Poll: Dubstep. Music or not music?

[PsychedelicDiamond]

Yeah, i guess. I mean, it sounds like it's made by a bunch of bored construction workers who try to create some sort of melody using only their hammers and drills but it's still music in the way, say, Revolution 9 is music.

 

[Pandalisk]

"Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence"

You could have just described anything from the chatter of a waiting room to the cars passing on a motorway to the sound of typing in an office ...

On topic. When I was at school we were taught about musical instruments, among which was not the decks or the computer! It takes absolutely fuck all skill to make dubstep, all it requires is money for the equipment and a taste similar to everybody else's (or a majority at least).

You could spend 1,000 hours perfecting the "song" then all you have to do at a live performance is press play.

I define anything as art (or in this case music) as something which takes skill to do, such as playing a guitar in time with everybody else in the band. Take art for example, I wouldn't consider a white canvass with different coloured horizontal stripes art 'cos any fucker can do that! I would call the Mona Lisa art 'cos that is a skillful thing.

The only exception I have to dubstep not being music is beardyman, who does something called live looping. He makes a sound, records it, loops it makes another sound, records it, loops it, layers it over the first sound, then repeats till he has a full song going.

That takes skill to do! This isn't live looping but it is harder to do.

Well obviously intent factors in
But on that note, people see music in things such as the hustle and bustle sounds in a city in rush hour. So yeah, i stick by what i quoted the clatter and rings of an office block has its own melody if you want to look at it like that.

 

[omega 616]

"Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence"

You could have just described anything from the chatter of a waiting room to the cars passing on a motorway to the sound of typing in an office ...

On topic. When I was at school we were taught about musical instruments, among which was not the decks or the computer! It takes absolutely fuck all skill to make dubstep, all it requires is money for the equipment and a taste similar to everybody else's (or a majority at least).

You could spend 1,000 hours perfecting the "song" then all you have to do at a live performance is press play.

I define anything as art (or in this case music) as something which takes skill to do, such as playing a guitar in time with everybody else in the band. Take art for example, I wouldn't consider a white canvass with different coloured horizontal stripes art 'cos any fucker can do that! I would call the Mona Lisa art 'cos that is a skillful thing.

The only exception I have to dubstep not being music is beardyman, who does something called live looping. He makes a sound, records it, loops it makes another sound, records it, loops it, layers it over the first sound, then repeats till he has a full song going.

That takes skill to do! This isn't live looping but it is harder to do.

Well obviously intent factors in
But on that note, people see music in things such as the hustle and bustle sounds in a city in rush hour. So yeah, i stick by what i quoted the clatter and rings of an office block has its own melody if you want to look at it like that.

That isn't music though, it's just noise ... if you wanted to flower it up and make it sound as best you as you can, you could call it ambient noise.

If you classify everything as music, nothing is music.

 

[Pandalisk]

"Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence"

You could have just described anything from the chatter of a waiting room to the cars passing on a motorway to the sound of typing in an office ...

On topic. When I was at school we were taught about musical instruments, among which was not the decks or the computer! It takes absolutely fuck all skill to make dubstep, all it requires is money for the equipment and a taste similar to everybody else's (or a majority at least).

You could spend 1,000 hours perfecting the "song" then all you have to do at a live performance is press play.

I define anything as art (or in this case music) as something which takes skill to do, such as playing a guitar in time with everybody else in the band. Take art for example, I wouldn't consider a white canvass with different coloured horizontal stripes art 'cos any fucker can do that! I would call the Mona Lisa art 'cos that is a skillful thing.

The only exception I have to dubstep not being music is beardyman, who does something called live looping. He makes a sound, records it, loops it makes another sound, records it, loops it, layers it over the first sound, then repeats till he has a full song going.

That takes skill to do! This isn't live looping but it is harder to do.

Well obviously intent factors in
But on that note, people see music in things such as the hustle and bustle sounds in a city in rush hour. So yeah, i stick by what i quoted the clatter and rings of an office block has its own melody if you want to look at it like that.

That isn't music though, it's just noise ... if you wanted to flower it up and make it sound as best you as you can, you could call it ambient noise.

If you classify everything as music, nothing is music.

Well actually if you classify everything as music, then everything would be music.

What an intricate web we weave

 

[White Lightning]

I think it's because nustep (dislike the term brostep, it's not exactly accurate) has largely got big thanks to the internet and the USA's re-embracing of electronic music in general.

Of course it's music, you may not like it -I'm not a big fan of nustep- but it's certainly not anything else but music. It'd be more interesting to hear if people regard the following as music;

What the hell was that?

 

[ubersyanyde]

"Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence"

You could have just described anything from the chatter of a waiting room to the cars passing on a motorway to the sound of typing in an office ...

