Skrillex's 10 Most Surprising Collaborations

From hip-hop to rock, Skrillex knows how to throw down in any genre.

Not Available Lead
Image via Complex Original
Not Available Lead

On his official debut album Recess, Skrillex featured everyone from legendary party starter Fatman Scoop to Korean artist G-Dragon. He's been big on collaboration, and over the last six years has worked on a number of side projects, including Jack U with Diplo and Dogblood with Boys Noize. And while many stereotypically paint Skrillex as being a one-trick pony, he's done a lot to help push the EDM sound outside of the American electronic music scene, and a lot of that is through his frequent feature and collaboration work. While some might have been surprised that he got Chance The Rapper and the Social Experiment onto his album, others known he's been on some odd couple shit. Check out the 10 most surprising collaborations in Skrillex's career, so far.

Atreyu “You Were the King, Now You're Unconscious” (2009)

Not Available Interstitial

While it's really small, Skrillex let the world know that he'd worked on the sound design and music in the intro of this track from Atreyu's 2009 album Congregation of the Damned. They're from Orange County, so you have to assume that they know Skrillex from the L.A. area music scene, but it speaks to Skrillex's heart that, at a time when he was really starting to gain steam as a solo artist in the EDM realm, that he'd still find the time to craft an intro for an album that a number of his new fans might not have even picked up.

Methods of Mayhem “All I Wanna Do” (2010)

Not Available Interstitial

This track is taken from A Public Disservice Announcement, the 2010 album from Tommy Lee's Methods of Mayhem. On the project, demos were submitted from people all over the world based on stems that had been posted online, and a number of producers received credits on the album, including deadmau5. The actual credits are minimal (it mentions being featured on synthesizer), but who knows how much or how little Skrillex really contributed.

Korn f/ Skrillex “Get Up” (2011)

Not Available Interstitial

Korn's 2011 album Path of Totality found the nu metal group exploring with electronic music. To match their aesthetic, they looked towards the harder sounds of dubstep, with Kill the Noise, Noisia, 12th Planet, and Datsik (among others) joining Skrillex to help produce the project. Skrillex contributed to three songs, including the lead single “Get Up!” It must have been great for Skrillex, who had been a fan of Korn's for a while, even interviewing lead singer Jonathan Davis for an issue of Revolver in 2006.

Ellie Goulding

Not Available Interstitial

No, I'm not saying I'm surprised that Ellie Goulding and Skrillex dated, although that definitely felt like it came out of leftfield. More power to them and their time together. Ellie seemed to come out of nowhere and filled a void in the EDM scene of that siren that perfectly bodies the heavyweight beats that were given to her. She rose to prominence via Bassnectar's huge remix of “Lights,” and at some point they started chatting with each other on some mutual fan shit. This led into their dating, which obviously turned into a number of tracks that they worked on together, including Bangarang's “Summit” and “Bittersweet,” which was featured on the soundtrack for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2.

Foreign Beggars f/ Skrillex “Still Getting It” (2011)

Not Available Interstitial

“Still Getting It” wasn't surprising because the Foreign Beggars were working with an electronic music producer; their M.O. has been working with some of the best in dance music, and have scored solid hits with Noisia in the past. Their 2011 EP The Harder They Fall featured Noisia, Alix Perez, Black Sun Empire, and Mensah, highlighting a certain electronic music producer (UK/European) at a time when a lot of UK heads weren't feeling the brand of dubstep Skrillex was putting out. This cut should have made people realize that it didn't matter, as long as the Beggars were in the room with some like-minded producers, crafting filthy sounds.

SOFI f/ Skrillex & Kill the Noise “Bring Out The Devil” (2011)

Not Available Interstitial

SOFI was an interesting collab. Skillex and Kill the Noise (who've worked on tunes together in the past, including a cut from Korn's Path of Totality) produced this cut. In 2011, it's just wild that Skrillex could go from well-known metal bands like Korn to a Greek-German singer who'd choreographed videos for Avril Lavigne three years prior. SOFI did end up lending vocals to a number of EDM producers, and this track works.

Skrillex and The Doors “Break'n A Sweat” (2013)

Not Available Interstitial

For those of you that saw the 2012 documentary Re:GENERATION_music_project, this might not be new to you. Skrillex and The Doors were one of the odd pairings that were thrown into a studio with the objective of making a track. We imagine Skrillex's background in rock made it easy for him to collaborate with the legendary band on “Break'n A Sweat,” which found the band and the EDM producer jamming until something worked. There were even samples of Jim Morrison's voice from an archived interview dating back to the 1960s that made it into the track. The Doors went on to say that their kids were huge fans of Skrillex, and were psyched that this opportunity came up. The end result is more Skrillex than The Doors, but it happened.

Skrillex and Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley “Make It Bun Dem” (2012)

Not Available Interstitial

Tracks like are great examples of the benefits of remix culture. Skrillex diehards knew of the instrumental, and had given it the working title “Rudeboy Bass” for a sample that it contained. It was a live-show staple, and at some point Skrillex threw the vocals to Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley's megahit “Welcome To Jamrock” over the track. He has a love for dancehall and reggae music, so it really made sense. As the story goes, Skrillex got his “Welcome to Jamrock” bootleg into Jr. Gong's hands in hopes of it coming out as a remix, but Jr. Gong rocked with it so much that he suggested that he add some original lyrics to the tune. Thus, “Make It Bun Dem” was born.

Spring Breakers (2012)

Not Available Interstitial

One of the most talked-about films of 2012 ended up getting scored by Skrillex. Hell, that infamous intro featured one of Skrillex's biggest hits, “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites.” Harmony Korine was a fan, and put the film's music director on to Skrillex's music. That turned into Skrillex's first film scoring job, and instead of just filling the scenes with his previous material, he actually worked with Cliff Martinez, putting new spins on old material (including “Scary Monsters on Strings”), as well as crafted music specifically for the film.

A$AP Rocky f/ Skrillex “Wild for the Night” (2013)

Not Available Interstitial

This was always a peculiar collaboration, as most Skrillex fans had heard the beat before A$AP Rocky even touched it. The basis of this track comes from Skrillex's “Going Down” mix of Birdy Nam Nam's “Goin' In.” There's never been any real talk about how this track was manipulated for Rocky to spit on, but that's besides the point. It married a sound that had been brewing in some dubstep/bass music circles, where dubstep and rap collide.

Latest in Music