WHAT IS EDM?
EDM (electronic dance music) is a broad category of music made primarily with synthesizers, drum machines, and computers, designed to get people dancing. It's typically built around steady, repetitive beats, layered melodies, and dramatic builds and drops, and it's most often experienced through DJ sets at clubs and festivals. The umbrella covers many subgenres, including house, techno, trance, dubstep, and drum and bass.
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THE HISTORY OF EDM
1980s
House and techno are born. After the "disco sucks" backlash, DJs in Chicago kept the party going with drum machines like the Roland TR-808 and TR-909, creating house music around 1984 to 1985 (Frankie Knuckles, Marshall Jefferson). In Detroit, Juan Atkins, Derrick May, and Kevin Saunderson built techno, a more futuristic, machine-driven cousin. The acid house sound followed when the squelchy Roland TB-303 bassline entered the mix.
1990s
Europe and the rave era. House and techno crossed the Atlantic and exploded in the UK, sparking the "Second Summer of Love" in 1988 and the illegal rave scene. Genres multiplied rapidly: trance in Germany, jungle and drum and bass in the UK, garage, and hardcore. Big-room clubs, festivals, and DJs as stars became central, while acts like The Prodigy, Daft Punk, and The Chemical Brothers brought electronic music to wider audiences.
2000s
Underground and mainstream diverge. Progressive house and trance fueled huge festivals and superstar DJs such as Tiësto, Paul van Dyk, and Armin van Buuren. Electro house and French touch (Daft Punk, Justice) got a wave of attention, and in the UK, dubstep emerged from south London garage.
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