How EDM Vaulted Out Of The Underground And Into The Mainstream

With guest host Jane Clayson.

Everyone on the dance floor. How electronic dance music conquered America.

There’s something about it.You just want to move. Electronic dance music. It’s the industry’s biggest success. Six point two billion dollars. Music critic Michaelangelo Matos calls it America’s soundtrack. In a new book, “The Underground is Massive.” He traces the music’s rise from underground clubs to raves in LA. To what’s loaded on your personal playlist Frankie Bones, Daft Punk, Moby, Diplo. The stories are as wild as the moves on the dance floor. This hour On Point. How Electronic dance music conquered America.
-- Jane Clayson

Michelangelo Matos, music critic and writer. Author of the new book, "The Underground is Massive: How Electronic Dance Music Conquered America." (@matoswk75)

Billboard: EDM’s Forgotten History Finally Gets Its Literary Due — "Dance music fans often come under fire for not appreciating its history. But given the scene's experiential nature — it's fueled largely by festivals, clubs and raves — some might argue that to really understand its roots, you kind of had to be there. Enter Michelangelo Matos, a veteran dance music writer whose new book, The Underground Is Massive, offers a deep dive into American EDM's forgotten past."

Los Angeles Times: Michaelangelo Matos discusses how electronic dance music got its wattage -- "From its humble American beginnings as house music in Chicago, techno in Detroit and rave music in England, the genre now known as electronic dance music has become a billion-dollar business. Superstar DJs earn tens of millions of dollars annually; corporations such as Live Nation have EDM departments run by first-generation ravers gone mainstream. In America, festivals such as the Electric Daisy Carnival, Hard and Coachella, all born in Southern California, draw hundreds of thousands to annual events."

Seattle Times: EDM is massive — and so is a new book about it — "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."

https://www.scribd.com/doc/264545052/Excerpt-From-The-Underground-is-Massive-by-Michelangelo-Matos