Globally there has been a lot of discussion about it and certain big names have been giving their comments and expressing their valuable views on this hot topic. Recently, Ed Simons of The Chemical Brothers publicly slated Swedish House Mafia as being “drivel” and said that intelligent dance music is being killed. His comments were symptomatic of a feeling that is becoming ever more widespread. Respected heads such as DJ Sneak, A Guy Called Gerald and Scuba have all taken pot shots at EDM artists and that respective scene over the course of the last year.

It’s getting clear now that a bitter rift is slicing the dance music community in two. On the one side are those who think that EDM is diluting dance music and failing to introduce ingenious sounds to a mainstream audience, on the other are those who believe that EDM is truly revolutionary and buzzing with creative energy.

Ed Simons’s comments were sparked by Tommie Sunshine, a long-serving US DJ who has become something of an online spokesman for the EDM scene. The pair had an argument on Twitter, followed by Sunshine becoming embroiled in another discussion on the merits of EDM with Ben Gomori, dance music journalist and DJ/producer.

 

“Why is everyone from the roots of this music so fucking salty about the ones who are going mainstream,” American DJ and producer Tommie Sunshine asked Ed Simmons of The Chemical Brothers on Twitter. Talking about going mainstream artists like Daft Punk, The Prodigy and Basement Jaxx all did it successfully and maintained both a degree of underground dance music plus global chart and mega-festival headlining success.

Commercial dance music from the mid-90s to early-00s and even till recently has stood the test of time because in most cases, tracks crossed over from the clubs into the charts unintentionally. Armand Van Helden wasn’t thinking about the UK Number 1 spot when he remixed Tori Amos’ ‘Professional Widow’ in revolutionary fashion. Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter and his Stardust cohorts can’t have anticipated what would have happened to their vinyl-only pressing of ‘Music Sounds Better With You’.

Armand Van Helden

Major labels were investing tons of money in that era to scout and sign dancefloor fillers with crossover appeal. As a result, dozens of quality, credible classics tended to remain in the collective consciousness of people who grew up in those years – whether they were listening to their siblings’ ‘Now’ compilations or clubbing themselves. This bubble burst not long after the major labels decided to exploit the sounds they had found so much success with and attempt to reverse-engineer chart hits with supposed club sensibility. These chart-dance hits became contrived and increasingly tacky and experiments in applying electronic cool to pop stars careers only seldom yielded positive results.

It’s true that if it’s done well, dance-meets-pop can be interesting and exciting while maintaining widespread appeal. Much of Madonna’s best work rooted its feet in the dancefloors of New York, for one notable example. In terms of contemporary success, Chase & Status have injected new energy into Roc Nation’s biggest names, bass and garage-minded producers are helping the likes of Jessie Ware proliferate and dubstep had moments of genius via La Roux and others before it become just another pop beat template with none of the vigour and bite that made it so exciting in the first place.

The most exciting thing about electronic music is its lack of limitations and how it has lead the way in musical innovation since the 1970s. From the dance scene being the first to adopt digital downloads to being the only area of music to truly evolve in the last 40 years in terms of technology, composition and texture, it’s something which most dance music lovers should always remember, promote and cherish.

Sure, the music has changed but so has every single other thing in the whole world. Old people and purists always cry about how everything was better before. For people who grew up in the Chicago suburbs in the late 80s and witnessed house music’s birth it was definitely an amazing, special time but nostalgia has no place today at least with the collective bunch of dance music fans across the planet. The music and how it’s made has changed a dozen times since then but unlike the past, it’s now taking over America’s commercial airwaves, shutting down metropolitan cities for festivals and invading the whole of American youth culture.

Alongside that we must also remember that there are more amazing producers now than there ever were. There are countless tracks from countless scenes that right now are bound together by our very strong love for this culture. All in all the only thing which we can say is that fans should keep an open heart, an open mind and remember that EDM is three letters that mean whatever you want them to.

Further illustrating the divide check out this Mixmag hangout from November last year featuring the legend Richie Hawtin & Loco Dice while they were touring a college campus!