Why is DnB so unpopular when compared to other genres?

Sicx said:
Drum & bass will always be unpopular because its still, and probably always will be, asociated with the 'rude boi anti-social chav' culture. Whenever people ask what i'm into I always feel a little embarrased to say drum & bass if im honest. People still think of it as screetchy, jump-up chavy shite and that's a real shame (in the UK anyway). It's the same with dubstep, say you like dubstep and 90% of people will automatically assume you're into datsik, doctor P, and other tunes that were made by hitting aload of tin cans together and recording lawn mowers.
It really is sad when you think about it as we all know both genres can be so, so much more if you know who and where to look. It's just a shame people aren't more open minded but that's just the way it is.
Also I like house and the 'deep house' genre but lets face it, it's 99% fucktard students who are into it because most of it's boardline cheese and they know nothing about decent music.

Sorry OP this had nothing to do with the American scene but I thought I'd rant away anyway
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Totally agree about the stigma of dnb.

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dat_skunk said:
Well for one, dance music/electronic music only just started getting really popular in the U.S. in the past five years or so. That being said, music in the U.S. usually gains a large following when there is some explosion of hype usually created by one or a two posterboys. This definitely hasn't been the case with drum & bass and not to sound like a hipster or anything but to be honest, its much better this way. Can you honestly imagine if there was some American dnb version of Skrillex?? would take a huge toll the whole scene like it has with dubstep.

You live in New York though? You should start taking trips down to the city and start exploring the rave scene there, like shatner mentioned, most people converge on facebook for events. You may be pleasantly surprised, as I was when I discovered that there is actually a pretty decent scene in both Baltimore and D.C. Camo & Krooked are actually coming to D.C. tonight, i'm seeing Rene Lavice at a rave on Saturday in Baltimore and i've gotten word of a drum & bass warehouse party sometime in march in d.c. Even a few local dj's here in b-more who spin strictly dnb as well. I understand where you're coming from though, electronic music has become very commercial here and most of the time when I talk to kids who think they know everything about "edm", they look at me with a blank and confused face when I tell them my favorite genre is drum & bass.
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Sicx said:
Drum & bass will always be unpopular because its still, and probably always will be, asociated with the 'rude boi anti-social chav' culture. Whenever people ask what i'm into I always feel a little embarrased to say drum & bass if im honest. People still think of it as screetchy, jump-up chavy shite and that's a real shame (in the UK anyway).
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Da fuck. I don't think most people know what jump up is, the masses just think dnb is like the dancefloor stuff, Wilkinson etc.
 
Its always been the runt child as of genres goes within the electronic music, thats what kinda makes it what it is, a specialist club, sometimes a bit too secular for my likings but hey, its ours no one elses
 
dat_skunk said:
You live in New York though? You should start taking trips down to the city and start exploring the rave scene there, like shatner mentioned, most people converge on facebook for events. You may be pleasantly surprised, as I was when I discovered that there is actually a pretty decent scene in both Baltimore and D.C. Camo & Krooked are actually coming to D.C. tonight, i'm seeing Rene Lavice at a rave on Saturday in Baltimore and i've gotten word of a drum & bass warehouse party sometime in march in d.c. Even a few local dj's here in b-more who spin strictly dnb as well. I understand where you're coming from though, electronic music has become very commercial here and most of the time when I talk to kids who think they know everything about "edm", they look at me with a blank and confused face when I tell them my favorite genre is drum & bass.
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This. I live near Philly, and while the scene seems pretty dead, it's really just on life support. You gotta find the events. Around here we have stuff like Concrete Jungle and Imperial Drum & Bass.
Not even a month ago, actually, Imperial hosted for Nymfo. Place went the fuck off.
 
One of the reasons why it is unpopular is because people are sheep and will never learn to think for themselves or outside the box. A few people from my area were proper into Jump Up. Now they all love deep house. Is deep House even deep?
 
jungle_fever said:
there is a scene in the stated but it seems to be a lot smaller and most on the west coast. Some US artists include:

Random movement
Gremlinz
Gridlok
Rene Lavice
Atlantic connection
Bachelors of science
Submorphics
Homemade weapons
(probably missed a lot out)

Theres was also a big jungle scene in canada which is now mainly focussed in toronto.

