Southern Comfort, Internet Explorer and Willy Wonka’s Nerds candy have at least one thing in common: an appreciation for dubstep.
Each of the companies released commercials that use the bass-heavy beats of increasingly commercial dubstep music. These companies are neither inventive nor alone in their incorporation of dubstep music into mainstream commercials.
Dubstep’s bombastic bass provides listeners with an attention-grabbing sound unlike other music genres, which may be just what advertisers are aiming for.
Clothing manufacturer The North Face and video camera company GoPro have also run commercials accompanied by dubstep in the past few months. A British children’s cereal, Weetabix Chocolate Spoonsize, produced a commercial in September that featured a girl dancing to dubstep.
This shouldn’t come as a surprise, however, as the dubstep genre originated across the pond. Dubstep has roots dating back to the London night-club scene at the turn of the millennium.
Dubstep music slowly found its way to the Western Hemisphere in the following decade and has since made its presence known in the American music market. Dubstep DJ Skrillex was one of the first artists to attain major commercial success in America with his 2011 EP “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites,” which peaked at No. 3 on the U.S. Billboard dance/electronic album charts.
MtvU recognized America’s growing interest in dubstep music this year by adding an additional category to its annual awards show. The EDM Effect Award was created to celebrate influential artists in electronic dance music, an umbrella under which dubstep falls.
MtvU’s recognition of EDM and dubstep in particular is interesting, as mtvU focuses on the interests of a younger crowd, namely college students. Does this mean that a younger crowd is responsible for the robotic rhythms of dubstep music in today’s commercials?
The answer to this question may lie within the court of popular opinion, which many media lovers consider to be Comedy Central’s “South Park.” The animated comedy series has earned a reputation for covering current events, and it crafted an episode with thinly veiled references to dubstep last summer.
South Park portrayed dubstep as a hip new trend in music, popular with the town’s youth while discarded by the majority of the town’s adults as sounding similar to bowel movements. The program followed one adult character’s endeavors to adapt to his child’s music interests in an attempt to prevent himself from being perceived as “getting old.”
While America’s collective music taste may not be getting old, its population surely is. As America’s bulging baby boomer generation begins to retire as a driving consumer force, advertisers will surely begin to pander to the interests of a younger crowd.
Goodbye Beatles, hello Bassnectar.
 
 
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Contact Josh Naquin at [email protected]