It started with disco (70s)
To know the history of EDM (Electronic Dance Music), you must go back a bit further to the birth of Disco music from the late 1960s. Disco music was created as a form of electronically produced music with a simple and constant beat, designed to feel easy to dance to. DJs were born, removing the gap between the end of one song and the start of another song by blending them into a smooth transition, a technique used to keep people moving on the dance floor.
This constant beat is called “four-on-the-floor,” using a bass-drum to hit four notes on four beats. The repetitive effect is what allows easy dancing in which you can move your body to the beat without having to think – bringing a natural flow of euphoria.
Disco reached mainstream popularity by the 1970s, with classics like “Stayin Alive.” But the rise in counterculture during this decade also brought some intense backlash against the genre. Rock fans criticized disco for being superficial, with basic beats and empty lyrics. Meanwhile, rock music was seen as more important, often with politically charged songwriting. There was rivalry between the two genres.
The goal of disco, unlike rock music at the time, was to get people dancing. It provided as an escape from reality, a way of living in the moment and inducing happiness. In contrast, rock music during the ’70s was a catalyst for cultural change, promoting awareness of social injustices. 70s rock was meant to bring about feelings of anger and rage — in order to motivate people to take action. Personally, I believe that both genres served different purposes and were therefore equally important.
Some say that disco died in the year 1979 — to be exact, the night of July 12th, 1979. A baseball event was held in Chicago, which encouraged people to bring disco records and have them burned. Over 50,000 people attended, resulting in a mass riot of total chaos. There were no fatalities, although there were many minor injuries. The symbolism of this night therefore marks the death of disco.
Post-disco era (80s)
However, disco didn’t die — it just changed and evolved. Moving into the 1980s, the sound of disco became more stripped and minimalistic, with heavier use of drum machines and synthesizers. Disco began hiding in plain sight and sneaking its way back into the mainstream, for example, with the vastly popular song, “Take On Me.” This song couldn’t have been made without disco.
At the same time, independent and underground artists were taking back control of disco and turning it into something much more experimental. Technological advancement made the creation of electronic music far more accessible. From here, disco split into sub-genres, including house and techno.
It’s said that house music was born in Chicago, the same area in which disco was demolished. Both house and trance use the “four-on-the-floor” and repetitive motion of Disco. House is more “flowy” in contrast to the mechanical sound of techno. It usually has vocals and lyrics. It’s most closely connected to disco.
Techno, said to be born in Detroit, has more of a futuristic sound. It carries many elements of disco, but makes it much more robotic. Techno tends to be more minimalistic and has strong, choppy beats. It typically has no vocals.
Explosion of EDM (90s)
While EDM was incubating underground during the 80s, it made a major explosion in the 90s, resulting in many more sub-genres. Notable sub-genres include: trance, drum & bass, and hardcore — along with the further evolution of house and techno.
Trance music is known for being progressive and euphoric, essentially mimicking the feeling of getting lifted off of a spaceship and into the heavens. It comes with “buildups” and “drops” in which the beat grows tension until it’s released. When vocals are included, they’re typically female, with an ethereal and angelic sound. Trance music feels fast and constant, with a lack of distinction between beats.
Drum & bass is incredibly fast, with a heavy bass sound. It’s highly variable, with songs ranging from dark and aggressive to light and melodic. On the other hand, hardcore is always aggressive, and more associated with raves. Hardcore is a rebellion from the polished sound that other EDM genres may have.
Later towards the 2000s, came the rise of dubstep. Dubstep is known for being intense and cinematic. It emphasizes off-beat patterns and has a wobbly bass sound (wub-wub.) Songs contain a strong buildup that leads to a “drop” in which the beat is released, similar to trance music.
Mainstream breakthrough (2000s)
Yet despite its rapid growth, EDM was still considered underground during this time. And that’s because it targeted a very narrow demographic: young adults at raves. It wasn’t reaching radio stations, televisions, etc. It was mainly just being played by DJs at clubs, often connected to alcohol and drug use.
