Drugs and Dubstep

8/8/2019 Drugs and Dubstep

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Reg No. 080177191 MUS 114 Individual Project Seminar Tutor: Shu Jiang

Dubstep and Club

Culture


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R eg No. 080177191 M R S 114 Ind ividua l Pro ject Sem inar Tu tor : Shu J iang

L iterature Rev iew

Studies in ana lysi ng c lu b cultures tend to dra w on common k ey issues. Obs erva tiona l f ieldwor k attem pts to identif y a par ticular social identity associated with a par ticular genre or movemen t. Th is is especially signif ican t in ne w musical genre s when the su bject of underground v s. mainstream is highly relevan t to the su bculture. S traw (199 3 argue s that a su bculture tak es pl easure in secrec y and o bscur ity . ( page 1 69). Th is sense of a ssociationwith a par ticular homogenou s movemen t can charac ter i e a un i ue su bculture. Du bst e p is cer tainly much c loser to being la belled as an underground movemen t as o pposed tomainstream. Hesmondha lgh (1998) u ses punk as an e xam ple that w hen a genre ga ins special su bcultura l cred ibility a par ticular ly active aud ience is crea ted, one which is hungr y for

produc t, and which is pre pared to seek out informa tion a bout new styl es, performer s andrecord la bels ( page 237). Other fac tor s im por tant in identif ying a su bcultura l movemen t include fa shion, c lass, drug taking and mu sica l taste. All of the fac tor s men tioned a bove can

be a ppli ed in identif ying social grou ps existi ng in Du bst e p music. However, care mu st betak en in over e xtend ing prescr ipti ve ideo logies and la belling. Thorn ton (199 5) sums u p that con tem porar y cultures are r iddled with d ynam ics of d istinctions as a mean s in jock eying for social power ( page 1 63) . E xam ples of d istinctions are h ighlighted throughou t her studies,including the d ifference s between Amer ican and Br itis h c lu b culture, pu b and c lu b culture,

jazz record s and po p record s, underground and ma instream, age, gender and sexuality . A cha pter is devo ted to explor ing the conno tations of mainstream, in which Thorn tonconc ludes that ideo logies a bout dance cro wds are r iddled with im pli ed statuses anddisti nguishing between ma instream and underground is binar y thinking ( page 11 5). There is no dou bt su bcultures are of ten la belled with im pli cit and e xpli cit statuses, a pr ime e xam ple

being the drug cu lture surround ing e lectron ic dance. Despit e this strong stance by Thorn ton, prescr ipti ve d istinctions can be found in the ear ly stage s of her wor k . An exam ple is the

notion that the acqu isiti on of a dr ivers licen se for Amer ican s gives the equ ivalent freedomBr itish youth f ind a t clu bs and rave s ( page 1 6). You cou ld argue this con trad icts her condemna tion aga inst binar y thinking. Never theless Thorn ton is effec tive in her ma in point of stressing the com plexiti es in d isti nguishing su bcultures as bl ack and white . Th is idea of la belling a su bculture ha s been common throughou t musical movemen ts, exam ples including

punk and nor thern soul, rang ing to more recen t divides in Go th, Emo and indie.Malbon (1999) focu ses on prov iding de tailed accoun ts of c lu bber s r ituals and

per sona l exper ience s in h is book Cl u bbi ng: Danc ing, ec stasy and v itality . Th is allows himto cen tre on the perce pti on of mu sic for the individua l, and area s of ec stasy and v itality .Musical fea tures in re lation to en joymen t are covered effec tively, in par ticular the proce ss of

using drug s and the effec t they have on the mu sic. Th is sor t of de tail seem s to be lac king inother litera ture, ho wever accoun ts can become re petitive, inhibiti ng a cohe sive struc ture andlacking the d iscur sive qua lities of Thorn tons wor k .

Overa ll the litera ture studied surface s k ey issues concern ing au thenticity, ma instream andunderground d istinctions, drug cu lture and su bcultura l la belling. The se are thereforeim por tant aspects to con sider in m y own o bs erva tions.


