140bpm music which came from 2step and dark UK garage.

Characteristically sub-bass driven and with influences from Jamaican dub culture.

Came in the early 2000s in Croydon, and it was pioneered by Horsepower Productions, Kode9, Mary Anne Hobbs, Hatcha, N-Type and then later Skream, Benga, Pinch, DMZ and more.

The early sound was notable for having lots of space in the music, not being aggressive or the terrible screeching which you hear nowdays. DMZ are probably the archetypal dubstep productions. Search "Anti-War Dub" by Digital Mystikz or "Qawwali" by Pinch for good examples.

Then along came Caspa and Rusko around about 2007 or 2008 and started putting in silly cockney samples from Football Factory and Snatch etc. And began the trend of screechy drops and mid-range noise.

This made it more popular with the students and kids who haven't got such a good attention span and Dubstep basically became a competition of who can make the biggest screechiest noise possible. Search "Sweet Shop" by Doctor P for an example.

Started getting more popular stateside and Skrillex, Datsik, Exision etc started making the bollocks you hear on the radio today.

The stuff you hear on the radio isn't actually "Dubstep" because of the lack of sub-bass. It just became the name for music like that.

Posted By: Only1Doherty, Dec 1, 20:32:24