College students are currently “dazed by the dub.” According to student newspapers nationwide, dubstep has officially implanted its beat into campus music and dance scenes.

As Dariya Bunchuk wrote for The Pipe Dream at SUNY Binghamton, “It’s the fastest-growing music genre of the 21st century. So can you dub it?”

NextGen Journal‘s Mick Hammock writes that dubstep is a sub-genre of the electronic music movement begun in Britain that also includes breakcore, fidget, house, jungle and trance. In his words, “[E]lectronic music has hit the mainstream. . . . [Its] impact will only continue to grow, and will continue to shape the direction of pop music for years to come.”

Dubstep specifically is described as nasty, filthy and grimy by its supporters. Its emergence at or near schools throughout the United States has been celebrated for providing students with “orgasmic vibrations that just make you want to move your body.”

Yet, it has not been without its ear-covering detractors. University of South Carolina graduate student Robert Sinners criticizes dubstep as “womp-womp fart sound music.” As he wrote in The Daily Gamecock in April, “For those of you who like ‘the primal intergalactic shape-shifting starship experience all packed into one steamy room of grinding, orgiastic expression and musical experimentation known as a bass ritual,’ I have one thing to say to you: fart sound music rots your brain, hippie.”

Amid debates on quality, accurate definitions of its actual sound remain elusive. As The Lantern at Ohio State University noted in February, “Dubstep has invaded the bars and clubs of Columbus in an explosive way. . . . After repeated attempts to describe the sound of dubstep, an electronic bass-heavy genre of music, most people give up and say, ‘You just have to listen to it.’”

At around the same time, The Alligator at the University of Florida confirmed “the underground craze known as dubstep has conquered Thursday nights in Gainesville.” Contributing writer Carter Lyles wrote that the controlled chaos of one Thursday last semester included “the bone-rattling effects of the subwoofer penetrating every nuance, every movement, every breath within the tightly packed surroundings. Without a pause or even the slightest hesitation, [the DJ] spins his siren’s songs for the teeming masses, blending each melody into one pulsating rhythm that will continue into the wee hours of the morning.”

How do you dance to it? According to The Collegiate Times at Virginia Tech, “Because of dubstep’s often deliberate pace, people tend to find their personal groove, which includes what [a student radio DJ] calls a contorted ‘bass face.’ And he’s seen many grimaces this academic year.”

Has dubstep carved out a musical niche on your campus? Are students grooving to its rising popularity? Are there any other musical genres competing for club or house party airplay and attention?

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