A Rational Conversation: Is EDM Easy Listening Now? — npr.org

Mr. Probz. Ilja Meefout/Courtesy of RCA Records hide caption "A Rational Conversation" is a column by writer Eric Ducker in which he gets on instant messenger or the phone with a special guest to examine a music-related subject that's entered the pop culture consciousness. When the catchall term EDM (that would be "Electronic Dance Music," if you want to use a phrase that no one utters out loud) was popularized a few years ago, it was usually used to reference dubstep; or, more particularly, it meant an ultra-aggressive, drop-heavy version of dubstep. As EDM grew in popularity among crowds in their teens and early 20s, aspects of this sound began to infiltrate more pop productions. But, as it goes in the forever splintering and subgenre-afying world of dance music, one strain dies out and another ascends. What played in a side tent at a festival last year now has a headline spot on the main stage.

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