EDM THROUGH TIME

BY SHANNON
 WHERE THE TERM EDM CAME FROM?

The term electronic dance music (EDM) was used in America as early as 1985, but it did not catch on as a music genre name
until the second half of the 1990s, when it was used by the American music industry and in academic writing. The terms that
are used were popular in the US in the late 2000s when different genres became more mainstream and changed from EDMs
underground roots. In the UK genres of EDM were mainly referred to as dance music.
Electronic dance music is a set of
percussive music styles from the
production of disco, techno,
house, and trance. EDM became
popular in nightclub scenes in
the 1980s, the warehouse party
scene of the late 1980s and the
early rave of acid house
movement in the late 1980s.
In the mid-1980s and into the
WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
early 1990s, disco became less
popular, but electronic
production dominated new
popular dance music styles, such
as electro, Industrial, freestyle,
house and techno.

In the later half of the 1970s the disco scene

began to move away from traditional
orchestration on its recordings. In 1977, producer
Giorgio Moroder worked with Donna Summer to
produce I Feel Love, a dance hit made using
By the mid-1990s EDM was becoming more
synthesizers and drum machines. In 1979, they
common and popular, and its role in society
collaborated again on Donna Summers highest
began to be explored in published historical,
selling album Bad Girls, which used similar
cultural and social science academic studies.
production techniques. This sound became apart
of many disco records in the late 1970s and into
the 1980s.
 FIRST 3 MAIN ARTISTS OF 1980S

To start with EDM wasnt a very big deal for the streets of America and also the uk but in the UK three big
idols made EDM go world wide in a matter of weeks. These were DJs and producers who were much more
commercial and began to get noticed by music critics and the media.

DNA
DJ Jellybean Benitez
The Chemical Brothers
EDM KEY TRACKS OVER TIME.

1970s
Donna Summerss: I feel love . This was released in 1977, and it was also a form of disco.
1980s
Michael Jacksons: The way you make me feel. This was released in 1987 and was an EDM genre of pop.
1990s
Fatboy Slims: praise you. This was released in 1998 and was also in the pop section.
2001
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. Released in 2001 and hit number one on the EDM charts.
2010s
Lady Gagas: the fame. Released in 2010 and also hit number one in the edm charts.
KEY FEATURES OF EDM MUSIC

Electronic dance music has a reputation for being without feeling and cold.
You dont actually have a musician this is because edm uses music programmes or real/fake
instruments with lots of sound manipulating it.
It can be made using just a computer.
its use of electronic instruments like synthesizers, computers, and digital sequencers rather than
mechanical instruments like pianos, brass, guitars, etc.
You dont need to know how to play instruments.
HOW IT WAS MADE?

In 1980s, EDM was constructed by electronic instruments, synthesizers, drum machines and sequencers. Some
of the most widely used synthesizers in electronic dance music include the Yamaha DX7, Korg M1 and Rolands
Jupiter and SH-101. Also, the most widely used bass synthesizer is the Roland TB-303, while the most widely
used drum machines are Rolands TR-808 and TR-909. Synthesizers opened new possibilities for music because
you could use more complex riffs and layering and different electronic sounds that couldnt be produced with
acoustic instruments. This was a fresh and modern sound to most listeners.
TECHNOLOGY

Synthesizer - generated sounds electronically.

Sequencer - inputting, editing, storing and playing back data from a musical performance.
Sampler - processed and played back different sounds.
Sample - digitally recorded fragment of sound
Looping - a short sample is repeated over and over again
Vocoder - a speech processor which makes a human voice sound synthetic with a robotic effect.
Remixing - take an original track and make a new version by changing the style and balance, adding new parts
and taking away parts.
Reverb - created artificially in recording and is the most commonly used studio effect
 IMAGERY AND FASHION

This was what people were wearing in the clubs of the time of the 1980s. it consisted of
bright colours, big backcombed hair and large tutus.

The fashion changed considerably much during the year 2000

onward. The fashion was denim jeans and stripy tops outstanding the
fashion of the year 2000.

