An Open Letter To EDM

Dear EDM,

We need to talk.

I’m sure you’ve noticed by now, the growing disparity in our relationship since we first got together twenty years ago. Honestly, I’ve been feeling this way for some time, and so I finally decided to say something.

It wasn’t always this way. In the beginning, it was pure, unadulterated bliss. I’ll never forget our first rendezvous in the seediest corners of the city. You were simply divine. I couldn’t get enough of you.

Sure, you weren’t as well off back then as you are now, but we both know that I never fell in love with you for your money. I loved you for your style, your feral sense of adventure and your unsullied passion. Now it seems like all you care about is your image, your bottle service and your bottom line.

I admit, I was seduced by the glamour of it all when you first started becoming popular. The beautiful people, the adoring crowds, the plush VIP areas, the designer drugs — it all seemed so important at the time.

The problem is though, that lately, you’ve become predictable. And lazy. And shallow.

I can’t specifically pinpoint when my devotion to you began to fade, but I know it started waning when you started sacrificing your creative integrity for record sales, chart positions and Facebook likes.

Maybe it was when you decided to let DJ Magazine dictate who was important and who wasn’t…. or perhaps it was when you sold out to corporations who ran everything we all worked so hard to build, into the ground.

I tried to tell you so many times over the years. I even waited around for you to change, hoping you’d get it. But you just wouldn’t listen. You were too busy being “the shit, bro.” Maybe we all were. Maybe I was just to high to care. I take some responsibility for this too, you know.

I guess I finally realized what was important again, and now here we are. Maybe I just grew up. Maybe I just got sick of feeling cracked out all the time… Who knows.

I’ll always love you, but I can’t be with you anymore. At least not the way we used to be. Maybe one day you’ll realize that evolving the art forward is infinitely more valuable and enduring than your unrelenting gluttony for money and affirmation. I certainly hope so, because those things are truly fleeting. Trust me, I know.

Until then.

Sincerely,

Generation X