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R eg No. 080177191 M T S 114 Ind ividua l Pro ject Sem inar Tu tor : Shu J iang

M ethods used

Ive used both a quan titative and qua litative a pproach in co llecting da ta. Th is includes my own o bserva tions of Du bst e p clu b nights and per sona l encu ltura tion. Fur thermore I prom ptedspecif ic and genera l questi ons on Du bst e p forum s and social networ k sites. Th is mean t Icou ld targe t a range of peo ple, from the mo st avid Du bst e p fans, to those with littleexper ience of the genre. The re sults I rece ived are pre-dom inan tly tak en from un iver sity studen ts. I pur posely focu sed on studen ts, as I stum bled u pon Du bs ee p through un iver sity myself. I ts clear that a large pro por tion of fo llower s in the Du bst e p movemen t seem to bestuden ts (youth cu lture cover ing a pproximately the age s of 18 -23). Hesmondha lgh (1998)iden tif ies that fashiona ble underground c lu bs were pr imar ily based in Br itis h reg iona l ca pit als and un iver sity towns, and m y evidence sugge sts con tinuity in the ca se of Du bst e p ( page 236).

Observa ti U V al F ieldwork:

The me thodo logy for this was sim ple. I a ttended two con trasting Du bst e p nights. One was inLondon and the o ther in Sheff ield. Dur ing the cour se of the n ight I recorded o bserva tions through no tes on m y mo bil e phone. Th is included informa l conver sations and genera l o bs erva tions I witness ed a t the c lu b night.

Ques tionna ire

I took advan tage of the social networ king site Face book in dra wing together a large num ber of Un iver sity studen ts from around the coun tr y. I crea ted a grou p explaining the to pic of m y research, which in turn prom pted those with useful o pinions to f ill out the que stionna ire. Th is immed iately distinguished those with no interest or e xper ience s to share.

Dubs t ep Forum Pos t :

The we bsit e www .du bst e pforum.com is dedicated to those with a strong interest in a range of Du bst e p related issues, from produc tion to promo tion. I ts quite c lear ly a specialist grou p,therefore I cou ld targe t those with exper ience and k nowledge in the genre. I posted a ne w to pic explaining the de tails of m y pro jects and prom pti ng area s of interest, in which a largenum ber of par ticipants re pli ed in a shor t amoun t of time. The post is list ed in the a ppendix.

By putting posts and que stionna ires online, I a ssumed it would be ea sier to avo id par ticipants sce pti cism in revea ling sensitive na ture in regard s to their c lu bbi ng behav iour s. Th is was

a pparen t in commen ts af ter the que stionna ire, re -itera ting the nece ssity for conf iden tiality which was str ictly o bli ged. Despit e this, there were a lso par ticipants whom were ver y o pen indiscussions, with littl e care who k new a bout sensiti ve informa tion such a s their drugconsum pti on. Th is o penne ss was one of the f ir st aspects which led to m y per sona l interest inthe su bject of c lu b culture. Along with exper ienc ing it f ir st hand in the c ity where it f ir st kick ed off.


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R eg No. 080177191 MUS 114 Ind ividua l Pro ject Sem inar Tu tor : Shu J iang

dance and no t pass out from the hea t. The a tmosp here was ru bbing off on ever yone a s peo pl e literally made them selves at home. The a tmosp here ho wever soon moved a way from ch illed and home ly. As it was my f inal night in London I had littl e mone y lef t, and the dr inks were cer tainly not chea p. I was lef t with no cho ice but to witness the change in atmosp here a s clu bb er s transiti oned into the par ty mood. I t shoc k ed me to no tice someone snor ting lines of coca ine on the sofa. Was this a ta boo? Thetoilets were soon f ilthy. I of ten used them to tak e refuge from the hea t and loud mu sic. I t was nosur pr ise to overhear d iscussion of drug s. Ke tamine in par ticular. Id found m yself in a social space inwhich I cou ld no t accu lturate. Th is continued even more so when Caspa and R usk os DJ set f inally star ted. The y were la belled a s the heav iest duo in Du bst e p, and had special acc laim for being the f ir st Du bst e p producer s to lay down a m ix for the po pular London n ightclu b F a br ic . Surrounded by acircle of peo ple Id on ly just met, they all swayed to the mu sic in a similar fa shion. Arm movemen ts went with the beat, cheer s signa lled a fam iliar song. There was no dou bt the y were losing them selves in the mu sic. The ra ised platform seemed to ho ld the more eccen tr ic charac ter s, and became more

pack ed later on. G lanc ing around the place, it was plain to see a large ma jor ity were off their head s .I presumed it was drug s. Was this just a London thing? Was this sim ply typi cal Du bst e p clu b night

behav iour ? Whatever it was, it mar k ed m y initial interest in all f ields Du bst e p. __________________________________________________________________________________ I later d iscovered the line u p for the n ight was organ ised by a promo ting grou p from Sou th

London named D ead ly R hythm who specialise in big line-u ps . The e xist ence of promo tiona l grou ps is common in electron ic dance mu sic. Alt hough Du bst e p music is not ma king the char ts, a big line-u p sugge sts prestige in the su bcultura l f ield of Du bst e p. Th is cou ld explain the h ype surround ing this par ticular c lu b night, a lthough con sider ing the styl eof the venue and the aura of pl easure in secrec y, youd argue its far from ma instream.