The fashion is now what we are most likely to see at festivals. With vests and short
shorts, especially at it gets really hot in the clubs, illegal raves and festivals.
 NIGHTCLUB SCENES

1980s: Inside the clubs it was very dark apart from the very bright
disco lights that blinded the nightclub scene.

2000s: The raves got bigger as the years began to get more successful
and bigger djs. this added more illegal raves and parties as there was
no room inside the full up clubs.

Now: the scene has began to get more and more influenced of the
scenes of the 2000s and now have ventured outside creating festivals
such as Glastonbury and powderham castle.
 MY SUBGENRES
My 6 genres are :
1. Techno house
2. Grime
3. Ragga jungle
4. Disco
5. Synthpop
6. Dubstep
 SUB GENRE 1: DISCO (1970S)
THE ORIGIN OF EDM
Disco is a style of up tempo dance music which
uses:
a time signature of 4 by 4 and a fast tempo
Disco dances are usually made
Four on the floor rhythms
up of these several simple
guitar driven energy often with synced bass moves:
lines
1. revolving the hands and raising
some orchestral arrangements using string and
brass instruments the arms in time to the beat
vocals with reverb 2. turns ending with planting the
verse and chorus structure
foot on the floor on the beat
3. stepping forwards and
lyrics about love and dancing
backwards whilst tilting the
shoulders up and down
Disco first appeared in the early 1970s in 4. stepping side to side between
the clubs of New York. The most famous moves
club in America was Studio 54. The first
audiences were either gay or black.
Discotheques played vinyl records on
powerful sound systems for non-stop
dancing using strobe disco lighting systems
which moved to the beat of the music.
CONTINUED:
What are the features of this style which make it the origin?
There is 4 beats in the bar and also a reverb on the vocals. This is similar to the development of EDM because
EDM continued to often have 4 clear beats and reverb on different vocals and backing vocals. It also used
synthesizers which became the main foundation of other EDM styles.
What features are different in this subgenre?
Disco is much more catchy than other EDM. It uses a pop song structure and has a chorus you can sing along to. It
is fast and the upbeat rhythm and timing make it easy to dance to. The major key is happy and positive and the
dance moves reflect this.

What two pieces of music show these features?

Beegees: staying alive
Youthquake: you spin me round (like a record)
 1ST RECORDING (DISCO): BEEGEES STAYIN ALIVE

Disco
I chose this song
The Beegees Stayin Alive because it shows how
Released in 1977 disco (edm) first became
Written for the movie Saturday Night Fever popular in its first years.
Won a grammy award Also staying alive shows
The features of disco you can hear are: the reverb on vocals and
4 beats in a bar
it has the classic 4 beats
in a bar. The falsetto
Reverb on vocals
voices are catchy and
Falsetto
this is a really famous
String synthesizer
tune.
Pop song structure
In 1995 N Trance released a remix of the song
Here is the track:
https://soundcloud.com/punkpussyrecords/n-trance-stayin-alive-dj-nipper-remix
In the remix, it is a faster tempo it also is a longer song with less vocal parts. It uses a sample of different song lyrics.
 SUB GENRE 2: CLUB DANCE
(1970S-1980S)
Club dance music is Music techniques:
technology-based with
the DJ playing an The Technics SL1200 turntable appeared in the 1970s
important role in mixing and had a big effect on the dance scene because it lent
and presenting tracks. It itself to scratching. A pitch control meant you could
is characterised by: speed up or slow down records so that two records could
be matched and songs could be mixed together. MIDI
four-on-the-floor (Musical Instrument Digital Interface allowed one
rhythms musician to control lots of different electronic
Lots of samples and instruments which was easier and cheaper.
loops
links to the club scene The roots of club dance are in 1970s Jamaican dub,
layered textures Funk, Disco and 1980s European synth-pop.

