Poll: Dubstep. Music or not music?

[ScrabbitRabbit]

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).

For a start, nearly all music made on computers is played in on a keyboard. No, not a typing keyboard, a musical keyboard (specifically a MIDI keyboard). A few producers use other instruments as well, such as MIDI guitars and one of my University tutors even uses a MIDI flute! So, while it's not strictly necessary to do so, most producers can and do play an instrument to make their music.

Secondly you still need skill in order to compose music, not just play it. Just because you like a style of music does not mean you know how to write it and, honestly, how many local bands have you seen who are technically good at their instruments but write terrible music? To imply that the only skillful element of music is in the performance is just blatantly wrong; music is a creative art just as much as (perhaps more than) it is a performance art.

Thirdly, you don't seem to realize just how much music is made on computers now. Many videogame and film soundtracks, even orchestral ones, are frequently done using samplers and synthesizers on a computer. Jeremy Soule composes this way quite a lot, guess that means his soundtracks took no skill to make, right?

 

[Naeras]

It's music. Every single dubstep song I've ever heard has made my ears bleed and spine curl, though, so you can safely say that I think the genre is fucking awful and a disgrace to humanity, but it's still music.

 

[Kargathia]

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 ...

Yes, we could've. Funny you mention it.

 

[ScrabbitRabbit]

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.

So, what you're saying is, the composition has fuck all to do with whether or not something is music only whether or not the creator is a performer?

Again, music is also a creative art. There is MUCH more to it than performance.

Besides which, I've never attended a gig, electronic or otherwise, that consisted of the performer doing nothing but "pressing play on a laptop." I can't imagine anyone would even get away with that.

 

[doggy go 7]

Music? Yes. Music that I listen to and think is good? Fuck no (although in fairness, I've heard 1/2 songs that I find tollerable)

 

[II2]

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?

Merbow is the best known and (arguably) most influential "noise band" (just one guy) in Japan and, possibly, worldwide. The Noise 'music' scene typically draws influence and audiences from disparate genres such as music concrete, industrial, indie/shoegaze, extreme metal and psychedelic rock. It's bands focus on explorations of atonal and often chaotic sounds via any and every instrument and non instrument sound equipment available, often using elaborate configurations for guitar pedals, home made instruments and electronics.

/literal answer

 

[geK0]

Yea it's music; I can see why some people might think otherwise because of the lack of instrumentals and vocals, but this is just another way to make sounds to a rhythm. I'm not all that knowledgeable about how dubstep is made, but I'm pretty sure there's more to it than mashing sounds together, I'm sure the bigger artists have some sort of knowledge of music theory and such.....right?

 

[geK0]

Got to love the number of people in this thread stating their own biased opinions as fact.

It sort of gets redundant to preface every post with "in my opinion"; it's fair to assume that most people posting on topics like this have no idea what they're talking about (myself included).

 

[Captain Pirate]

Yes, it is. If somebody doesn't like it, that doesn't revoke its status.

And there we have it.
Exactly this.

 

[klaynexas3]

"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.

By those standards, this isn't music.


Neither is the picture in that video an actual picture, because it was made on the computer. Your definition of what art is is pretty flemsy and close-minded to say the least. While I'll admit most music that people say they like today takes very little skill to perform or compose, there are still well done dubstep songs out there.

 

[klaynexas3]

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;

I think an entire other thread would be needed to debate whether or not that is music. I for one like it, and would even say it has artistic value to it, but due to lacking plenty of things that make music what it is, am a little less certain as to where it would fall, if not in its own area.

 

[Sunrider]

Of course it's music, anyone who says otherwise is fooling themselves.
I still voted no, because I'm an asshole and I hate dubstep.

 

[ThePS1Fan]

Sure it's music. It just sucks. Shit music is still music just, you know, shit.

 

[Andy Shandy]

Yes, even though I may not like pretty much all of it.

However I do like the song that was on the Doomsday trailer for Borderlands 2 that Daystar posted.

Here it is in full

 

[Innegativeion]

If you can hear it, and it has the slightest shadow of rythem and beat to it then... yeah, it's music.

Personally, I can barely hear the beat through the hot transformer on transformer action, though.

I really don't get the appeal to it at all.

 

[EvilMaggot]

So this ISN"t music!?

Why do people do nothing but disappoint me?

Thank you for sharing that

 

[revjor]

Go see AraabMUZIK. My buddy has just hated dubstep since the beginning. I convince him to go see an AraabMUZIK show and he quickly changed his mind.

There's always something glorious about seeing someone absolutely crush an MPC.

 

[Parivir]

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;

Music... eh maybe?
does it need to be in a indie horror game... definitely. shudder

 

[Nouw]

​

Yes it is real music and it kicks ass too. It's no harder to find good songs in dubstep than it is in any other genre. It is easy to make, yes, but it is hard to make it sound good. All electronic musicians need to know their musical theory and there is no exception for dubstep.

 

[GameMaNiAC]

Dubstep is music, indubitably so.

But is it good music? That is the real question here.

The people who don't like dubstep will surely say it is not music. Though, let's be realistic, it is. It's merely a rather unique form of music.

I am not really much of a dubstep fan myself, but to answer the question, it is music.