This is prob the last wobble-type tune that made me think 'Hey, this is actually pretty good":
Sadly I think it's been semi-officially confirmed that it will never come off dub...
******
(Recognising in advance that this is a topic that's been well and truly talked to death before....)
I try not to hate on the wobblers too badly 'cause I'm very aware that the sort of criticisms levelled at them - idiotic, music for the braindead, lowest-common-denominator, too macho and aggy, too noisy, etc - are exactly the same sort of things that were said loads about ardkore at the time, and prob about lots of other hard, high-energy styles that I like (for example, it kind of pains me that 'tearout' is almost always used as a par-word these days, as lots of my favourite jungle tunes would have been seen as tearout tracks).
Also, I think my view on the style would be different and less strong than some peoples', because I wasn't closely following the dubstep scene through the classic 2002-2006 years. I love a lot of that stuff now, of course, but I'm always going to be listening backwards, as it were. I've never been to FWD, I hadn't even been to a DMZ night until last year. If I had been closely invested in the development of the genre in 'real time', as a lot of people here were, it's likely my hatred would be stronger, as I would have directly experienced the narrowing of the sound, the changes in the audience and vibe at nights, etc.
(Similarly, I've never listened to much post-200 dnb, so lack the part of the context of the related changes in that style. Possibly why some people are so pissed off with the way that dubstep has gone is because they feel like they've been through the same process twice).
Basically, my main problem with most of the wobble tunes I hear is that, to use one of Luka's favourite words, to me they just sound corny. Which is very vague, I know, but perhaps a clearer way to say it is that simply boosting the ammount of noise and distortion on a track is, by itself, very much yesterday's idea of what is shocking and rebellious in music. Noisyness is such a well-worn idea that it's very difficult to put a new and exciting spin on it. As many people have pointed out, hundreds of extreme metal bands have been employing the same sonic ideas as wobblers for decades now, to much better effect.
(Fans of wobble sometimes seem to imply that its detractors find it too scary or too extreme, that they can't handle the punishment. For me the listening experience is almost the opposite, I'm more likely to be bored or irritated, waiting for some excitement which never quite comes).
Also - and I know that this is what everyone says, but it's true - it doesn't help that the beats on most wobble material are so dull. It seems weird to me that, for music that is supposed to be peak-time rave material, they have such an energy deficiency in the rhythm department; the most frequent image I get from listening to them is that of machines which are slowly grinding to a halt. Someone once posted - can't remember who - that the average wobbler has 'no panache', and that sums it up quite well for me.
Of course, as a style it could get better - so could almost any style, really. And for that reason I'll always try and keep one eye on how it develops. But for me there so many semi-related styles that sound much better right now that it's much more productive for me to focus my main energy on them.