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With the twenty-first century well underway, dubstep has established itself as the dominant musical sound right across the globe. Having swept aside all other genres, dubstep now emits unchallenged from the open windows of every house on every street in every town of every country in the world. The dubstep versioning of the Emmerdale theme music -- the last of the British soaps to adopt the sound for its titles -- has irrefutably cemented its legacy.
Dubstep emerged on the underground music scene around the turn of the twentieth-century, and was readily recieved by the bass-hungry Edwardians. The style, like "hip-foxtrot-hop" and "ragtime-dancehall" before it, was influenced and inspired by the advancements in loudspeaker technology that had taken place over the preceeding century. Dubstep music was created specifically to take full advantage of the astonishing capabilities of the collosal Victorian speaker boxes.
Standing over nine feet in height, the infamous 1812 ARX "Mule" was one of the most notorious speaker cabinets to shake the music-halls of the 19th century.
Before the first decade of the twentieth century was out, dubstep had produced some huge anthems. One such tune, "I do like to be beside the bass bins", was written by Florrie Forde in 1909, and was a guaranteed pull-up in the dance-halls (then known as music-halls) of the time:
Oh I do like to be beside the bass bins
I do like to be beside the subs
I do like to skank across the cavernous room
Where the bass bins play boom-baddy boom boom boom
So just let me be beside the bass bins
I'll be sure to salute for the dubs
My selector run the ride
While I am stood beside
Beside the bass bins
Beside the subs
In 1913 Russolo and Piatti developed the "dub-horns", which were designed specifically to produce the super sub-low basslines of dubstep music from a managable sized box. Piatti's vision, as he explained to Russolo, was to "build a cab no taller than a man's waist that can comfortably do 30Hz at 108dB, innit." This creation revolutionised the portability of sound-system, and by 1920 dubstep had spread from the music-halls into the homes of the masses. The British middle-class were renowned for their 3 day skankathon house parties, and it was said that no Georgian parlour was complete without a pair of Russolo and Piatti's thunderous "flannel flappers".
Designed for the faithful reproduction of dubstep bassline, Russolo and Piatti's dub-horns revolutionised sound-system culture in the early part of the 1900s.
By the 1950s, dubstep had attained true international recognition, seen in such chart smashes as Bill Hayley and The Comets' "Brock Around the Clock" and "Skank, Rattle and Roll", and of course the big screen musical blockbuster "Skanking in the Rain". On his London stints, Elvis Presley himself would religiously visit Transition Studios get some exclusive dubplate cut. These subbed-out versions of The King's classics are now so saught after that -- even though the acetates are virtually unplayable -- the discs change hands for incomprehensible sums.
Elvis: skan-King!
In the 1960s, the UK dubstep scene, confident in it's supremacy, saw no need to involve itself in the petty cross-cultural conflicts between the mods and the rockers. However, when the unenlightened began rioting on the streets and disturbing the dubsteppers' daily meditation it was recognised that decisive action needed to be taken. In May 1964, amid an organised clash between the mods and rockers, dubsteppers descended on Brighton beach armed with over 800kW of sound-system and proceeded to rally the warring tribes with serious riddim. Those that were not physically flattened by the cataclysmic bass frequencies fled in terror. Within five years most had abandoned their inferior genres and joined with the dubstep massive.
Haul of dub-horns confiscated by police after Brighton riot. These were used by the 'steppers to pummel the mods and rockers into submission.
In the States, the hippie generation had truly taken dubstep to their hearts. The 1960s culminated in the gargantuan "Dubstock" festival, in which over a million young Americans descended upon New York state for "three days of peace and dubstep". Over the course of the successive decade, though, the young people found themselves persecuted by Richard Nixon's Republican regime. Nixon and his contemporaries claimed to correlate sub-low frequencies with communist conditioning, and set about trying to outlaw all things bassline. "Communism isn't sleeping", Nixon stated, "it is, as always, wobbling, wobbling, wobbling, wobbling..."
Dubstep was subject to a tirade of political obstruction in the UK also. Prime Minister Harold Wilson had caused outrage by effectively ousting Ronan O'Rahilly's offshore pirate radio station "Radio Bass-o-Line", thus bringing an end to the immensly popular round-the-clock bass-shake broadcasts. However, this move was to result in Wilson's government's shocking and dramatic loss at the 1970 general election. Only a few years later, amid extraordinary scandal, Nixon was forced to resign from office as US president. Dubstep was triumphant!
Richard Nixon: reactionary Republican treble-head.
Over the next thirty years the genre was to permeate the cultural development of the modern citizen across all seven continents (the twice-annual DMZ Antartica, started due to the persistent demands of residential scientists, has become a mecca for absolute die-hard fans, many setting out months in advance to ensure that they reach). In these years the increasingly media-saturated masses relished in every opportunity for further exposure to dubstep, and it soon had numerous regular television slots. Who can forget the infuriatingly catchy, bodyquaking title music to "Good Morning with Mala & Coki"?
Before long dubstep was dominating the broadcast airwaves. In 1989 the Astra 1A satellite was launched with the aim of affording the opportunity for "every home around the world to enjoy quality bass meditation on over 800 channels." Quite inevitably dubstep infiltrated all aspects of the growing multi-media market. By the 90s the rapidly developing games console industry were offering such titles as "Super Mario Steppaz" and "Sub-sonic the Hedgehog". TV programmes like "Dubbytubbies" extended the reach of serious riddim to pre-schoolers, giving the next generation of youngsters a positive foundation for a rewarding life. The 90s also saw the proliferation of mobile technology, and now, in the new millenium, it is possible to comfortably fit a 1kW scoop bin into your back pocket. This has been met with unanimous approval from the elderly community, who have blissfully reminisced about the seisemic bass-fest sessions they had "back in the day" while the youth test their new ring-tones at the back of the bus.
Dubbytubbies: weekday morning shakedown for the under-fives.
And now, we children of the twenty-first are steadfast in our quest to take the dubstep message far beyond the reaches of this tiny planet. At locations such at Parkes Dubversatory in New South Wales, Australia and the Jodrell Bank Experimental Bass-station near Cheshire, England, bassline is being transmitted deep into space. It is estimated that every solar system between here and Ursa Minor should be feeling the bass-weight, and it is hoped that the party will last for millenia!
The 1.3 terawatt bass driver at Jodrell Bank, England.
I say, this markomen fellow is a jolly nice chap and he's making some rather splendid tunes. Here's some stuff about him:
Forthcoming releases:
Dubstep Pressure; 12" vinyl (Skud)
In My Town of Chatham Town // Auxiliary Hulksta; 12" vinyl (Clandestine)
Anachronism Dub; 12" vinyl (Shook)
Behind My Dirty House // Bodyrig Riddim; Digital Download (Soul Shakerz)
Numberz Dub // Is Weak; 12" vinyl (Azlan Entertainment)
Trouble Throwup; 12" vinyl (Soul Shakerz)
30 minute markomen mixtape -- download here
markomen's "Strawhead Riddim" features on Tayo's BBC Radio 1 essential mix.
SHAKE DOWN THE WALLS OF BABYLON!:.::::::::.:.