Japan released the arcade game, Dance Dance Revolution, in 1998 — which became available on home video game platforms in the early 2000s. It was a video game in which you win points by dancing, specifically by moving your feet to the exact beat. This was something that could only be done with one music genre: EDM. The spread of DDR certainly contributed to the popularity of EDM, in which the genre was finally making its way into people’s homes, reaching little kids and elderly adults of all ages.
Obviously, the widespread accessibility to computers brought a rise in DJs along with a rise in sharing and listening to digital music. Musicians no longer had to rely on record deals or vinyl sales in order to be heard.
And of course, EDM was far more popular in European countries before reaching mainstream success in the United States. These countries includes the UK, Germany, Netherlands, and France — where most of the sub-genres originated. But the late 2000s, and especially by the early 2010s, EDM had now become completely known in the US.
The golden age of EDM (2010s)
By the start of the 2010s, DJs like Calvin Harris and David Guetta were working with the most famous pop singers of that time, like Rihanna and Nicki Minaj. Meanwhile, other DJs like Skrilliex and Deadmau5 were receiving just as much attention without any pop collaborations.
While music festivals had been popular in European countries, they were now opening up in the US, with events such as Electric Daisy Carnival, Electric Zoo, and Ultra Music Festival. EDM was no longer strictly associated with the exclusive underground scene — it was now centered around all-inclusive, commercial events that took place outside during daylight hours.
From an economic perspective, it was seen that EDM music festivals were far more profitable than concerts. They often last about 12 hours, over the course of two or three days — providing much more opportunities to take money compared to your typical 2-hour concert. It’s a much greater way to charge people for drinks, food, merch, and so forth.
Aside from the expenses, EDM Music Festivals provide as a euphoric experience in which you can completely immerse yourself in music for an entire day – or possibly an entire week. Much more involved than your typical concert, it provides a deep sense of escapism – which also comes with a deep sense of community.
The music and atmosphere brings togetherness, which also makes it a highly social experience. As opposed to a concert where you stand in your seat the entire time, music festivals are open fields where you can walk from stage to stage and engage in conversations with others. Strangers exchange “kandi bracelets” with one another — homemade bracelets made with cheap, plastic beads and string.
A slight decline (2020-forward)
You could say that EDM reached its peak in the mid 2010s. There was a time in which every pop song on the radio was EDM or at least had a strong EDM influence. But a slight decline can be seen in the closing out of the late 2010s.
There were some tragic incidents of fatalities at festivals due to overdose, dehydration, or heat-stress. This has caused some festivals to shut down early or get canceled. In my experience, festivals have always felt like a safe environment in which the staff makes an extra effort to assure safety and harm reduction.
In 2017, the infamous Frye Festival took place. Essentially, it was a money scheme that tricked people into thinking they were attending a luxury glamping-style event. There is a whole Netflix documentary about this if you want to look further into it. This is an example of frauds using the success of real music festivals for their own, greedy benefit. This certainly resulted in many people losing trust in the music festival scene.
During 2020-2021, the covid pandemic forced many music festivals to cancel or downsize. This really hurt the business as a lot of money was lost.
In the 2020s, EDM seems to have much less of an influence on Top 40 Charts and pop music. Current pop music of the 2020s now seems more influenced by either rap, hiphop, or country.
I don’t think EDM is dying out – I think it’s continuing to grow and expand. But I do think that it’s becoming more niche once again. It will always have influence over Top 40, but I think that the coming years will show a greater gap between pop and EDM. I don’t see it being as in-your-face as it was in the mid-2010s, unless perhaps we see a revival in another few decades.
Sub-genres
What I find most fascinating about the EDM genre is how many sub-genres it has, because of how diverse and expansive it is, with potential for so many different routes. I believe that no other music genre has this many sub-genres, at least not that I’m aware of. This list was taken from Wikipedia.
Note that some of the sub-genres have sub-sub-genres, which may also have sub-sub-sub-genres, and even a few sub-sub-sub-subs too.
