Gone are the days of Lil Wayne and Drake monopolizing the music industry with their raps about drugs, alcohol, cars, money, and girls. What has caused this new revelation? Two words: house music. House music is the latest music fad to hit airwaves. With its ever increasing popularity among the public, the newest music craze shows no sign of fading out anytime soon.
Madonna, Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, U2, Lady Gaga, and Jay- Z are some of the world’s biggest and talented stars. The underlying commonality between them is their ability to have performed sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden. The most recent of acts to sell out the 20,000 seat arena within one hour of pre-sale and regular sale combined is Swedish House Mafia.
Swedish House Mafia, made-up of three established individual disc jockeys and producers, Axwell, Steve Angello, and Sebastian Ingrosso, decided to combine their talents by forming the group in late 2008. Only a few years later, the group has become one of the biggest names in house music among the public.
The sold-out concert signifies not only specifically success for the group of DJs, but it shows that house music has made a huge name for their genre in today’s entertainment industry.
The days of house music being heard solely in clubs are far gone. Having been the genre’s sole home for quite some time, they are now breaking new ground in the world of radio. It seems as if the majority of the public cannot get enough.
Swedish House Mafia’s hit “Save the World,” Afrojack’s collaboration with Pitbull, Ne-Yo and Nayer on the track “Give Me Everything,” and “Party Rock Anthem” were just three songs that could easily be named “songs of the summer.” The house music influence is becoming notably popular, causing even established entertainers to break into the house music world.
Rihanna has most recently jumped on the fist-pumping bandwagon. The star’s newest single to hit radio airwaves, “Found Love,” is fully influenced by house music with the help of Calvin Harris, an established star in the genre of house music.
Not only is house music influencing our favorite mega-stars musically, they are also cashing in by influencing the public’s spending habits as well.
Selling out show after show, DJs are managing to turn concert venues into their own personal night clubs. It’s astonishing how much fans will pay to see their favorite DJs sets live. Before this craze, DJs would spin in clubs, and “packing the house” would be an accomplishment. Now, selling out concerts is beginning to be the norm.
Dropping hundreds to see their favorite DJs throw an occasional hand in the air, while the other is mixing and holding onto their headphones, is a new concept for the American culture. I am extremely curious to see if this will stick, or if people will realize that turning the volume up on iTunes or YouTube has the potential to be just as satisfying; while keeping the cash in your wallet.
Regardless, whether you are spending the money to see them or saving it and making use out of speakers, the interest in house music is undeniable among the public at this point in time. America needed a change in their music taste anyway. There are only so many curses to edit out of songs on the radio before all you hear is the background music.
PHOTO COURTESY of thechuckness.com
