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Small correction: Dubstep was a thing in the UK since the early 2000s, Skrillex made it popular in America.
Yeah, I have to laugh at that, because I'm old enough to remember (and be the teen audience) for punk when it was punk, and not some trendy American sub-culture. I'm presumably the generation for the "pissed-off dads/moms" parenting age for the producers and consumers of this, and I have to say, I'm not feeling particularly pissed-off at that tune? Starts off with vaguely ska beat, goes into disco/vocaliser voice over mid-tier electronics?
Kid, my generation invented the "music is now electronic and drums have been replaced by synths" 🤣
This is part of it, though; every new generation thinks their parents are hopelessly unhip, out of touch, and shockable. The generations that grew up on rock and punk are the parents/grandparents of today, we lived through disco and the Second Summer of Love (Acid), you think some bap-bah beat is gonna piss us off?
Dubstep even made it to Eurovision in 2013. Now this is a song!
I think the main novel factor of the electronic music scene that started 2000-ish is the really high BPM, enabled by speeding up samples and using digital tracks. I don't think you'll ever see that in the mainstream. Dubstep is just a melodic direction, a kind of novel instrument, and thus can be absorbed, but if the rhythm is too fast for most people to even parse, it stops sounding like music entirely. So while that song uses dubby elements, I'd still fundamentally call it artsy pop-rock at heart. Which to be fair, goes for lots of current electronic music too.
Well, what constitutes the "mainstream"? This is our winning qualifier to send to Eurovision this year, and it's selected on "The Late, Late Show" which is a very conventional weekend chat show that has been going for decades and is now on its third host. If the Plain People Of Ireland (or those who bother voting) can select this, what does "mainstream" mean?
And if we're guessing Eurovision winners, I don't think this will do it. It fits in nicely with the "at least two or three quirky entries" grouping for Eurovision every year, may even make it to the final, but is not a winner. Not because it's too wacky or Gothick Threatening eek!, but just because "eh, nothing to stand out".
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Yes, but do you cbat?
Never heard of it, not particularly improved my life to have heard it, but it's part tongue-in-cheek and part the spirit of 70s and 80s progressive noodling and self-indulgence lives on.
I'm not sure whether it fits better with Crazy Frog or Industrial. I think the Frog wins this one 😁
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