On topic. When I was at school we were taught about musical instruments, among which was not the decks or the computer! It takes absolutely fuck all skill to make dubstep, all it requires is money for the equipment and a taste similar to everybody else's (or a majority at least).

You could spend 1,000 hours perfecting the "song" then all you have to do at a live performance is press play.

I define anything as art (or in this case music) as something which takes skill to do, such as playing a guitar in time with everybody else in the band. Take art for example, I wouldn't consider a white canvass with different coloured horizontal stripes art 'cos any fucker can do that! I would call the Mona Lisa art 'cos that is a skillful thing.

The only exception I have to dubstep not being music is beardyman, who does something called live looping. He makes a sound, records it, loops it makes another sound, records it, loops it, layers it over the first sound, then repeats till he has a full song going.

That takes skill to do! This isn't live looping but it is harder to do.

First of all, you are seriously underestimating the complexity of electronic music and how difficult it can be to produce. Sure anyone can make bad EDM by hitting random keys on a computer in the same way I can make a bad son on piano by hitting random keys, but there is a lot of skill required to write melodies, basslines, etc... on appropriate synths, arrange it competently and properly mix it to make something enjoyable. Take a look on this youtube channel ( http://www.youtube.com/user/dodgeandfuskitv ) to see what I mean.

Secondly there is no rule that says a song has to be performed live to take any skill to make but just to prove that all EDM falls under your definition of skill, take a look at this video of someone playing electro 'live' just like someone might play a piano. Just because you don't understand something fully, it doesn't mean that it shouldn't be taken seriously.

 

[saintdane05]

Yes. Doesn't mean I have to enjoy it though.

 

[In Search of Username]

Whether you like it or not, it's music. I can't stand people trying to claim genres they dislike somehow don't qualify as music. They are. You just hate them.

 

[Whateveralot]

"Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence"

So yeah its music, question here should be is it good music?

I like Liquid Dubstep anyway, though how they name the different dubsteps is beyond me

Because "Scandinavian Progressive Post-Rock" is a very clearly defined name. The term "Liquid" actually makes sense when you listen to it.

 

[Halceon]

Of course. This is not an argument to be had. It may or may not be melodious. It may or may not be to your liking. Anyone who wishes to disqualify a set of sounds that is consumed as music by more than a handful of people is an elitist prick shouting "STOP HAVING FUN, YOU GUYS!!"

 

[HorrendusOne]

So this ISN"t music!?

Why do people do nothing but disappoint me?

 

[Toaster Hunter]

Yes its music. It may not be good music, but it is music none the less.

 

[omega 616]

First of all, you are seriously underestimating the complexity of electronic music and how difficult it can be to produce. Sure anyone can make bad EDM by hitting random keys on a computer in the same way I can make a bad son on piano by hitting random keys, but there is a lot of skill required to write melodies, basslines, etc... on appropriate synths, arrange it competently and properly mix it to make something enjoyable. Take a look on this youtube channel ( http://www.youtube.com/user/dodgeandfuskitv ) to see what I mean.

Secondly there is no rule that says a song has to be performed live to take any skill to make but just to prove that all EDM falls under your definition of skill, take a look at this video of someone playing electro 'live' just like someone might play a piano. Just because you don't understand something fully, it doesn't mean that it shouldn't be taken seriously.

Not really, remember this game?

You could pretty much make a basic form of this kind of music, plus I watched a guy make the "Alton towers" theme, then turn it into a dance track in about 5 minutes ... I'm not even exaggerating.

I can't actually be bothered to carry on this argument, neither of us are going to change our minds.

 

[Something Amyss]

Dubstep meets all the requisites for music. It still sucks, but really, there is no actual definition of music that requires it to be good. If people can call Nickelback or the Dresden Dolls music, then they can call Dubstep music.

 

[Hazy992]

Of course it's music


Just because you don't like it doesn't mean it's not music.

 

[ShindoL Shill]

Yes.
Yes to both.
That's what music basically is. People making a load of sounds and adding a load of other sounds to the first set of sounds to make a big string of sounds. If this string of sounds is meant to be interpreted as music, it is. No question about it. It doesn't matter if you use bagpipes, guitars or a computer, it's music.

Whether or not it's good is up to the listener.

 

[MrFalconfly]

Music is any sequence of sounds which is chaotic enough to maintain interest but stays regular enough to not be noise.

Dubstep is music. Deal with it.

 

[Something Amyss]

So this ISN"t music!?

It IS music, it just ISN'T good.

 

[Tropicaz]

It depends. In my opinion, the decideing factor about whether a person is a musician or not and therefore whether or not they make music is this.
Go to a concert of theirs. Are there; a) instruments making noise, or b) is it some bloke sat with a laptop clicking play? If a) it's music, if b) it's not.