Everyone knows a movement doesn’t become a real industry until it’s getting books written about it. (I kid.) There are already a handful of great books about the electronic music industry, and Michaelangelo Matos hopes to add his to that list.
The Underground Is Massive: How Electronic Dance Music Conquered America is a rather straightforward title, reflected in its rather straightforward content.
A producer puts out a song. DJs play it in clubs, at parties or on the radio. Other artists hear it and create similar work, and labels release it. Concert promoters and kids take notice. A scene forms around the sound and the drugs that enhance it. Eventually, the sound spreads to other cities or even countries, and the mainstream takes notice. The scene changes, then fragments, then dies, only to continue or start over in another form somewhere else.
The book recounts over 30 years of dense history involving firsthand accounts from producers like Moby and centers each chapter on a specific event that shifted the industry – “the birth of house music at the Warehouse in Chicago, the disastrous 1999 Woodstock, Daft Punk’s groundbreaking 2006 Coachella performance,” etc.
Unavoidable topics (that were actually quite focused on in a couple chapters) include drugs and technology. The electronic music industry would not be where it is today without the immense influences of either of these factors, whether you like it or not.
Whether you’re new to the scene and want to get a good idea of how it all started, or you’re a veteran and want to relive the “good old days,” this 400-page historical account is a good start.
Source: Seattle Times
