Intelligent dance music (commonly IDM) is an electronic music genre that emerged in the early 1990s. The genre was originally influenced by developments in electronic dance music (EDM) such as Detroit Techno and various breakbeat styles that were emerging in the UK at that time. Stylistically, IDM tended to rely upon individualistic experimentation rather than adhering to musical characteristics associated with specific styles of EDM. The range of post-techno styles to emerge in the early 1990s were described variously as art techno, ambient techno, intelligent techno, and electronica. In the United States, the latter term is now used by the music industry as a catchall to describe EDM and its many derivatives.
The term IDM is said to have originated in the United States in 1993 with the formation of the IDM list, an electronic mailing list originally chartered for the discussion of music by (but not limited to) a number of prominent English artists, especially those appearing on a 1992 Warp Records compilation called Artificial Intelligence.
Usage of the term "Intelligent Dance Music" has been criticised by electronic musicians such as Aphex Twin and is seen by artists such as Mike Paradinas as being peculiar to the U.S.
Famous quotes containing the words intelligent, dance and/or music:
“Once we begin to appreciate that the apparent destructiveness of the toddler in taking apart a flower or knocking down sand castles is in fact a constructive effort to understand unity, we are able to revise our view of the situation, moving from reprimand and prohibition to the intelligent channeling of his efforts and the fostering of discovery.”
—Polly Berrien Berends (20th century)
“Shall we go dance the hay, the hay?
Never pipe could ever play
Better shepherd’s roundelay.”
—Nicholas Breton (1542–1626)
“Hell is full of musical amateurs: music is the brandy of the damned.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)