Vulture Magazine The Michaelmas Issue 2013 | Page 14
Why was Grime
the Soundtrack
to the Student
Protests?
P
Matthew Myers
rotest movements usually possess their own counter-culture. A soundtrack can be a vital component
of this. Music can be both a cultural expression of the
social tension in which it is produced, while at the same
time going on to influence, change, and mould that same
situation. This is no different for the student movement
of 2010. Paul Mason, a journalist for BBC Newsnight at
the time, went so far as to call 2010 the ‘Dubstep Rebellion’. Provided by the portable sound systems brought
on the day, Dubstep and Grime’s role as soundtrack
to the protests was, on the one hand, purely incidental, and on the other, an organic manifestation of the
protest’s demographics and energy. Grime and Dubstep were by far the most popular music played, even
if many of the tracks were not contemporary, but from
a number of years before. The reasons for this can be
found in the demographic of the street-movement.
The protests were not simply populated by middle-class
university students, but saw large numbers of students
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