The Melody Web what each genre heard, and what it passed on

heard passed on Click or tap a node to recenter. Use a connecting line, or Influence, for the story.

Heard

Dub genre · 1971–

Dubstep keeps dub’s bass-as-lead, drop-out, and dubbed space inside a half-time club track.

Influence
Jungle genre · 1991–1996

Dubstep hears jungle’s broken drums and sub-bass at half-time.

Influence
UK garage genre · 1994–

Dubstep keeps UK garage’s 2-step club room and pirate-radio job and drops the shuffle into a half-time 140.

Influence

Dubstep

genre · 2002–

Also called brostep

Early-2000s South London club music: half-time drums, a heavy bass drop, and a dub-space mix (Skream, Digital Mystikz). Brostep stays on this node as the later festival wing. It hears UK garage for the 2-step room, Dub for the mix, and Jungle for leftover broken bass. The hop into EDM trap is that drop; the 2010 festival/chart recoding is dubstep pop. Grime is a sibling pirate-radio scene, not a parent (shared nights are not an edge). Post-dubstep and UK funky remain leftover bins. Drum and bass waits one step back through jungle.

Listen

  1. Midnight Request Line Skream (2005) YouTube · Spotify · Amazon
  2. Anti War Dub Digital Mystikz (2006) YouTube
  3. Night Burial (2007) YouTube
  4. In for the Kill (Skream remix) La Roux (2009) YouTube
  5. Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites Skrillex (2010) YouTube · Spotify · Amazon

Passed on

EDM trap style · 2012–

EDM trap keeps dubstep’s build–drop and puts trap’s 808-and-hat dialect under it.

Influence
Pop genre · 1958–

Early-2010s pop takes dubstep’s half-time drop as a festival and chart-single event.

Influence

Dub → Dubstep

timbre and productionform and structuremeter and groovestrength: highwell documented2002–2007recordingdance

Mechanism

Dubstep keeps dub’s bass-as-lead, drop-out, and dubbed space inside a half-time club track. Strength high. UK garage supplies the room; this file is the mix.

Evidence

Digital Mystikz Anti War Dub and related 2000s sides; Hebdige on dub as a transferable mix grammar; Grove on the name.

Debate

Whether the name already settles it. The mix parent is dub; the club parent is garage.

Mediators

artist: Digital Mystikz

Jungle → Dubstep

meter and groovetimbre and productionstrength: mediumwell documented2002–2006recordingradiodance

Mechanism

Dubstep hears jungle’s broken drums and sub-bass at half-time. Strength medium. UK garage is the nearer club parent; this file is the leftover breakbeat/bass hop, not a claim that dubstep is slowed jungle.

Evidence

Early Croydon sides against 1990s jungle bass; Grove on that succession.

Debate

Whether garage already covers it. Garage supplies the 2-step room; jungle supplies the broken-bass memory.

Mediators

community: London pirate radio

UK garage → Dubstep

meter and groovefunction and contextperformance practicestrength: highwell documented2002–2006dancerecordingradio

Mechanism

Dubstep keeps UK garage’s 2-step club room and pirate-radio job and drops the shuffle into a half-time 140. Strength high. 2-step stays a dialect on the garage node, not a second parent.

Evidence

Skream and Digital Mystikz 2005–06 sides against late UKG; Grove on that succession.

Debate

Whether this is already garage at half speed. The club parent is garage; dub and jungle supply space and broken drums on other edges.

Mediators

community: Croydon / FWD>>

Dubstep → EDM trap

form and structuremeter and groovetimbre and productionstrength: highwell documented2012–2014recordingdance

Mechanism

EDM trap keeps dubstep’s build–drop and puts trap’s 808-and-hat dialect under it. Strength high. Brostep is a wing of dubstep, not a second parent.

Evidence

Baauer and festival 2012–14 records against the 2000s London drop; Grove on that afterlife.

Debate

Whether this is already EDM, not a style. The drum dialect is trap’s; the form is dubstep’s.

Mediators

artist: Baauer

Dubstep → Pop

meter and groovetimbre and productionform and structurestrength: highscholarly consensus2010–2012recordingradio

Mechanism

Early-2010s pop takes dubstep’s half-time drop as a festival and chart-single event. Strength high. dubstep edm trap is the later trap-hat recoding; this hop is the drop into the pop single. Brostep stays on the dubstep node.

Evidence

Skrillex-era US/UK chart and festival radio (Starr, Grove).

Debate

Whether this is already EDM leftover. The half-time bass drop is dubstep’s; the radio-single job is pop’s.

Mediators

artist: Skrillex