Poll Results

I created my poll with the intentions to learn about the musical tastes of the students in our English 4 class and anybody else who s following my blog. I did this because of how personal the music somebody listens to can be to them; the favorite genre of a certain person can help explain who that person is, and what kind of energy they prefer. I didn’t have many expectations at all, except I had a pretty good feeling the electronic based genres, such as House and Dubstep, were going to prevail on top of the poll.

A total of eight people voted in my poll. They had the choice of Rap music, Reggae, House music, and Dubstep. Reggae received no votes, Rap and Dubstep got two each, and House lead the poll with a total of four votes.

I suppose the results came out this way because of the era we’re in as of today. Electronic music represents the people who listen to the most contemporary music; the most progressive and experimental sounds. This is shown by data with Dubstep receiving 25% of the votes and House with 50% of all the votes. The only surprise I got from my poll was that apparently nobody likes Reggae music anymore; it seems to have lost its acclaim. Although it is a pretty small poll to base that claim off of, Reggae is more popular with the earlier eras of listening.

To conclude, this poll has elicited some ideas for future posts of mine. For one, I am going to continue representing electronic music, because of how people obviously enjoy it, but the best idea I have is to make a post conveying the mixture of genres within Electronic music. Many people with single minded likes could be intrigued to hear their favorite songs remixed into electric masterpieces. Anyways, thanks for reading and I’ll get back at you with more interesting parts of the Electronic music scene.

How to Dance Dirty

The website Gotta Dance Dirty is a useful multi-purpose music blog that keeps people up to date on the electronic music scene. It was started by a man named Jonah( without a last name), and is maintained and edited by him and ten other editors. It’s impossible telling how old this blog is or when it was started because of how many older posts there are. It could take hours of hitting the older posts button before reaching the start of it all.

The layout of everything is quite nice, since it’s a blog everything is in chronological order, meaning the newer posts are the first things that you see. It has a black studded leather background that elicits the electro feel. Finding information and music is actually really simple, by simply scrolling the page down the information seems to just magically appear.

The accuracy of the content on the site is definitely high up there. It isn’t hard to tell that the editors love music and have made it a part of their lives. Also, compared to other music blogs Gotta Dance Dirty has the most recent songs and interviews. Any professional or even amateur DJ would appreciate what this site does for electronic music. On the basis of credibility this site is very credible, but slightly biased. For a music blog such as Gotta Dance Dirty this is a good thing. They have a bias toward good music and artists. In other words, they only put good music on their site and only interview good, upcoming artists(I’m sure they would interview the bigger artists, but Rolling Stone has seniority over Gotta Dance Dirty. (haha)).

The most impressive part of Gotta Dance Dirty is the content. As far as what somebody could learn from the site, they could learn about a certain motives of artists, and how they feel about their music. The most recent interview of duo Booka Shade regarded their tour that they are about to embark on across North America. The interviewer seemed intelligent as well as kind, and asked many good questions. Other than the interviews are the mp3s and DJ mixes that are posted up. They are always high quality recordings, and the blog has it setup so you can download these songs almost directly off of the site. This makes it a useful utility for DJs to find and download music. The purpose of this site is too expand and represent electronic music for all the people in the world, and they are doing a swell job doing so. Gotta Dance Dirty is the epitome of a music blog, and will continue to do good work.

The Currant Standing

As of today electronic music has been in an interesting light; the younger generation has embraced it for the energetic and fun times that are associated with it, but the older people who’s kids may enjoy these shows do not know what to think. They link these parties, concerts, and festivals with the negativity of underage drinking, elicit drug use, and the distribution of illegal drugs. The University of Delaware sponsored a project that explored the “significance of electronica in youth culture today and its connections to collective identity and positive and negative human agency.” They found that the underground “rave scene” has expanded into a bigger and broader collection of people. For the most part, those people with the negative views of contemporary music need to revaluate the music scene of today.

