There was a time when it simply didn't make sense to me, I could hear nothing but incessant kick drums and obscure noises and was absolutely bewildered by those sat by the speaker mesmerized by it.
It’s almost impossible for me to reflect on dance music, as I often do, without doing so in the context of my all encompassing experience of it. In other words when I hear a new song, I instantly imagine it as if I was on the dance floor, surrounded by a mob of moon-eyed dancers in their own little worlds, with the bass rumbling up through my toes and the fantastical lights breaking through the thick hot haze of the room. It is with this understanding in mind of how dance music is predominantly heard, and more importantly how it is designed to be experienced, that I make all judgements and connect with the music in any meaningful way.
However to look at dance music objectively, without this mental catalogue of experiences to reference, it would seem rather less awe inspiring, even absurd. To look at it from a complete outsider’s perspective, as if you had just been gifted the ability to hear for the first time, it becomes difficult to attempt to communicate it’s appeal.
For one relentless repetition of a particular sound in any other context is really quite unpleasant, think of trying to sleep with a car alarm going off outside your window (granted alarms are designed to be distressing in their pitch also) or when a record skips and loops a certain section of a song, we immediately jump to rectify this without hesitation. It even goes as far as being used as a form of torture within special forces training. Then there is the overwhelmingly unnatural sound of the digital instruments used to create dance music, a trait that is at the very heart of some forms of the genre. Heard in any other situation one would generally be inclined to react with mild disgust and discomfort at such inhuman and alien sounds.
Set against the backdrop of more traditional forms of music even more factors become apparent. Although there are of course exceptions, a fair share of dance music generally has no coherent lyrics or even vocals. One would assume this would severely reduce the the listeners ability to connect with the song, to recognise and relate to the story being told and feel the human passion within the artists voice. Put like this it almost seems callous and cold.
Looking back there was certainly a time when this was my view of dance music, and this must inevitably be true of every dance music fan before they became one. There was a time when it simply didn't make sense to me, I could hear nothing but incessant kick drums and obscure noises and was absolutely bewildered by those sat by the speaker mesmerized by it.
I also vividly remember the moment at which I was “converted”. I had gone along to my first rave, with nothing in mind other than that there may be an abundance of females and intoxicants of which I was then very fond. A few drinks and cigarette breaks later, I decided to abandon my reservations and stroll into the thick pulsating crowd in front of me.
As I squeezed my way through the membrane of the dancefloor, the most astounding thing happened. With every step deeper into the dance floor the feeling of elation and careless abandon grew, my head started to nod to the beat and my body started to pulsate in unison with it. As I attempted to compute this torrent of new and fantastic sensations, I recall vividly a man behind me putting his hand on my clearly bewildered shoulder and saying simply “first rave?”. Before I could muster a retort he had embraced me, smiled at me and continued to dance like a 5 year old on Christmas day. At this very moment my eyes were opened, everything appeared to click and this world was finally accessible to me. The sweaty smiling faces no longer seemed scary, the repetition became like the heartbeat of the dancefloor and I never wanted it to stop. The otherworldly sounds were suddenly thrilling explorations of the speaker and I felt part of a community who understood this exact feeling.
I was then a permanent member of those who were sat mesmerized by a the speaker, never again to wonder what on earth was so thrilling. Since this experience I have witnessed the exact same phenomenon innumerable times, that exact point at which the curtain of the underground is abruptly lifted and all its wonders are revealed to the poor unsuspecting individual.
This is why fans of underground dance music are so often referred to as a “community”. There is an unspoken understanding that those within it experience something entirely different to those outside it when they listen. Those sat by the speaker hear something worlds apart to those looking on in amazement. So to those of you reading this who haven't experienced this mental paradigm shift I urge you to attend the very first underground event you can, there is certainly no shortage.
Ben Stevens
Follow Ben on Twitter: @bennysteves91
Images from Cgplux
