These 100 stories defined EDM in the last ten years. Electronic music, disc jockeys and remix culture go back generations, and the last ten years have marked their biggest recent breakthrough in the mainstream. Building on the foundations laid by house and techno innovators such as Frankie Knuckles and The Belleville Three, as well as by superstars such as Paul Oakenfold and Armin van Buuren, who carried the torch at the turn of the millennium, EDM came to describe the most recent era in the history of dance music. My Name is Skrillex served as the introduction of a producer who would become one of the most important EDM stars of all time.
After a successful period leading the band From First to Last, lead singer Sonny Moore adopted the stage name Skrillex and released his first EP as a free download, whose influence on the era of electronic music producers cannot be denied. The six-song EP garnered millions of plays and placed it in the spotlight of public opinion. When what was initially the creation of Gary Richards and Steve Kool-Aid and the future mother of raves moved from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, few could have imagined that Electric Daisy Carnival would become the megalith of rave culture that is EDC Las Vegas today. Now overseen by Pasquale Rotella and the Insomniac team, the event attracts more than 450,000 people to its main event in Las Vegas and many more to the satellite versions in China, Japan, Korea, Orlando, Mexico and other locations.
Bauuer's Harlem Shake showed the power of meme culture and influencers in the era of social networks. Whatever the formula, Harlem Shake was clumsy enough to attract fans and get the participation of millions of people who felt compelled to make their own videos with the song. Matt & Kim, the Miami Heat and the Norwegian Army were just a few of the song's long list of seemingly random fans who participated in the event. Nowadays, this particular intersection where music meets memes is still alive and well on TikTok, but in many ways, Harlem Shake was the case study that showed that the path for artists to grow into memes even existed.
Seventh Stitch already has dozens of tracks under its belt to mark the beginning of the new alias. When the Mayan Warrior community turns 10, it's forging a path to a digital future on the blockchain. Eliminate, Sullivan King, YooOkie and many more are among the producers who are making the leap to fame. One obvious trend that comes to mind in relation to EDM, especially in the second half of the decade, is that popular artists are actively interested in the phenomenon.
It's hard to believe that just a few years ago Skrillex, Diplo and Justin Bieber ushered in a broader interest in dance music in a big way. At the time, Jack Ü was a fledgling project, but I had a lot of expectations about it. Needless to say, Skrillex and Diplo were under pressure to offer something memorable. When it was revealed that Justin Bieber would be joining the two of them for a single called Where Are Ü Now, reactions were mixed.
Bieber himself was coming out of a personal and professional slump and was seen as a polarizing presence in the public eye. Diplo later stated that he had been warned that working with Bieber could end his career. However, Skrillex and Diplo are not known to back down on crazy ideas and, like clockwork, they won over skeptics and some with what became the most popular dance song to hit the radio at the time. Major Lazer and DJ Snake teamed up to work on Lean On, which features the voice of MØ.
The song Four on the Floor became a major commercial success and one of the best-selling singles of all time. The official music video, which was shot in Maharashtra (India), also garnered billions of views due to the song's enormous popularity and its characteristic hook pitch. The home of some of her most unforgettable songs, such as “U Don't Know “, I Want U and her title track, Alison's debut album Wonderland, made her a force to be reckoned with. The 12-song album topped the charts in Australia and the United States, earning it an ARIA Music Award and boosting a tremendously successful career.
Sixteen years after its 1999 debut in Miami Beach, the Ultra Music Festival made a fundamental change in its programming by adding the new RESISTANCE stage to its roster. Focusing on house and techno, the addition of RESISTANCE meant a radical change in the electronic dance music industry as underground genres began to develop a more widespread global appeal. Today, RESISTANCE has become one of Ultra's most recognized event brands. Major Lazer has long been an international ambassador for the EDM scene, dancehall and other eclectic styles on the popular scene.
The group took diplomacy a step further by being the first major international event to be held in Cuba since Washington and Havana re-established their relations. The free concert was held in front of the U.S. UU. Released through Future Classic, Flume's second album, Skin, gained international popularity and further defined the sound by which we now know the Australian producer.
The album won many awards, including a Grammy and an ARIA, and some of its most popular songs were “Never Be Like You”, “Say It” and “Smoke & Retribution”. A few months after the collaboration between GriZ and Subtronics, GrizTronics, began to invade the festival circuit, this strong and bass-focused song arrived on TikTok. Eventually, it became the number one song on the site. Undoubtedly, his success on Tik Tok was unprecedented.
GrizTronics exploded in the same way as Lil Nas X's Old Town Road, defying all odds by competing in a market dominated by pop music. These five stories defined EDM for the past seven days. These 20 stories defined electronic dance music in the last 12 months. These are some of the best and most influential bass songs of the future in the last ten years.
Despite another disconcerting year for the electronic dance music community, it remained as captivating as ever. In the midst of the rapid rise in popularity of EDM, the legendary French duo Daft Punk resumed the classic influences of electronic music in Random Access Memories. .