This accoun t highlights myself a s a fore ign ou tsider to a su bcultura l movemen t. I rea lised a proce ss of encu ltura tion was nece ssar y to im prove m y under stand ing. Th is involved list eningto man y Du bst e p ar tists to fam iliar ise m yself with the styl e. My fr iend de scr ibed to me

Th e t h ing wit h Dubs t ep i s it s no t such a ravey genre, you can jus t sway t o t h e wobbl ing bass .

A contrasting commen t was posted to a Du bst e p forum, in which someone re pli ed

Even t h e deepes t Dubs t ep producers are play ing ravey Dubs t ep nowadays.

The se con trasting v iews back u p the point I made in m y introduc tion, in that although thereare common fea tures in Du bst e p music, there are a lways evo lutions in styl e and d iver sity .Following m y proce ss of fam iliar isation with Du bst e p, I a ttended a second c lu b night. On this occa sion m y men tality was o bservan t yet ha lf c losed. I o bserved m y surround ings, yet this time fe lt the urge to be a par t of what was ha ppening.


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Thur sday 7th May, 2009 DQ, Sheff ield

P inch DJ Se t

Despit e tagg ing a long with peo pl e Id on ly just met tha t day, there was no uncomfor ta bl e vibes. Pre-dr inks began in the Un iver sity halls of re sidence, accom pan ying a game of Te tr is on an o ld game s con sole. No drug s were present. The add ictive na ture of Te tr is put off leaving for the c lu b until midnight. Two social grou ps then formed, one which went to DQ and the o ther to a more po pular c ity nightclu b. It was the genera l con sensus however that nothing would be ha pp ening till later on, whichwas conf irmed once aga in by a set-list posted around the venue. The venue had similar fea tures to theLondon c lu b. Sofa s, bar, a large dancef loor withou t a ra ised area and more clu bby than pu bby,despit e a smaller space. The n ight was also organ ised through promo tiona l grou ps . In this case twohad joined toge ther, named W ee bit mean and B assf ire . On to p of this, a movemen t named2 0HZ sound syst em was also invo lved. Below is a statemen t pu blis hed on their MyS pace page :

20Hz was started to try in any way to improve the Dubstep

scene in Sheffield. To bring you Dubstep that not only soundsgood, but also rattles your chestplate and makes your kidneys

bleed. Started by ravers.... for ravers. Big up Sheffield freeparty scene (you know who you are), all other sound systems in

Sheff and always the people. Peace, Vibes and shitloads offuckin bass.

F i 3 The 20HZ logo hung to the ce iling a t DQ.

Judg ing by the size of the cro wd and the assurance s of m y fr iends, the promo tiona l grou ps andsound syst em were an im por tant asp ect in clu bb er s attendance. I m yself had seen f lyer s that same da y around the Un iver sity cam pus.

The Du bst e p DJ set from Pinch was to precede a drum and bass set. As soon a s Pinch began, thesound syst em de livered h is wor k straight to your bod y. I fe lt the bass pulse through me a s I moved tothe beat and learn t the d ynam ics of the tune s. I no w felt a process of encu lturation had occurred.There were no o bli gations to rema in with my acqua intances, whom were a ware of m y stud y. As I


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paced a bout the c lu b a differen t picture cou ld be viewed from d ifferen t spaces. There were c lu bb er s dee ply entranced in the mu sic. Some danced in an e xtreme fa shion whilst laugh ing in a c ircle of fr iends. Other s casually dran k and nodded their head s. An MC accom panied the DJ who had the jo b of psy ching the cro wd. One par ticular quo te was "For those who rea lly love Du bst e p music, fee l this".