I think that murricans prefer screetchy dubstep is cos it resonates nicely with their brash, crude and loud-mouthed characters

:teeth:

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??? can you name a city that doesnt have a university?
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Gremlinz and Rene Lavice are both from Toronto Canada. We've Got a nice dnb scene here and i'm thankful for that. Not as big as it was with the rave boom in the late 90's but, it's on it's way back. Good promotion companies that Embrace the dnb and fit it in where they can also helps. not talking local small dnb promotions talking larger promo companies with those huge budgets and broader demographic of people. i find that once i actually get a person to a party and they feel bass, they're hooked. Until then however it's just noise to a lot of people.
 
there's a few current dnb artists from the US that I look out for

Dave Owen
Sinistarr
Fineprint
Hoogs
Sonus
Brockout
Crooked Soundz

not that many... I had a few chats with a fairly well known US dnb producer who used to post on here a few years back. he said he felt like he was being pressured into making dubstep/brostep instead of dnb (which he then started to do) so I guess that may apply to quite a few over there?
 
I'm a student in Leeds, it's all about house up here, the same pretty much goes for Manchester & Bristol, with techno quite popular as well. There is a good scene here and in Nottingham though, with Detonate and Jungle Jam producing some really good line-ups. The only dnb you here in the weekly clubs is Rudimental and Wilkinson though.
 
There's a very simple reason when talking about the large/broad mainstream market. UK has a national radio station (BBC Radio1) which has dedicated DNB shows, as well many other shows which will play some DNB. Even if you're John Q Pop Chart who just listens for the new Pitbull, you track can't avoid being exposed to DNB in some form or fasion, and at the very least know's what it is.

In the US and Canada there is no national music station, radio there is filled with nothing but ADS (always with the endless ads) corporate music and Top 40 shit... and when I said Top 40, I literally mean US Top 40 (Rhianna, Eminem, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Drake, etc)... you're not even going to hear Disclosure or DJ Fresh or Rudimental played, let along Sub Focus, Chase & Status, Matrix & Futurebound, Wilkinson, and so on - that's just in the UK they're "top 40 artists". There's also the ease in which indepdendent labels can get their stuff to certain specialist shows. I could literally email Crissy Criss or Friction a few days before their show and potentially have a tracks played on national radio a few days later... good luck doing that in North America unless you're some A&R or Radio Plugger at Warner or EMI, etc.

So unless you're really musically inclined like I was as a kid and on you go out on your own and YOU go search the music (maybe you discover dnb through other electronic music acts like The Prodigy, or from Dubstep [in the US]), or you have a mate clue you up to the genre, you could literally go your entire life over here without really being exposed to DNB and not knowing what it is.

So you really have to big up national radio, even though you might hate 80% of what they play, that is why you'll be hard pressed to find someone in the UK who doesn't even know what dnb is (even if they don't like it), whereas North America is a totally different animal.
 
Tim Viper Recs said:
In the US and Canada there is no national music station, radio there is filled with nothing but ADS (always with the endless ads) corporate music and Top 40 shit... and when I said Top 40, I literally mean US Top 40 (Rhianna, Eminem, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Drake, etc)... you're not even going to hear Disclosure or DJ Fresh or Rudimental played, let along Sub Focus, Chase & Status, Matrix & Futurebound, Wilkinson, and so on - that's just in the UK they're "top 40 artists". There's also the ease in which indepdendent labels can get their stuff to certain specialist shows. I could literally email Crissy Criss or Friction a few days before their show and potentially have a tracks played on national radio a few days later... good luck doing that in North America unless you're some A&R or Radio Plugger at Warner or EMI, etc.
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I'm pretty sure most radio stations in the US are just automated playlists, very few have actual DJs selecting the tunes. Once Clear Channel started buying up all of the radio stations over here they got rid of the human element to keep costs down.
 