Remixing, use of mixing desk, echo, reverb, electric

guitar are all early influence.
CONTINUED:

What are the features of this style which are similar to the main genre?
In club dance you tend to see a lot of four-on-the-floor rhythms which you can compare to disco which this is featured in. Also
the extensive use of samples and loops. The use of catchy vocals and the upbeat tempo that people want to dance to.
What features are different in this subgenre?
The difference is that club dance music is technology based with the dj and the dj is in more control with the music. Also the
music is played in blocks whereas in other genres there was breaks in between, mainly for the club dancers to have a pint or too
before dancing with their partners and friends again. Club dance is not always in popular song form like disco and length of
tracks can vary.

What two pieces of music show these features?

Michael Jackson: beat it remix
The boy is mine: first night
 2ND RECORDING: MICHAEL JACKSON BEAT IT
Club dance
Michael Jackson beat it
Released for the album thriller in 1982
Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance

Here is the track:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRdxUFDoQe0

I chose this song because it shows club dance off as it is a well known song. Also Michael Jackson was famous for his
music and his own style. This song also shows the features of club dance like drum machine, reverb on vocals. I think
there are some loops in the percussion. I think there are also some synthesizers like the guitar part. This song is
catchy like disco music but uses more technology.

Here is a remix of the song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0LwYLuXWhE
 SUB GENRE 3: DUBSTEP (1990S)
Dubstep rhythms are usually
syncopated, and shuffled
Dubstep is a genre of EDM that
and are sometimes
originated in South London. It came
complicated with tuplets or
along in the late 1990s as a
triplets.
development from other styles such
The tempo is always in the
as 2-step garage, dub, techno, drum
range of 138142 beats a
and bass, broken beat, jungle, and
minute with a clap or snare
reggae. In the UK the origins of the
inserted on the third beat in
genre can be traced back to the
a bar.
growth of the Jamaican sound
In the early stages, dubstep
system party scene in the early
was more percussive, with
1980s. The music features sparse,
influences from 2-step drum
synced drum and percussion
patterns.
patterns with bass lines that
contains sub bass frequencies.
CONTINUED:

What are the features of this style which are similar to the main genre?
The main features of dubstep are the incorporate elements of drum and bass. Dubstep is also similar other genres because even though it is
a faster style of music, it still incorporates 4 beats per bar and also sometimes in dubstep music they have a reverb on the vocals.
Occasionally dubstep doesnt tend to have lyrics involved. Dubstep had strong bass lines and drum patterns like many EDM subgenres. Early
dubstep was similar in structure to other EDM genres. This would be an intro, main section, mid section, main section again and an outro.

What features are different in this subgenre?

The features that are different are that the rhythms are usually syncopated and often shuffled. There are only occasional vocals and the
focus is on the drum and bass. Sometimes you hear a Wobble bass which is an extended bass note which repeats rhythmicaly using a
synthesizer. Famous to dubstep is also the bass drop where the percussion pauses to silence and then resumes with more intensity.

What two pieces of music show these features?

your Song Ellie Goulding Dubstep remix
lines in wax: I cant stop Flux Pavilion
 3RD RECORDING: YOUR SONG ELLIE GOULDING
DUBSTEP REMIX
I chose Your song because it shows off
dubstep really well because in this
track she takes breaks to add in more
complex beats which I thought work
Artist: Ellie Goulding
well with this song.
Album: Bright Lights
Released: 26th of February 2010
Genre: Pop/dubstep
This is a dubstep track because I can hear multiple percussive sounds and the 2-step drum patterns. The
snare drum is prominent. There is a bass drop and wobble bass. Reverb on the vocal.
Here is the track:
https://soundcloud.com/search?q=dubstep%20remix
 SUB GENRE 4: TECHNO HOUSE
(LATE 1990S-200S)

Techno house is a subgenre of house music that mixes elements of techno with house. The music first had a clean
and small production that came from Detroit and the UK. In the middle to late 1990s a scene developed in England
around club nights such as The Drop run by Mr.C and Plink Plonk, Heart and Soul and Wiggle. Other DJs and artists
associated with the sound at that time included Charles Webster, Bushwacka! By the late 90's going into the 2000s,
London nightclub The End, owned by the former Shamen rapper Richard West (Mr. C) and Layo Paskin, was the home
of techno house in the UK. Techno house tracks are typically between 610 minutes in length.
 CONTINUED:

What are the features of this style which are similar to the main genre?
Has similar drum patterns and use purely synthetic sounds. Also the main feature compared to the other genres
includes four beats in a bar which is commonly used in these songs.