- Ambient – creates an atmosphere and lacks any structure or beat.
- Ambient dub
- Dark ambient
- Dreampunk
- Illbient
- New age
- Space music
- Bass music – prominent bass drum or bass line.
- Footwork
- Future bass
- Kawaii future bass
- Midtempo bass
- Trap
- Wave
- Hardwave
- Chill-out – slow tempos and relaxed moods
- Downtempo
- Psybient
- Psydub
- Trip hop
- Trip rock
- Disco – four-on-the-floor beats, synthesizers, electric piano, electric rhythm guitars, brass and horns, syncopated basslines.
- Afro/cosmic music
- Electrodisco
- Hi-NRG (high energy)
- Eurobeat
- Eurodance
- Italodisco
- Hi-NRG (high energy)
- Eurodisco
- Nu-disco
- Post-disco
- Boogie
- City pop
- Drum & bass – Fast breakbeats with heavy bass.
- Darkstep
- Drumfunk
- Drumstep
- Hardstep
- Jazzstep
- Liquid funk
- Neurofunk
- Sambass
- Techstep
- Dub – Raggae influences.
- Electronic rock – combines electronic and rock.
- Dance-rock
- Alternative dance
- Baggy
- New rave
- Dance-punk
- Alternative dance
- Indietronica
- Krautrock
- New wave
- Cold wave
- Dark wave
- Neoclassical dark wave
- Neue Deutsche Todeskunst
- Ethereal wave
- Nu-gaze
- Minimal wave
- Neue Deutsche Welle
- New romantic
- Post-rock
- Space rock
- Synth-metal
- Synth-punk
- Dance-rock
- Electronica – designed for listening rather than dancing.
- Folktronica
- Live electronic
- Nu jazz
- Progressive electronic
- Ethnic electronica – World music of electronica.
- Asian underground
- African EDM
- Afrobeats
- Azonto
- Coupé-décalé
- Kuduro
- Mahraganat
- Shangaan electro
- Afrobeats
- Budots – Phillipenes
- Changa tuki – Venezuela
- Dancehall pop – Jamaican + Western pop
- Denpa music – Japanese
- Guaracha (EDM) – Columbian
- Funk carioca – Brazil
- Merenhouse – Dominican
- Nortec – Mexico
- Rabòday – Haiti
- Rara tech – Afro-Haitian
- Russ music – Norway
- Shamstep – Arabic
- Tecnocumbia – Mexico
- Tribal guarachero – Mexico
- Worldbeat
- Experimental electronic – pushes boundaries and breaks tradition.
- Deconstructed club
- Drone
- Electroacoustic music
- Glitch
- Microsound
- Noise music
- Reductionism
- Funk fusion – African American influence
- Acid jazz
- Funktronica
- Synth-funk
- Jungle – African American influence + UK rave scene.
- Hard dance – can also be synonymous with hardcore.
- Hard NRG
- Hardstyle
- Dubstyle
- Euphoric frenchcore
- Euphoric hardstyle
- Rawstyle
- Trapstyle
- Hardcore – fast and intense tempos.
- Bouncy techno
- Breakcore
- Raggacore
- Digital hardcore
- Frenchcore
- Gabber
- Early hardcore
- Mainstream hardcore
- Happy hardcore
- UK hardcore
- Industrial hardcore
- J-core
- Speedcore
- Hauntology – evokes nostalgia.
- Chillwave
- Hypnagogic pop
- Synthwave
- Darksynth
- Sovietwave
- Vaporwave
- Future funk
- Hardvapour
- Mallsoft
- Hiphop fusion – Hiphop + EDM
- Afroswing
- Alternative hip hop
- Hipster hop
- Cloud rap
- Crunk
- Crunkcore
- Snap music
- Electro
- Emo rap
- Glitch hop
- Instrumental hip hop
- Lofi hip hop
- Miami bass
- Mumble rap
- Trap
- Plugg
- UK trap
- House music – four-on-floor beat, repetitive tempo, more vocals.
