A lot of stuff has been going on since 1958.... one of those things is not so surprisingly "electronic music." There's a bunch of stuff circulating the media at the moment talking about the electric music whitewash of the industry... but it's actually been happening for over half a century.
"Electronic music has absolutely swept the nation", is as cliched as it sounds, most forms of music have been touched by the all-encompassing "computer" from pop to country, rock, and heavy metal. Yet electronic music isn't all about what is being created from computer software. The term "electronic music" isn't a genre per se, but existent in all styles of music, dating back to well before Daft Punk Americanized it in the 90's.
Electronic music is essentially music that uses electronic music instruments. Any band can be considered electronic if the instruments were largely devised by computer software. Having said that electronic music dates back to the 50's even though it was only in the late 60's (CAN)and early 70's ( Kraftwerk) that we started to see an inkling of what the world considers modern electronic music. 'Roxy Music' also made some alarming and original music as they insisted on experimenting with synthetic sound in an era where very few were exploring it with any real success. 'Brian Eno' worked with Roxy Music early in their career, crafting their hooks and melodies with an infectious lead synthesizer that has come to define Roxy Music, especially early in their career.
By the time Brian Eno was a household name in the 80's electronic music was a more dominate choice for bands. Groups like 'Simple Minds' and 'Human League' helped mould the rhythmic era of the 80's. The decade was dominated by the merging of pop, rock, and electronic music, in what is arguably one of the most eccentric decades of music. For every individual who finds the 80's a musical desert with little of any lasting quality, others find it remarkably iconic.
Groups like Depeche Mode played with the dark elements of electronic music and offered eerie beats and synths to craft an original new-wave gothic sound. 'Duran Duran' embraced a European dance style, which earned them longevity outside many of their peers. Erasure, Pet Shop Boys, and Yazoo explored electronic conventions, and crafted some very successful- and some not so successful songs in their short times together.
The 80’s took electronic music as far as it could, at the time. In the early 90's very few artist were purely electronic other than a few legendary pioneers in ‘Kraftwerk’ and ‘Can.’ However, the 90's was also a time of speedy technological advances and gave musicians an opportunity to completely rejuvinate electronic music.
Artists like "Moby' took their DJ appeal into crafting original tracks. The 90's also saw the rise of 'Daft Punk,' who released some legendary pure dance songs to massive success. Electronic music was taken to the extreme. Entire albums were being crafted with a couple of click tracks and high quality computer software at breakneck pace.
Groups like Goldfrapp are a great example of the way bands embraced electronic music to their own advantage without having to be " full-on" like Daft Punk. Perhaps an even better example of a band exploring the limits of electronic music is Radiohead. Their 2000 album Kid A was electronic, atmospheric and with its multiple layers created a landscape of sound. Groups like 'Air' and 'Massive Attack' have explored similar conventions.
Today electronic music is in full form, covering nearly all bases of sound . A few acts are performing live and making the use theatrical sets where they lack multiple band members and instruments. Perhaps the future of electronic music is in implementing visuals and taking the medium outside the aural. For now, we can look back at the growth of electronic music and find a number of stylistic phases that offer more than being "just a great dance track."
The album Electrospective has taken bits and pieces of electronic music through the ages, from its seedy initial incarnation to its modern evolution. Some artists are purely electronic, and some take aspects of the medium to explore new sounds in their respective dominant genre. Check it out here and discover more here.