What features are different in this subgenre?

The difference is that often or no chord movement at all and also a few or no vocals.

What to pieces of music show these features?

2 unlimited: tribal
This is burns: house nation
 4TH RECORDING: 2 UNLIMITED TRIBAL
Artist: 2 Unlimited
Album: No Limits
Released: 1993
Genre: Dance pop/ techno house
I know that this is techno because you can see the track is longer than 6 minutes long.
Here is the track:
http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/2unlimited/tribaldance.html

I chose 2 unlimited tribal because it is influenced by dance pop and tech house which shows to
different varieties of genres in edm. Also its features show that this track shows fewer vocals than
usual types of techno music.
 SUB GENRE 5: RAGGA JUNGLE

The style is credited with engaging the black community within the
jungle scene, and contributed to the 'bad boy' and 'rude boy'
subculture within the UK. Ragga jungle's popularity has wandered
significantly since 1995 in the UK, this is because the popular DJs have
stopped giving the sound airtime. There was a large amount of
rudeboy and gun talk reggae being made at that time which influenced
the ragga jungle sound. Some tracks featured gangster movie music,
gunshots and Reggae sound clashes.
CONTINUED:
What are the features of this style which are similar to the main genre?
The main features are that this sound of music is a mix of jungle and ragga music. This also shows little chord
movement which connects it too techno house, so it is similar to another genre of edm.

What features are different in this subgenre?

The difference is that this sort of edm music has a more violent feature and more rude boy/gun talk added into it.

What to pieces of music show these features?

King jammy: Under Mi Sleng Teng
Upsetters 14: Dub Blackboard Jungle
 5TH RECORDING: UNDER MI SLENG TENG KING JAMMY
Ragga jungle
Produced in 1991
By king jammy and producer wayne smith
I know that this is ragga jungle because you
can hear the rude boy lyrics and guntalk
throughout.

Here is there track

http://www.songlyrics.com/wayne-smith/under-
mi-sleng-teng-lyrics/

I chose under mi sleng teng king jammy because

it shows off all the featuers of raga jungle. It
incorporates guntalk and violence which is
commonly seen and heard in the music and the
music videos, I dont really like raga jungle
because of the harsh and rude lyrics because it is
not normally what Id listen too.
 SUB GENRE 6: GRIME

Grime is a genre of music that emerged in East London in the early 2000s. It is
primarily a development of UK garage and jungle. Most known artists include
Dizzee Rascal, Ghetts, Kano, Lethal Bizzle, Skepta, and Wiley. It has origins with
UK pirate radio stations such as Rinse FM. Also, Dizzy Rascal, Wiley, Kano and
Lethal Bizzle were among the first to bring the genre to mainstream media
attention in 20032004. grime is made using strong thumping drums of drum
and bass, lyricism and vocal styles of UK Garage and alter some of the rhythms of
dancehall
Typical instruments:
Emceeing, toasting, rapping, music sequencer, digital audio workstation and
turntables.
CONTINUED:
What are the features of this style which are similar to the main genre?
The features that are similar is that it ahs rapping and is made by a music sequencer to give it the effect of an
edm style.

What features are different in this subgenre?

Some of the features that are different is that toating has been added. Toasting is a style of lyrical chanting in
grime music, involves a DJ talking over a riddim.

What to pieces of music show these features?

Dizzee rascal: I luv u
Next hype: all stars pars
6TH RECORDING: DIZZEE RASCAL I LUV U
Grime music
Album: Boy in da Corner
Released: 2003
I know that this is grime because you can hear the distinct strong thumping of the drums throughout
dizzee rascals song.
Here is his recording:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/records/nznb8x

I chose I luv you because it clearly

states that it is grime because of the
rap and grime features inside the
music of the track. Also his song used
a turntable to create the different
sections of his song