The first step in this process is to get yourself to think dubstep is cool.

You may have heard the occasional Skrillex or Major Lazer single on the radio— easy-going bass drops with a catchy tune including vocals by another famous pop singer— however, those same "popular" singles are nothing like the actual, and sometimes downright terrifying, monsters that we dare call dubstep records.

Dubstep is not something for the preppy, happy-go-lucky "Hit me baby one more time" kind of gal or guy. It's not for the weak of heart, either...or weak of ear. I don't want to say dubstep is an ugly type of music, but sometimes, it actually can be pretty disgusting (which, funny enough, is actually a compliment to lovers of dubstep) to sit and listen through. I, as a fellow dubstep listener, have taken many years to actually sit through an entire Skrillex album, coming to anticipate all bass drops and yelling along with the obscene lyrics of each song. It was not an easy lifestyle to become accustomed to, but did listening to dubstep somehow benefit me in the long run? Yes!
(Well, in actuality, no, but I do love tormenting those around me with the wub-wub of Krewella's "Killin' It".)
The second step is researching your well-known artists. You have the younger, fun-loving artists who, despite their age, know exactly what they're doing, and you have your extremely well knowns who have way too much money to throw around (ahem, Deadmau5), and then you have your soon-to-be-well-knowns, barely scraping the surface of great (or terrible) dubstep with every bass drop and meaningless lyric they throw into their singles on Soundcloud. Skrillex is considered, in many cases, to be the "King of Dubstep", having apparently brought the music field into the mainstream media when he was around the age of twenty four. Alongside him is the infamous Deadmau5, known for sporting a giant "mau5" head at each of his concerts and for having the worst attitude towards other EDM producers in the market. Daft Punk, while, like Deadmau5, do not deal in the dangerous terrains of dubstep, they are extremely well known due to their 70's funk styled tracks that began with their second album, "Discovery", in 2001. What makes them even greater is their robot personas; they refuse to let their actual faces be shown in film or in photos. But I’m getting ahead of myself here, this isn’t a history lesson on great EDM producers, this is a how-to guide.

(I just really like Daft Punk. I should write a how-to guide on how to convince yourself that Daft Punk is cool. Seriously, they show up on stages and in photo shoots wearing actual helmets and plated gloves, like they were real robots. Robots! Robots. Who doesn't like robots. Imagine all the beepy noises. Love me some beepy noises.)
The third step is actually finding good dubstep music. And, no, those “7 HOUR REMIX OF THE GREATEST DUBSTEP DROPS OF ALL TIME” YouTube videos do not count. But the question rises up: “What qualifies as good dubstep music?”, and I’m glad you asked. Before I jump into the qualifications of good dubstep music, let me just put it out there that dubstep itself is not that great of a music genre, so prepare yourself for hours of pouring over terrible music. The method that is mostly used to find newer, fresher selections of dubstep is through the famous music streaming website: SoundCloud. SoundCloud is home to thousands of undiscovered DJs, singers, and music producers, including the now famous DJ, Marshmellow, who was discovered by Skrillex through SoundCloud. If going through catalogs of music isn’t your cup of tea, however, there are other options. YouTube is obviously a great source of music, known and unknown. A few great selections to start off your search is some of Skrillex’s classics, such as “Bangarang” or “First of the Year”, or Dillon Francis’ new work, “Bun Up the Dance”, and “Coming Over”. Once you determine the vibe and type of bass drop you so desire, your path to more tolerable dubstep is only a few clicks away.

The fourth and final step, and, in my opinion, one of the hardest, is showing your friends your new music selection and getting them to tolerate it. The one thing to not do during this step is to charge right in and force them to listen to the wub-wubs of Tommy Trash’s latest single, because more than likely they will only ban you from the lunch table for the rest of the week (I speak from experience). No, the right and civil thing to do in the case of dubstep is to ease them into it, because more than likely they have heard the weak melodies that are modern mainstream dubstep. With great music choice up your sleeve, it shouldn’t be too hard of a task to convince your friends to permit Diplo and Steve Aoki to become permanent members of your shared playlists. The key is to be patient and very, very sneaky. The easiest thing to do is to play a song while your friends are preoccupied with something else, so that they won’t be one hundred percent invested in the music, but just enough to tease their curiosity. Another option is to make them a playlist using 8tracks, another great way to discover music. 8tracks shuffles the music and does not let the listener skip tracks, so your friends will, more or less, be forced to listen to the anxiety-inducing bass drops and nightmarish chords of dubstep (mwahaha!).

If you follow all of these steps carefully and fully, you should have no problem getting your friends to think dubstep is cool. Keep at it little by little, and you and your friends are on your way to a life full of content if not slight regret!