Why do people hate on Skrillex?

[illandnatti]

Okay so here's the deal with Skrillex from my perspective.

He comes from a popular Sceamo band (called From First To Last) background. Even just with this you can kind of understand what he represents in the dubstep scene today. Screamo traditionally has a very specific kind of torturous sound in rock music that a lot of long time rock scenesters would call rubbish, and not worthy of the genre of rock. The flip side is the emo kids who can't get enough and live and breathe that sort of thing.

Then he branches off and does a solo EP release in 2009 (the 'My Name Is Skrillex EP') that actually has some interesting new thoughts for the electro house scene, and was fairly well received. Then he gets on the dubstep bandwagon.

It would make sense that he would create a sound in dubstep similar to the sound he created in rock music; heavy to the point where it loses its swagger, becoming what essentially is well produced and modulated noise (some say not that well produced).

People in this forum get upset when they hear this sound, and I feel they have a right to. Have you heard the Digital Mystikz or Loefah on a proper soundsystem? If you can hear the sub frequencies properly that shit will blow you away. It's got an other worldly feel to a lot of it, to the point where I feel like I'm having an out of body experience. Skrillex's music just doesn't do that for me! Quite the opposite really, I think the people who get the most out of his music are on hardcore drugs.

Now, comparing the Digital Mystikz to Skrillex is akin to comparing The Beatles to From First To Last. One is universally loved, appreciated and glorified, the other is highly controversial, people either love it or hate it, rarely coming in the middle. I think that Skrillex's sound is a natural (and maybe inevitable) progression of the dubstep sound, but I don't have to embrace it just because it's there.

Not that I really hate all that much on Skrillex. I don't care for the heavier parts of most of his tracks, but I do enjoy some of his chord progressions. The intro to his 'Cinema' remix I thought was well produced and put together for example, even though I didn't care for the drop.

[Elephant Shoe]

Okay so here's the deal with Skrillex from my perspective.

He comes from a popular Sceamo band (called From First To Last) background. Even just with this you can kind of understand what he represents in the dubstep scene today. Screamo traditionally has a very specific kind of torturous sound in rock music that a lot of long time rock scenesters would call rubbish, and not worthy of the genre of rock. The flip side is the emo kids who can't get enough and live and breathe that sort of thing.

Then he branches off and does a solo EP release in 2009 (the 'My Name Is Skrillex EP') that actually has some interesting new thoughts for the electro house scene, and was fairly well received. Then he gets on the dubstep bandwagon.

It would make sense that he would create a sound in dubstep similar to the sound he created in rock music; heavy to the point where it loses its swagger, becoming what essentially is well produced and modulated noise (some say not that well produced).

People in this forum get upset when they hear this sound, and I feel they have a right to. Have you heard the Digital Mystikz or Loefah on a proper soundsystem? If you can hear the sub frequencies properly that shit will blow you away. It's got an other worldly feel to a lot of it, to the point where I feel like I'm having an out of body experience. Skrillex's music just doesn't do that for me! Quite the opposite really, I think the people who get the most out of his music are on hardcore drugs.

Now, comparing the Digital Mystikz to Skrillex is akin to comparing The Beatles to From First To Last. One is universally loved, appreciated and glorified, the other is highly controversial, people either love it or hate it, rarely coming in the middle. I think that Skrillex's sound is a natural (and maybe inevitable) progression of the dubstep sound, but I don't have to embrace it just because it's there.

Not that I really hate all that much on Skrillex. I don't care for the heavier parts of most of his tracks, but I do enjoy some of his chord progressions. The intro to his 'Cinema' remix I thought was well produced and put together for example, even though I didn't care for the drop.

Damn, well said dude. I respect that. "One is universally loved, appreciated and glorified, the other is highly controversial, people either love it or hate it, rarely coming in the middle." Very good point you brought up and I would have never looked at it like that in the perspective. Most of you have probably been listening to dubstep since as far as 05 for all I know. I've recently discovered it in 2010, obviously from the more electro side of it (Bar 9, Borgore, Skrillex, etc). Without a doubt, if I have been listening to the old school stuff from day one, I wouldn't be too fond of Skrillex neither. Change is what it is, and sometimes it's very hard to accept. Shit that comes on the radio nowadays is complete garbage from what came up 5-10 years ago. And these 13 year old kids praise it like it's the best thing ever; mainly because they are ethnocentric. They didn't grow up listening to that older style of music, so they think the newest is what's best, because that's what their age group mainly listens to. Anyway, thankfully, with sources such as YouTube comments, I have been reading stuff like "I miss the old shit better than this" etc. I decided to look up the more older dubstep and I also happened to like it. I also agree that the Skrillex sound was inevitable, someone had to do it right?

[Terminate]

I wouldn't call it progression. More branched-off into an area that's loosely tied to the original sound.

[meanmrcustard]

Speaking from a personal standpoint, what I love about dubstep is the 'space' in the music, there are (normally) only a few elements, but they work together so well to produce something that is so much more than the sum of it's parts. It creates a mood, a feeling, which, for me, is one of the most important things about music. Creating great music with so few elements is something that is very difficult to do well too.

With Skrillex (and stuff of that ilk), that space, that crucial element (for me) is missing. There's too much in there, it's far far too busy. I'm sure there is, but TO ME, it SEEMS like there's no real thought in it. It's like when a kid bakes a cake for the first time, they'll just throw EVERYTHING into the mixing bowl in the misguided thought that MORE IS BETTER. I'm always gonna prefer a nice simple sponge to a chocolatelemmondrizzlecarrotbanannachickencheesecake. It's this 'everything but the kitchen sink' (and then also the kitchen sink) mentality that just doesn't do it for me.