__________________________________________________________________________________

I lef t the c lu b with the over whelming sense that clu bber s didnt nece ssar ily share the sameagenda. Th is issue of agenda is one which intr igued me. There were c lear ly Du bst e p fan s who were there for the mu sic. The y wanted to fee l the mu sic as the MC so expli citly expressed. Whether this was enhanced by drug s or a lcoho l is pure ly down to the individua l. Icou ldnt esca pe the overr iding sense however that clu bber s have a d iver se range of agenda s.In the ca se of the peo ple I tagged a long with, one c laimed he lik ed to go so he cou ld dancel ike an id iot . Another was bored of go ing to the same place a s the o ther s, stating they

played the same gener ic c h eese . Were o ther c lu bb er s there with intentions to pull or for drug re lated h ighs? Are those who are a ttend ing for rea sons outside mu sica l en joymen t not wor thy of being tagged in a Du bst e p related su bculture? Af ter a ll, they cer tainly are a par t of the movemen t.

My o bs erva tiona l f ieldwor k had once aga in thre w u p issues I cou ld fur ther investigate indec ipher ing the behav iour s and va lues of a Du bst e p cro wd. Th is led to m y pur suit in specif icstatisti cal and qua litative ana lysis through a que stionna ire.


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Quest ionna ire resu lts:

Statisti ca l data:

F i 4

F i 5


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Fig. 6

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Fig. 8

ther ection re ult :

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night


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Fig. 9

Fig. 10

O ther ection re ult :

Po er , S eed


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Dubstep Forum:

Poll:

F ig. 11

Qualitative da ta:

y S ure music sounds better, as do a lot of other things. You re generally really happy andpositive so anything good will feel much better!

y P ersonally I find it way too much of a ravey hype drug for a n ubstep night. Much rather have a joint and meditate on the bassweight

y D rugs work well with music but music built for drugs doesn't work without the drugs(obvious point I know). Take hardstyle... yeah I imagine there are a few people who staysober when listening to hardstyle but the majority of the audience are mashed out oftheir heads and the music is a backing for that. For this reason I don't like M D MA withD ubstep. I actually enjoy the music so I don't want to take a drug like that which makesyou concentrate on how good you feel as opposed to the music itself. Generally whereI'm from, the vibe and energy of the night combined with a ridiculous soundsystem is

enough to take my mind to another place. It s as if D ubstep gives me a natural high initself and I can have just as good, if not better time without suffering the next daysdreaded come down of hell.

y J ust some booze, maybe get spliffed up a bit (that's a whoooole different story ), sub -bass, and I m sweet as rain...

y To be honest, do as you see fit.

39%

61%

Does MDMA improve your personalexperience of dubstep?

Yes

o


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y As a foreign outsider at D MZ I noticed people were a bit...messy.y there are some mashheads at raves nowadays. N.A.G.L (not a good look)

y P ersonally the feeling I got when Mala dropped Bury da Bwoy on a 40kw system was

better than any other feeling I ve ever had before. Tears in eyes business. I would veenjoyed it a lot aswell if I wasn't high; don't get me wrong, I m often the only sober person at these nights, but weed doesn't half make music that bit more orgasmic.

y P ersonally standing there goofing out looking like a twat, isn t my cup of tea anymore aspliff n booze is the way forward!!!!

y I don t think mdma necessarily mixes with D ubstep. there is no doubt being off your twatwill probably heighten the enjoyment of a night out, but let s face it... you could probablydrop a bomb, go to cream, and come out thinking it was the best thing since tinnedpineapple. Which, coincidentally, it very much isn t. And I don t even like pineapples.

y In my opinion, I don t see the need to take drugs

mdma at these nights. If you don t enjoyD ubstep without them then you are only enjoying the buzz and not the D ubstep. It aintbout the drugs its bout music. I m all for smoking a few zuts but class a's. no thanks


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connec tion with the more rave y Du bst e p, but this doesnt rea lly a pply to the idea of accom panying a comedo wn. My f ieldwor k doesnt agree with the idea that Du bst e p has the

pur pose of com pli men ting a come do wn. For e xam ple, a t the DQ night Du bst e p was played before the heav ier drum and bass. Also so man y of the par ticipants have e xpressed Du bst e p com pli men ts more chilled and positive conno tations, ra ther than the nega tive conno tations associated wit h a come do wn.

So let me re iterate that main que stion. Does Du bst e p music re present a con tinua tion in c lu b drug cu lture or a move a way? My results prov ide a num ber of ways in he lping an sw er this,however a c lear d ivide in an individua ls a pproach to en joying Du bst e p emerge s.

