Quincy Jones On EDM: "If They Handle It Right, It Won't Be A Fad"

via Forbes

Quincy Jones isn’t exactly the first person who comes to mind during a conversation about electronic dance music. The legendary superproducer is best known for working with artists like Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra and Michael Jackson, not the likes of Avicii or Afrojack.

Some of Jones’ most celebrated work has contained electronic elements, though, and it certainly makes people dance—one need look no further than Thriller. Still, it came as something of a surprise to see him in a one-on-one panel with electronic music pioneer Pete Tong at the EDM-focused International Music Summitin Los Angeles last week.

Before Jones took the stage, he gave me a few minutes of his time as he walked from his car to the elevator that carried us to the room where he’d be speaking, and seemed just as surprised as everyone else to find himself at an EDM summit. When asked how the panel came about, he said simply: “I don’t know.”

But Jones was quick to weigh in on his thoughts about the state of electronic music, and he didn’t mince words.

“It is a fad right now, but if they handle it right it wouldn’t be a fad,”  he said. “Learn what the f–k they’re dong with the science of music, man. There’s only 12 notes out there.”

During our brief chat, Jones spoke broadly about the fundamental nature of music (“You can’t see it, you can’t touch it, you can’t smell it, but Lord knows you can feel it”) and his personal philosophy (“Just do something you love, it gives you goosebumps”).

Though he didn’t reveal his feelings on particular DJs when pressed, he described their work as being not too different from his own, deep down: “If you know what you’re doing, the machine works for you.”

Jones didn’t have strong feelings on whether or not the current popularity of electronic music would lead consumers to eventually seek a change of pace and turn back to more live instrumentation, a trend that may have already begun even within the most pop-oriented corners of EDM with songs like “Wake Me Up!”

But when the topic turned to Michael Jackson, his eyes lit up, as did mine: I had tried numerous times to contact Jones for an interview while writing my book,Michael Jackson, Inc.

I couldn’t help but ask Jones what he felt Jackson would think about the rise of EDM.

“Are you kidding?” he said. “He’d love it.”