- Acid house
- Afro house
- Afro tech
- Amapiano
- Kidandali
- Ambient house
- Balearic beat
- Ballroom
- Bass house
- Brazilian bass
- Slap house
- Blog house
- Chicago hard house
- Chicago house
- Deep house
- Disco house
- Diva house
- Hardbag
- Electro house
- Big room house
- Future rave
- Complextro
- Dutch house
- Fidget house
- Melbourne bounce
- Big room house
- Electro swing
- Eurohouse
- French house
- Funky house
- Future house
- Garage house
- Ghetto house
- Ghettotech
- Juke house
- Gqom
- Hip house
- Electro hop
- Italo house
- Jackin house
- Jazz house
- Kwaito
- Latin house
- Melodic house
- Microhouse
- Moombahcore
- Moombahton
- Moombahsoul
- New Jersey sound
- Outsider house
- Lo-fi house
- Progressive house
- Soulful house
- Stadium house
- Tech house
- Tribal house
- Tropical house
- Trouse
- UK hard house
- Industrial and post-industrial – harsh, mechanism, transgressive.
- Electro-industrial
- Dark electro
- Aggrotech
- Dark electro
- Electronic body music (EBM)
- Futurepop
- New beat
- Industrial hip hop
- Industrial metal
- Cyber metal
- Neue Deutsche Härte
- Industrial rock
- Martial industrial
- Witch house
- Electro-industrial
- Intelligent dance music (IDM) – experimental, better for listening than dancing.
- Algorave
- Drill ‘n’ bass
- R&B and soul fusion – R&B / soul + EDM
- Alternative R&B
- Contemporary R&B
- Neo soul
- New jack swing
- Techno – four-on-floor beat, repetitive tempo, strong beat.
- Acid techno
- Ambient techno
- Birmingham sound
- Bleep techno
- Detroit techno
- Dub techno
- Hard techno
- Free tekno
- Jungletek
- Raggatek
- Free tekno
- Industrial techno
- Minimal techno
- Schaffel
- Toytown techno
- Trance music – progressive and melodic, with peaks and drops.
- Acid trance
- Balearic trance
- Dream trance
- Eurotrance
- Hands up
- Goa trance
- Nitzhonot
- Hard trance
- Progressive trance
- Psychedelic trance
- Dark psytrance
- Full-on
- Minimal psytrance
- Progressive psytrance
- Suomisaundi
- Tech trance
- Uplifting trance
- Vocal trance
- UK garage – garage house and jungle production with dance-pop or R&B elements.
- 2-step garage
- Bassline
- Breakstep
- Dubstep
- Brostep
- Post-dubstep
- Reggaestep
- Riddim
- Future garage
- Grime
- Grindie
- Speed garage
- UK funky
- Funkstep
- Wonky
- Video game music – based on production and limitations of video game sounds.
- Chiptune
- Bitpop
- Swkeee
- Nintendocore
- FM synthesis
- Sequencer music
- Chiptune
I love all kinds of music genres, especially acoustic and instrumental sounds that can feel more natural, but EDM certainly has a place in my heart! I think that it’s very fitting of the times and represents the digital age that we are now living in. The same technology that spread computers and smartphones also spread a brand new genre of music. And even though it feels futuristic, I also think that there is something very primal within it.
A defining trait of EDM is that it forces you to pay more attention to the beat and melody rather than lyrics. And as much as I love the poetic power of lyrics, you also need to find appreciation for sound. EDM helps you get out of your head and silence your thoughts; it gets you back into your body. And that is sort of the “primal” aspect I find about it, despite it being based on technology.
As you can see, with so many sub-genres (that can go all the way up to sub-sub-sub-sub-genres), EDM is a style of music that knows no boundaries. It explores all sides of music and embraces all cultures and ethnicities around the world. Influences come from all over – Afro, European, Latino, American, Asian, Middle Eastern, and more. I believe that this is the most inclusive music genre that makes all people feel welcome.
If there’s anything important that I may have missed, please let me know in the comments!
Crystal Aura Gaze 
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