A) The idea that Du bst e p's inheren t musica l charac ter istics are suff icient to en joy in botha physi cal and aud itor y sense

B) Drug con sum pti on prov ides that connec tion to accommoda te en joymen t and connec t with the mu sic.


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F ina l conc lus ions:

Many would argue that those who con sume drug s with Du bst e p arent authen tic fan s, prom pti ng a su bcultura l divide. Af ter a ll, those who u se drug s to fue l their en joymen t in themusic sure ly dont a pprec iate the mu sic for its raw con tent? In re sponse to the conundrum of mixing drug s with Du bst e p music, one post from the forum qu ite succe ssfully sums u p the

culture of Du bst e p music with do a s you see f it . Du bst e p in itself is a produc t of exper imen tation. F reedom in expressi on was stated a s a fea ture one individua l a pprec iatedin Du bst e p. Thorn ton (199 5) argue s that clu bs congrega te lik eminded tastes ( page 22). Th is is cer tainly true to the e xtent that clu bber s individua l agenda s come do wn to their cho ice inattending a Du bst e p night. Th is ana logy however is com plex in a ppli cation with Du bst e p music. The mean s by which Du bst e p is en joyed ha s been em phatically em phasis ed throughmy data. Another point to remem ber is that man y peo ple in attendance of a Du bst e p night cou ld sim ply be there for the drum and bass DJ set, or to dance lik e an idiot . Ta king a ll of this on board, Id argue that when identif ying who a ttends Du bst e p clu b nights, there is nosingular su bcultura l grou p. Ever y individua l has a cer tain agenda which in the con text of Du bst e p music, is not nece ssar ily shared between one grou p.


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B ib liography:

B ooks:

Thorn ton, S. (199 5). C lub C ul t ures: Mus ic, Med ia and Subcul t ural C ap it al . Corn wall, Blackwell.

Malbon, B. (1999). C lubb ing: Danc ing, ecs t asy and v it al it y. New Yor k , R outledge.

E lectron ic Journa ls:

Jower s, I. (1999). T ime & Soc iety. T imesh ards: Repe tition, T imbre and Iden tit y in Dance Mus ic, 8 (381). March, 2009, http://t as.sage pu b.com .

Hesmondha lgh, D. (1998). The Br itish Dance Music Indu str y. A C ase S t udy o f Independen t C ul t ural Produc tion, 49 (2) . March, 2009, http://www . jst or.org /sta ble/591311

W ebs ites:

20 HZ Sound syst em Mysp ace : http://www .mysp ace.com /20hz sound syst em

Du bst e p Forum : http://www .du bst e pforum.com

Face book: http://www .face book .com

Caspa and R usk o even t informa tion: http://www .qype.co.u k/even ts/17 52 89 -Herve -Caspa-and -R usk o-Amer sham -Arm s- New-C ross-L ondon

Photography:

All photogra phs tak en from the DQ clu b in Sheff ield, on 7 th May 2009, by Jac k Gilber t. Perm issi on ha s beengran ted to d ispl ay them in m y pro ject.

Software:

S pectrogram ana lysis prov ided by the sof tware Son ic V isua liser , crea ted a t Queen Mar ys Un iver sity,London.


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A ppend ix:

Dub s

e for um po s

:

S ubject: Drugs and Dubstep

I'm a mu s c s

ud e

at Sh effie d Unive rsity an d an e m erging dub st e p fan. I' ve d ec id e d to d o so m e rese ar ch into

th e whol e dub st e p m o ve m e nt for m y fir st y ear proj ec t. It wo u ld b e gr eat to h e ar p eopl es opinion s in r e lation

to th e u se of M D MA to coin cid e with Dub st e p night s.

For ex a m ple:

1. Who m ay typi cally u se MD MA?

2. Wh e n d o yo u tak e it? How mu ch? Co st?

3. What e ff ec t s can it ha ve ? (po sitive an d n e gati ve

And any oth e r infor m ation yo u think m ay b e h e lpf u l towar d s m y proj ec t will b e gre atly appr ec iat e d . Fee l free

to e m ail mu a08jl c@s he ffie ld .a c.u k

Be a ss u re d it s m y o b ligation to k ee p p e rsonal d e tail s confi d e ntial.

(post has now been deleted)

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Drugs and Dubstep