| Anyone else think the genre has stagnated?
I've been producing electronic music since the late '80's (coming from a pre-techno/industrial background). The 90's was an great period with TONS of innovation in EDM!! There were new sounds and styles being invented constantly. In my opinion, things have really become stale in the last 5 yrs. In the mid-90's, there was this excitement here in the states, and an anticipation that the whole dance culture would explode like in Europe. To the contrary, things seemed to fizzle out.
Why?? I attribute it to several factors: the death and criminalization of rave culture (the "rave act" of 2002), independent labels' reluctance to release various genres and sticking with a sound that they were known for, the explosion of hip-hop, the marketplace getting over-saturated with mediocre records, the death of vinyl and independent record stores, the advent of mp3/illegal downloading, the aftermath of excessive drug use.
Things go in cycles though, so let's hope there is a renaissance soon! |