Various EDM genres have evolved over the last 40 years, for example; house, techno, drum and bass, dance-pop etc. Stylistic 👄 variation within an established EDM genre can lead to the emergence of what is called a subgenre. Hybridization, where elements 👄 of two or more genres are combined, can lead to the emergence of an entirely new genre of EDM.[4]

Early synth-pop 👄 pioneers included Japanese group Yellow Magic Orchestra, and British bands Ultravox, the Human League and Berlin Blondes[citation needed]. The Human 👄 League used monophonic synthesizers to produce music with a simple and austere sound. After the breakthrough of Gary Numan in 👄 the UK Singles Chart in 1979, large numbers of artists began to enjoy success with a synthesizer-based sound in the 👄 early 1980s, including late-1970s debutants like Japan and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, and newcomers such as Depeche Mode and 👄 Eurythmics. In Japan, Yellow Magic Orchestra's success opened the way for synth-pop bands such as P-Model, Plastics, and Hikashu. The 👄 development of inexpensive polyphonic synthesizers, the definition of MIDI and the use of dance beats, led to a more commercial 👄 and accessible sound for synth-pop. This, its adoption by the style-conscious acts from the New Romantic movement, together with the 👄 rise of MTV, led to success for large numbers of British synth-pop acts (including Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet) in 👄 the United States.

United States [ edit ]

Initially, the popularization of electronic dance music was associated with European rave and club 👄 culture and it achieved limited popular exposure in the United States. By the mid-to-late 1990s this began to change as 👄 the American music industry made efforts to market a range of dance genres as "electronica".[113] At the time, a wave 👄 of electronic music bands from the United Kingdom, including The Prodigy, The Chemical Brothers, Fatboy Slim and Underworld, had been 👄 prematurely associated with an "American electronica revolution".[114][115] But rather than finding mainstream success, many established EDM acts were relegated to 👄 the margins of the US industry.[114] In 1998, Madonna's album Ray of Light—heavily influenced by club music trends and produced 👄 with British producer William Orbit—brought dance music to the attention of popular music listeners.[116][117] In the late 1990s, despite US 👄 media interest in dance music re-branded as electronica, American house and techno producers continued to travel abroad to establish their 👄 careers as DJs and producers.[114] According to New York Times journalist Kelefa Sanneh, Aaliyah's 2000 single "Try Again" "helped smuggle 👄 the innovative techniques of electronic dance music onto the American pop charts"[118]

Following the popularization of EDM in America a number 👄 of producers and DJs, including Carl Cox, Steve Lawler, and Markus Schulz, raised concerns that the perceived over-commercialisation of dance 👄 music had impacted the art of DJing. Cox saw the "press-play" approach taken by newer EDM DJs as unrepresentative of 👄 what he called a "DJ ethos".[125] Writing in Mixmag, DJ Tim Sheridan argued that "push-button DJs" who use auto-sync and 👄 play pre-recorded sets of "obvious hits" resulted in a situation overtaken by "the spectacle, money and the showbiz".[160]