainstream, but once they became too popular, they would lose their underground following. The same thing happens to artists today, only now it happens much faster and the audience that listens to Mainstream EDM is exponentially larger than it was 10 years ago.

When I think of an EDM artist that became a household name seemingly overnight, the name Skrillex comes to mind. Skrillex sang in a post-hardcore band for years as a teenager, and then started making electronic music. He adopted the moniker “Skrillex” and made an EP, which had moderate success online. When he dropped his next single “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites,” it felt like everyone heard that song on the same day. It combined elements of house music with elements of British dubstep, and made the term “dubstep” a household name for Americans.

Now, long-time fans of EDM and British dubstep music hated that his music was being referred to as dubstep, as it had a much different feel than British dubstep that came before it, but nonetheless, it felt like he created American Dubstep overnight. After that it seemed like every pop song incorporated the “wobble-bass” technique, and thousands of people started creating songs with heavy bass drops, hoping to get even a fraction of success that Skrillex gained from that one song. It brought EDM music to the mainstream, and it was around this time that I noticed the biggest change in the demographic that attended those shows. The success helped bring out more young females to the shows, which subsequently brought more young males to the shows. The combination of styles also helped bring so many different types of people together. The heavy bass drops were more aggressive and resembled the style of breakdowns primarily used by Deathcore bands, which brought a lot of those kids to the EDM shows.

The catchy hooks and mainstream success got fans of pop music to show up. The electro-house drum beats got the electronic fans to dance and move their feet, bringing everyone together in such a primitive way that everyone could relate too. All of the flashing lights and ambiance of the venue, mixed with pumping bass and energy would bring everyone together, and created anticipation for that moment in every song, that never came as a surprise but always satisfied the crowd.

The DJ would make the bass drum go faster, and faster, and faster, the crowd surging with energy, a sea of people with smiles on their faces and hearts racing, so eager with anticipation until the DJ would stop the beat…and then come back in with the drop. At that moment everyone in the crowd would forget about their problems at home, their relationship struggles, financial problems, or anything else that had been on their mind previously. For that one moment music would bring people from all different walks of life together, it was a release of energy that is hard to explain, but easy to experience.

As human beings we deal with a lot of stresses in life. Everyone deals with day to day struggles, and even though we are aware that others also deal with similar struggles, it is difficult to not feel alone at times. Music has always made me remember that sometimes something as simple as a bass drop at a concert can make everyone forget about their petty differences, or their personal struggles and just enjoy life for the few moments that they are overwhelmed by the music.

I love that there are so many genres of music, and sub-genres of music, because not everyone is going to be affected the same way by a song. I think everyone deserves to be moved by a song, or by an album, regardless of the genre or sub-genre. Music is the one language everyone understands, and it has an ability to bring the most unlikely people together at times. I used EDM as an example, because I have watched it bring so many different types of people together over the years, but that is just in my experience. Find that song that speaks to you, and makes you forget about your problems for a few moments. I could never live in a world without music to bring me back down to reality, and luckily I don’t have to.