The Early Days of Dubstep Music

Since the early days of electronic music it seems that the bar had to be pushed to the limits. From pure electro to industrial-psycho the diversity within the “electronic genre” has evolved exponentially. As we march into our second decade of the 2000’s, there is one trend within the electronic movement that has definitely etched its way into the main stream; DubStep.

Where it comes from?

Logically we might assume that Dubstep was born from combining “dub” and “2-step”. Yet if we would come to this conclusion we would be wrong. Dub originally was created in Jamaica roughly around the 60’s. To make some sense out of the genre we can call Dub the “trippier” cousin to Reggae itself, with delayed guitar effects, deep bass rhythms and a whole lot of echo. Yet “Dubstep” today has absolutely nothing to do with Dub at all.

In reality Dubstep first made its way onto the South London music scene in 1998 when DJ’s sought to mix “2-step garage” with other different musical elements like “Drum and Bass” and “breakbeat”. Even though this primal version of Dubstep was not yet “dubbed” it was the birth of a genre that would engulf the entire world.

When it became Dubstep?

The term “Dubstep” only really became popular in 2002 after record labels like Big Apple and Tempa began circulating the term. It was then when DJ’s began to remix popular songs and converting them into unique “dubstep” sensations, which in turn caught the attention of mainstream radio which pushed this dark grimy genre right into the eardrums of the world.

Songs from popular musicians such as Bob Marley and Katy Perry have been converted into Dubstep Covers over time. The genre expanded its borders to even include songs from classic games like Zelda’s “Ocarina of Time” remixed done by JoeyVerbeke .

Today Dubstep is one of the most searched terms on Youtube with some videos ranging into the 30 million view marker. Within a decade of its birth it seems that Dubstep has become a favorite within the electronic genre and is here to stay.

The Future of Dubstep?

In order to accurately predict the lifespan of a particular genre is quite difficult, especially due to the fact that through technology new genres are created almost daily. Dubstep has definitely been on an exponential growing spree for the past ten years and as of 2011 was a phenomenal year for the popularity of the genre itself.

With Youtube Legends like Mike Diva and Corridor Digital using Dubstep as the soundtrack to their videos the genre seems to have a bright future in both musical and video entertainment. The music by itself gives ample opportunity for growth as it still is very young in nature and it is expected that Dubstep will be able to solidify its position within electronic music that rivals that of Psycho and Drum and Bass.

One thing is for sure; if we analyze the growth of Dubstep over the past decade we can safely assume that Dubstep will still be around and popular for another decade or so until a new and improved subgenre is born. Yet for now we can sit back and enjoy witnessing the evolution of this genre happen right before our very eyes.