Dubstep gains ground in mainstream music because of energy, intensity

For those of you not familiar with it (this category included me up until a few months ago), dubstep is a genre of techno or electronic dance music. Its most distinctive characteristics include heavy bass lines, computerized high vocals and the recognizable "drop," the moment when the music stops and returns a moment later, multiplied in intensity times ten. Allmusic.com describes dubstep songs as "tightly coiled productions with overwhelming bass lines and reverberant drum patterns, clipped samples and occasional vocals," but fans are more likely to attribute their obsession with dubstep to the music's ability to make you want to unwind and, simply put, have a good time without a care in the world.

The rhythm of dubstep is syncopated, which means that it deviates in some way from the standard or suspected beat. In syncopation, normally unstressed beats will be accented and there will be breaks or pauses in the music where they would not normally be.

I once heard a friend say, after returning from a dubstep night at Mist, a nightclub at Sound Stage in Baltimore, that dancing to dubstep is a lot like "having a seizure." So you may ask: what exactly is the appeal of this so-called type of music? The best way to understand the answer to this question is to ask Jennifer Navatto, a freshman from Dumont, N.J. "In order to appreciate my love for dubstep, you have to know how I was introduced to it," said Navatto. "I was at IHOP with my friends after a fencing meet during my senior year of high school when one of my friends mentioned dubstep in passing. My automatic response was: ‘Dubstep? What the hell kind of band name is that?' My friend looked at me in disbelief and shook her head."

Navatto was surprised to learn that dubstep was not the name of a band, but of an underground musical movement that originated in South London near the beginning of the 21st century and is currently making its way into mainstream American dance club culture. In an attempt to prove to her friend that she was "up to date with today's music scene," Navatto looked up a few dubstep songs to talk about with her friend. "I found some songs," she said, "but they were all terrible, and I could not understand how my friend liked a genre of music that I could only identify as loud and obnoxious." Navatto's friend told her that she was not listening to the right kind of dubstep and that she would introduce it to her.

"So one day we were driving in my car, and my friend told me to turn the volume up on the stereo all the way, and turn my bass down low," said Navatto. "I did as I was told. I waited in anticipation for about a minute, before the drop. I was starting to get disappointed, when the music suddenly stopped and came back with a stunning intensity."

Driving with the windows down late spring, with her music blaring and her best friend by her side, Navatto said she felt "young and alive." "I was free and invincible," she said, "and when I listen to dubstep it will always take me back to that moment."

For most people, though, dubstep is not quite a life-altering experience. Rather, it's something fun to listen to in the club, car or door room when you have energy to burn and want to try to dance to it (the key word there being ‘try').

Check out the following if you're interested: "Till I Collapse" by Eminem (Filth Dubstep Remix), "Pumped Up Kicks" by Foster the People (Dubstep Remix) and "First of the Year (Equinox)" by Skrillex.