Skrillex, a household name you most likely already know, is revered as the most prolific figure in establishing “the drop” movement, and pushing the idea of interesting and genuinely creative music. With a multitude of out of this world tracks, remixes, top tier collaborations, and outstanding projects under his belt, he arose as an artist far ahead of his time.
Throughout recent years, he has branched out to display his versatility beyond dubstep and refused to be bound to a single genre, like Zeds Dead as we previously wrote in our last article. He has developed the new age of dubstep and modern dance music with releases containing frenetic drops, gnarly screeches and growls, powerful percussion hits, and arm-flailing wubs that make you feel like violently thrusting your body in every direction, knocking things over and then swiftly regretting it because you broke your mom’s vase.
Photo credit: Rukes.com
Skrillex, or Sonny Moore, comes from a vastly diverse musical background. His roots stem from a post-hardcore band called From First To Last, he has also gone on to pursue many different ventures in the industry, such as a solo career by Sonny Moore, donning his main alias as Skrillex, forming alliances with dance music superstar Diplo to make Jack Ü, and partnering with the house and techno wizard, Boyz Noize, to launch Dog Blood. You may also have heard of his talent-filled record label that he founded, OWSLA.
Sonny’s impact echos through today’s main stage artists success and sounds, and he’s been honorably awarded with several accolades throughout his career. Having acquired a whopping total of 8 Grammys, the most held by any electronic dance artist, and 4 Grammy nominations, hate him or love him, it is evident to us that this man played a vital role in the music industry.
Without further ado, here are The Top 5 Greatest Skrillex Songs Ever. These selections are based on unbiased factors of cultural impact, commercial success, and the magnitude of the push it gave Sonny to get him to where he is today. I understand that music is subjective, and you may have a different ranking, so let’s take this trip of nostalgia into his great work together.
Here we go.
Skrillex – Summit (feat. Ellie Goulding)
Summit is the closing track to the Bangarang EP, Sonny’s 4th EP, which was released on December 23rd, 2011.
Implementing his own chopped and auto-tuned vocals, Sonny recruits Ellie Goulding, English singer-songwriter superstar, to add an ethereal and softer touch over his chillstep and melodic song.
Summit provides a feeling of nostalgia, similar to his song ‘With You, Friends (Long Drive)’, and resonates deeply with longtime fans, associated with memories of childhood, living in the moment, and letting the good times roll.
Skrillex – First of the Year (Equinox)
CALL 911 NOW! This track is without a doubt one of Skrillex’s heaviest songs, filled with explosive bass, atmospheric snares, indistinguishable high-pitched vocals, and a seemingly joyful keyboard melody that quickly fades into his signature glitch sounds and grimy growls.
I have to say, this song is responsible for me beatboxing a bunch of obnoxious noises among myself as a kid while walking home from school. I looked like a fuckin’ weirdo.
The music video for Equinox received an MTV MVA award in 2012 for Best Visual Effects. While at the time, Skrillex’s sound was already something so different that it even scared casual listeners, and paired with the video, it certainly generated more conversations about him as an artist. Ultimately, these conversations only lead him to garner more commercial success, helping it reach the Billboard Top 100.
Skrillex and Diplo (Jack Ü) – Where Are Ü Now
NOW HOLD UP! Are you still with me? Fantastic. Let me explain this one.
While a wildly massive stigma lingered around Justin Bieber, one of the most popular artists today, he was also one of the most hated celebrities for a variety of reasons. Skrillex, widely recognized as a dubstep god at this point, and Diplo, collaborating with Justin Bieber was off the rip one of the most controversial songs ever released.
But it was also one of the most successful songs for Skrillex.
Still atop of the charts as Skrillex’s most played songs on iTunes, the track won Jack U and Justin Bieber a Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording. The song hit #8 on the Billboard Hot 100, thus handing Skrillex and Diplo their first ever Top 10 song, and it has now received Platinum certification, four times.
Skrillex boldly ventured out into musical territory that was uncommon to him and came out the other side with incredible commercial success, further proving his diverse talents and distancing himself from being perceived as a single genre artist.
Skrillex – Bangarang feat. Sirah
The title track from his 2011 Bangarang EP release, you can’t get anymore Skrillex than this. Breaking many normal boundaries in electronic music, Sonny Moore set out to develop art that is intriguing, expressive, and fun.
Indeed, he did that shit.
Bangarang brings pulsating bass lines, creative usage of Sirah’s vocals, kicks that punch so hard they could knock out Mayweather, and playful synths leading to an overall “go crazy” and grooving vibe. Immersing you in an iconic bass drop and breakdown, this song turns heads at lightning speed and flips rooms upside-down.
Having accumulated over half a billion views on his Youtube video for the tune, it also possesses a cool 3x Platinum Certification in the US.
Skrillex – Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites
Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites. What set everything in motion. Many of today’s artists praise this as their inspiration to getting into producing, and rightfully so.
Being lead single and title track from the historic Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites album, it obliterated every idea anyone ever had on sound design, song structure, and the pace of dubstep. Incorporating a flurry of emotion, sublime vocals, a frenzy of glitch noises, and more unearthly sounds, Skrillex produced such a drop so overwhelming that it crosses your eyes and leaves you completely confused yet left in awe by what you have just experienced.
The craziest thing to me about this is that it was released in October 22, 2010.
Imagine playing this song to someone a hundred years ago.
Over 250,000,000+ views on Youtube, and certified double platinum, this is a banger.
This one tune alone is responsible for spawning the “Brostep” movement, as some call it, and really pushed new artists to up their game and continue to push boundaries if they wished to succeed in a continuously evolving music industry that demanded more interesting sounding music. It is by far one of the most important songs, ever.
Thrusting an underground genre to millions of more curious ears, Skrillex left a burning mark in the scene, angering many at the time with what listeners believed were obnoxious and random noises, and intriguing others enough to explore electronic music.
This concludes The Top 5 Greatest Skrillex Songs Ever. As mentioned before, music is subjective, and with the plethora of amazing songs that Skrillex has made it is highly unlikely that this list is highly similar to your own in ranking, despite me trying to be as unbiased as I could. Some songs just yield more value to you than everyone else.
So now I have one last question for you:
What are your Top 5 Skrillex Songs?
Let us know on social media!
Thanks for reading 🙂
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