That's why I dislike him. Some of the reasoning on this thread (the band he used to be in, the way he looks, the label he's signed to, the fact he's popular) seems kinda weak and wouldn't matter at all to me if I liked his productions.

[ashley]

I wouldn't call it progression. More branched-off into an area that's loosely tied to the original sound.

This.

Progression isn't always a good thing either btw

[antipode]

I remember reading/hearing/watching something about dubstep a couple of years ago that said it's all about restraint, and having a feeling of power to it without neccesarily having to express it. I thought it made sense. Kryptic Minds, LX One, SPMC sort of stuff are great examples of it..
Stuff like this is a completely different vibe, not to mention working with completely different frequencies. (still trying to figure out when the word bass started being associated with midrange.)

..actually maybe it was around cockney thug

[mikey-bizzle-09]

Its cool to hate Skrillex that's why most people on here don't like him and i think people don't like the way he looks either which is just stupid judging someones music by the way they look, though i will say i don't like the sort of people he seems to attract at his gigs!! I like one or two of his tunes he isn't exactly the greatest producer to come out that is for sure!

[LA_Boxers]

Its cool to hate Skrillex that's why most people on here don't like him...

[-[2]DAY_-]

Its cool to hate Skrillex that's why most people on here don't like him...

I second the

I don't hate skrillex. I hate that my friends just don't get it, and i have to come here to dsf in order to feel any hint of a shred of real companionship or understanding.

People thinking halftime womp-fest = dubstep
While halftime 140 is the only shared ground across a lot of brutal tunes and tbh the drums are what i truly hate about it. 1 3 1 3 etc so on and so forth.... With all the mids in the synths there isn't room for percussion to breathe. Without deep percussion i can't get into the music, it refuses to penetrate me in the least. Sub sits well below drums and percussion so you can go apeshit with sub and still lay down amazing drums and dirty breaks, which actually get to me in a tremendous and beautiful way.

I don't even hate middy synth and sampling work. Its good, interesting work and has its place in music composition. but not when you're trying to make your statement with percussion and bass. *shrug*

.. there ought to be a shrugging smiley, i can't find one

[Kanga]

It's because his music lacks "Soul"

Good examples of this happening in North America are with jazz (not once, but twice) and hip-hop.

They were hi-jacked, re-packed, commercialized, and stripped of their essence.
This commercialization is almost unanimously met with vitriol (ie. Met Metheny's opinion on Kenny G and smooth jazz: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-mjt1ypiF8)

"and now people think that's what jazz is, and that's not what jazz is at all."

So yeah, basically if you can see and understand that parallel then you should be able to relate to all of the haters.

[jsills]

As an american I get pissed that people come chat shit about our taste. We Been listening since early skream, benga and loefah. Fuck skrillex and fuck you judgmental pricks.

[-[2]DAY_-]

lol i was so close to comparing him to Kenny G but i read what i typed and was like err, would this make sense to anyone? fuggit

[truefiktion]

Who the fuck is Skrillex?

[wilson]

They see his sound as an attack on the fundamentals of dubstep, not, ohh I dunno, that he digs that sound and enjoys making it.

[brasco]

He might be a great human being, dunno I never met him.

I don't hate him as a person, but not a a fan of his 'dubstep'. At all.

(IMO)

[Elephant Shoe]

It's because his music lacks "Soul"

Good examples of this happening in North America are with jazz (not once, but twice) and hip-hop.

They were hi-jacked, re-packed, commercialized, and stripped of their essence.
This commercialization is almost unanimously met with vitriol (ie. Met Metheny's opinion on Kenny G and smooth jazz: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-mjt1ypiF8)

"and now people think that's what jazz is, and that's not what jazz is at all."

So yeah, basically if you can see and understand that parallel then you should be able to relate to all of the haters.

You bring up a good point with jazz. It kind of relates to when bepop emerged, all of the old-schoolers were like, "what is this new shit?"
Today, it's happening with hip hop. But the fact is, hip hop today is truly shit to what it was 10+ years ago. I'm not even sure if you would even call it hip hop, it's all washed up. I guess it all comes down to misconception; people begin to name genres solely from what they heard from other people.

Even though I do listen to brostep, I understand the perspective that all of you people are coming from, and I respect that.

[_cheef_]

lulz the op was tl;dr...I hate on sKrillex cuz he sucks.

[Dark Reign]

Okay so here's the deal with Skrillex from my perspective.
Not that I really hate all that much on Skrillex. I don't care for the heavier parts of most of his tracks, but I do enjoy some of his chord progressions. The intro to his 'Cinema' remix I thought was well produced and put together for example, even though I didn't care for the drop.

I agree with this, my buddy sent me the Cinema remix and i loved the intro then it dropped and I turned it off, also I really like the melody and chord progression in Scary Monsters but when it drops it's just soulless garbage.

[fractal]

Not going to get to much into this other than to say I agree with the post right above me. Some of his songs have great, well made intros, but after a while they all turn out to sound like the exact same drop, over and over again. Imho

About a minute or more of drums and melodica, followed by a schreechy drop, insert a few bars of the melodica over the top of the squelches later. Seems really formulaic and I get tired of it quickly

imo

[brasco]

it's just soulless.

this.