Sicx said:
Drum & bass will always be unpopular because its still, and probably always will be, asociated with the 'rude boi anti-social chav' culture.
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That's actually what I love about Drum and Bass though. And I am FAR FAR from a chav myself. I would classify as a nerdy anime / video game loving art student probably but honestly the whole aesthetic around chavy Drum and Bass. Love it! Find it inspiring even! (And yes I love Jump up)

That's not to say I think all Drum and Bass is "chavy" .. I know ALL about this deep, ""subtle"" side of DnB and Im actually a huge fan of it as well as old school Jungle.. Hell most of my record collection is 93 to 95 Jungle so trust me I know my music.. But I don't understand why people worry about reperesentation of genres. I used to be like that in Highschool because all my mates were emo kids and I was the only one who liked DnB. They thought it was "proppa chav music" and that pissed me off but nowadays I couldn't give a fuck. I welcome the chav aspect! It's hilarious. From the clowniest of Jump up tunes to the deep structured bass weight stuff. It's all good man

Always loved Drum and Bass for it's "urban" appeal. Much like Garage, Dubstep, Bassline and Grime music. Infact House is probably the only genre I just can't seem to get into now on the streets of London

Would much prefer DnB grouped with chavs then some poncy middle class twats. Keep it real man

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Afek_One said:
Drum and bass will never be popular because most people find it abrasive and hard to dance to. 170 bpm breakbeats just aren't for everyone
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This I can agree with. The pure intensity of the sound just isn't for everyone. It isn't Gabber mind you but if you really think about it it isn't far off..

For this reason im actually surprised Americans arn't drooling for it..

But anyway I realised this when I took one of my new mates raving and he just wasn't feeling the relentless 2 by 4 breaks at past the 160 mark.. He actually said "This is too fast for me"

To me I find that fascinating though.. You have all these 120 and 140bpm genres.. then you have Drum and Bass which is much faster by comparison and yet it still has a big reputation and following. It makes Drum and Bass what it is. Very interesting genre of music and always will be.

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vElectrixx said:
Where I live, Drum and Bass is nearly nonexistant. If I talk to people about similar genres and eventually go onto DnB, their reaction is always "What's that?". Maybe in other regions of the world it's rather popular (*cough* Europe), but everyone here in America seems to be interested in the latest Skrillex song or other forms of Dubstep. What has caused this to happen? I'd like to hear a thought from anyone on this matter.
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It's odd because say.. stuff like Jump up. That was doing the whole robot wobble bass thing YEARS before it was Incorporated into Dubstep and this american """EDM""" thing. Im suprised Americans arn't into that sort of Drum and Bass because it basically sounds like what most americans believe is "Dubstep" but at a much more intense speed.

I can imagine Americans just going nuts over it but it's not really happening..

Jump up sounds on a Dubstep beat has always sounded really awkward to me.. Besides Coki and Jakes's older stuff... American style Dubstep just cats straight off the jump up sound
 
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i actually think its easier to dance to dnb than to anything else. when i first heard dnb in a club, i knew this is what i was always looking for. when i'm trying to dance to house now it just feels uncomfortably slow. i guess dnb has spoiled me for other genres.

and i think its actually not a bad thing dnb isnt that popular. imagine it being super hip, every kid running around with dnb tshirts, and skrillex equivalent dnb artists on the radio, and then whenever im asked what music im into and i say "dnb", i'd get the response "yeah i like it too, have you heard the new <skrillex equivalent> track?".
i wouldnt like that..
 
weisbrot said:
and i think its actually not a bad thing dnb isnt that popular. imagine it being super hip, every kid running around with dnb tshirts, and skrillex equivalent dnb artists on the radio, and then whenever im asked what music im into and i say "dnb", i'd get the response "yeah i like it too, have you heard the new <skrillex equivalent> track?".
i wouldnt like that..
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This.
 
Its like the question I have, "why are the tracks that are so bad ass under the radar?" Since those tracks are produced by artists who seem to be steering away from that style and more towards trap or something similar, Im going to blame peer pressure or something of that nature. I vow never to let trap or booty shaking music get in the way of helping advance DNB.

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Heres an interesting study. Where is real DNB more popular, the US or elsewhere? Where is Trap and the likes more popular? The answers to these questions Im sure will reveal the truth. Im new to this, but now I will research this.
 
saam said:
Drum and bass isnt as 'cool' as house though remember!

Sent from my MT15i using Tapatalk 2
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House music and house lovers are cool, and may prevail over the present day DNB crowd... in "coolnes" ...lol...I wont debate that. Its just that my vision is focused on the future of DNB. Im not one to have tunnel vision though, and put aside other great genres like house, techno, or breakbeats. Im loyal to EDM, but I want to help advance DNB.
 
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