The over-arching term for all genres of electronic music that are intended for club-style free dancing, as well as listening. There are a huge number of such genres and sub-genres, and new ones appear frequently. The term also usually includes a few genres that are often played in dance clubs even though they themselves are not meant to be danced to, such as downtempo and ambient. It is often abbreviated "EDM".
Precursors to EDM began to appear around 1970, such as Gershon Kingsley's "Popcorn", with synthesized snare drums in its middle section. Peter Baumann, as his first effort after leaving Tangerine Dream, produced the album Romance '76, which foresaw both EDM and synth pop, although it didn't quite land in either genre. The second half of the '70s decade was the heyday of disco, which was originally not electronic music. However, in 1977, singer Donna Summer and synth player Giorgio Moroder produced "I Feel Love" using a Minimoog, a string synthesizer and a drum machine. Thanks to Summer's popularity, the song was widely played on both the radio and in the clubs, and EDM started to take shape. Over the next decade, influences would come from several directions, including New Wave and hip-hop, and by 1990 EDM was a full-blown, if still largely underground, major division of popular music.
Major Genres that Fit Under the EDM Umbrella[]
- Bass
- Booty Bass
- Breakbeat
- Drum & Bass
- Dubstep
- Electro
- Electronic Pop
- Hardcore
- Hard Dance
- House
- Techno
- Trance
- UK Garage
K-EDM[]
A variation originating from South Korea, and being one of the biggest genres in the K-pop world. K-EDM emerged in the late 2000s and quickly became popular. This version is destined to further popularize electronic music, especially EDM, around the world: because K-pop, being so popular, is helping to popularize this version. This genre is created by big K-Pop groups such as:
- BTS
- BLACKPINK
- Stray Kids
- Dreamcatcher
- Super Juniors
- (G)I-dle and many others
Or lesser-known ones, like Xikers.