In 2011, Swedish House Mafia was involved in a single with the credit "Swedish House Mafia vs. Knife Party." In 2012, Swedish House Mafia was pitted against an actual knife party. Life... imitates rave?
The details: Saturday night, during one of SHM's final shows, nine people were reportedly stabbed in Dublin and fights with broken bottles and knives took place. As of Sunday, three people remained in the hospital; there were no deaths reported from the stabbings, though one man at the concert died of a drug overdose. One man appeared in court this morning, but officials said they are searching for multiple people.
Obviously, this isn't really a joking matter. But can't you see where this is going? Violence and death involving young people (one of the men who appeared in court was 23; the person who died was 20)? A new and suddenly mainstream musical scene that adults are predisposed not to get? Drug associations already present? It's going to be one more week or one more fracas, whichever comes first, before the artists start getting blamed. You know how it works. "He had EDM on his iPod," grownups will whisper. (If any time travelers are among those grownups, incidentally, that's going to be one hell of a confusing sentence.) Reporters will slip Skrillex and deadmau5 into the slots of their news stories where Marilyn Manson and Rammstein used to go. Pamphlets will go around: How to Tell Whether Your Child Is Under The Influence of EDM. It'll be the hand-waving freakoutery about raves all over again. Aren't you excited?
Or we could prevent all that from happening by not stabbing people at Swedish House Mafia shows, or for that matter ever. It's your call.