The research of sociologist Tammy Anderson Ph.D. reviled the truth about the different subcultures of electronica. Her findings suggested that the people that attend these events are comprised of two general types; the first are the people that go to have a good time with friends and see the music that they love, and the others are the people that go to do a variety of illegal things. In addition, social diversity of the people that devote themselves to this scene contributes to the amount of negative talk among todays adults. The easy going group is the epitome of the modern era, whereas the other, darker sub-culture represents the people tainting the reputations of those who follow an “electronic lifestyle.” The amiable people that are taking over the obsolete rave scene give a new light to the culture of electronic music. Dubstep is a genre, that has been making headway in the mainstream music scene, and leaving its some of its underground roots behind. Getting its influence from the sub-bass utilizing producers of British dance music in the early 90’s dubstep has evolved into a mash up of genres, though it will always keep its characteristic 2-step drum lines and wobble bass. Producer Rusko has been drifting into mainstream music; he recently has done some production work on the new Brittany Spears album. This is a big change from producing for the underground UK club culture to whatever kind of people listen to Brittany Spears. The electronic music scene has become something very different from the old rave-scene that the late 80’s and early 90’s brought to us. Now its a mix of new-school party people and electronica enthusiasts that are helping propel these contemporary artists to fame.

Citiations
Murphy, Tom. "OMG! Rusko's Stepping into Mainstream Territory with His New Album - Page 1 - Music - Denver - Westword." Denver News, Events, Restaurants, Music Westword. 16 Sept. 2010. Web. 09 Oct. 2010. .

Anderson, Tammy L. Rave Culture and the Contemporary Electronic Music Scene. University of Delaware, 2007. Web. 9 Oct. 2010.

General Information

Over time music has evolved into something that the first musicians never would have even imagined. The first tribal drummers and vocalists did not know the concept of electricity, so of course they were not even thinking about electronic music, but about electronic noise.

Electronic music is thought to have stemmed from the first machine designed to record sounds; despite the fact that it could not replay the sounds it recorded. It was designed by the famous Thomas Edison in 1878, and used cylinders to record the noises. A second influential invention was the first vacuum tube, created by Lee DeForest in 1906. It allowed the amplification of electronic signals. This is where it all started; using electricity to produce noise. It wasn’t until the late 1960’s when the first computer was used to make music. During the 70’s synthesizers were becoming popular in rock music. The band Pink Floyd used them to much of his advantage . Next, was the rise of electronic dance music, the product of these technological advances.

During the last decade computer related technology has been on the rise. This has brought a whole new approach to electronic music. Better computers and synthesizers have helped electronic producers to express themselves in whichever way they desire. They have access to virtually any instrument, and can record any type of audio to use in an arrangement.

The festivals and tours related to the electronic music culture are some of the most popular in the world; having international acclaim. The 2010 Electric Daisy Carnival in Los Angeles, California was an event to be remembered. 185,000 people showed up to the two day festival highlighting the best electronic music of the year. Said to be the largest North American electronic music festival ever. On the less bright side of the event, a drug related death of a 15 year old girl brought strong animosity. The drug ecstasy is a widely used throughout this “music scene,” and when teenager have access to this dangerous drug there is no telling what might happen. In response to the death, the company Insomniac Events has changed there 16 and up policy to 18 and up, and have inquired the help of a consulting firm with experience in general safety protocol. The change in age requirement will hopefully lead to less injuries, and fatalities. To sum up everything, the electronic music culture is a wide spread group, that spans the globe, and has come extremely far; and is the music of the current generation.

Citations

Wikipedia contributors. "Electronic music." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 1 Oct. 2010. Web. 3 Oct. 2010.

"Girl, 15, Dies after Weekend Rave at L.A. Coliseum - Page 2 - Los Angeles Times." Featured Articles From The Los Angeles Times. 30 June 2010. Web. 03 Oct. 2010. .

"Electric Daisy Carnival - Friday June 25 & Saturday June 26th 2010." Electric Daisy Carnival 2010. Web. 03 Oct. 2010. .

Johnson, By Reed. "Electric Daisy Carnival Draws 185,000 for Electronic Music and Good Vibes - Los Angeles Times." Featured Articles From The Los Angeles Times. 28 June 2010. Web. 03 Oct. 2010. .