Last week we wrote about how Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello is collaborating with Bassnectar, Skrillex, Knife Party and more on an upcoming EDM project. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Bassnectar praised Morello, arguably one of the best hard rock guitarists in the world, for embracing the ‘new’ world of electronic music. He went on to criticise Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl for going “out of his way to really publicly dismiss new generations of creativity.”

In 2012, Dave Grohl used his ">acceptance speech for Best Rock Album at the Grammys to allegedly criticise electronic music as a whole. “To me this award means a lot because it shows that the human element of music is what’s important. Singing into a microphone and learning to play an instrument… that’s the most important thing for people to do…” 

Of course, there was a massive backlash. Grohl was eventually forced to clarify his speech in a lengthy Facebook post, where he claimed that he loved Deadmau5 as much as Dead Kennedys, and Kraftwerk as much as Kyuss. He explained that he loves all music – including Skrillex.

Whether it’s true or not (considering Grohl performed later on that night with Deadmau5 it’s entirely likely that he was just misinterpreted), the sentiment hit home for a lot of people, and it sparked a great debate about instruments vs electronics.

Similarly, indie band Arcade Fire performed at Coachella 2014. During their set, frontman Win Butler remarked, “Shout out to all the bands still playing actual instruments at this festival.” Deadmau5 wasn’t happy, nor were a few other prominent producers.

There’s can be a huge disparity between some rock traditionalists and the world of electronic music. For a long time, many looked on electronic music with up-turned noses. The notion that music made on a computer can be anywhere near as good, or emotional, or skilful as music made on a guitar seemed ridiculous. I grew up on a steady diet of Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, and it took me many years to open my eyes and ears to the electronic world. So I can understand where they’re coming from. But why can’t we all get along? Why must there be a divide?

In 1965 Bob Dylan performed at the Newport Folk Festival with an electric guitar. The messianic figure of the folk generation was booed and heckled for performing rock ‘n roll. It’s now considered a mythical moment in rock history.

Decades later we’re seeing something that’s essentially the same. Rock bands and instrumental musicians are toying with production, collaborating with electronic acts, incorporating electronic layers into their music. (Let’s just take a moment to clarify that this hardly new or surprising. The Beatles used synths. Jimi Hendrix basically used his amp as though it was a synth. Black fucking Sabbath ">used a Moog on Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, and you simply do not get more rock than Sabbath.)

I understand when some people criticise the specific genre of EDM. It’s brash, it’s crass, it’s generally boring. The general consensus is that it’s kind of okay to criticise it.

In the word of hip hop, club rap – you know, bitches and hoes and coke and popping bottles, is the most popular form of rap. It’s also really shit. Unfortunately, party/club rap is at the forefront of rap and it tends to give off a pretty bad impression. The rest of hip hop – underground rap, politically/socially aware artists, conscious rap and so much more, has so much less respect than it should have, because club and gangsta rap gave the whole damn thing a bad name. (Although it should be noted that people like Kendrick Lamar and Run The Jewels are bringing denser rap back toward the mainstream)

This is really similar to what’s happening with electronic music. The point of this article is not to bash down EDM, but it does feel like people are utilising one love-to-hate-it genre to judge and criticise an entire form of music.

It’s easy to hate on something without knowing what it really is. Electronic music is an endless, sprawling, complex web of styles and sounds, with new genres popping up every day. It’s easy to think that music made on computers is soulless, but that’s not necessarily true. By the same token, just because a song was written on a guitar or a piano doesn’t mean that it’s good or genuine. Before I listened to electronic music I certainly thought it all sounded the same – it was just beats on a computer and there was nothing interesting about it. But I’ve since learnt how ignorant that was.

Some argue that there’s no talent in producing electronic music. Sure, DJs who press play on a laptop might fall under that category, but for the most part that’s not true – certainly not when it comes to actually producing the music from scratch. A synth and a computer is an instrument and a tool, in the same way that a guitar or drums or a violin is. There’s as much merit in learning Logic or Ableton as there is in learning to play the guitar. Both create music. We don’t need to hate on one and we don’t need to choose between them.

Electronic music is a world of endless opportunity. You can create sounds and layers that are unthinkable in instrument-based music. Not that that’s always necessary, obviously (a " target="_blank">Jimi Hendrix of " target="_blank">Pink Floyd guitar solo can be more spine-tingling than a drop ANY day of the week,) but it’s one of electronic music’s greatest assets. It’s probably the most exciting thing about it – that and the instant share-ability, considering that it doesn’t need to be physically recorded in a studio. Electronic music is exciting and emotional and endless – just like music made on traditional instruments.

At the end of the day, electronic music is much newer than music with instruments. In the same way that your grandparents probably struggle to understand iPhones and Twitter, it’s understandable that some more ‘traditional’ musicians are wary of electronic. Of course, there’s no need for all artists to start making electronic music or incorporating it into instrumental music, but there’s also no need to hate on it or to say that there’s less talent involved in making it. It’s all music, and there’s good and bad to all of it. Whether it was made on a laptop or a drum kit or a flute, it’s all music, and it always will be.