There aren't many acronyms as controversial as EDM. Across the smoking battlefields of YouTube comment sections, prestige music outlets, and molly-fueled arguments in festival bathroom lines, a generation has relentlessly chewed over exactly which electronic dance music can be classified as Electronic Dance Music, and whether the term is a slur or a compliment. Does EDM—and the culture that surrounds it—represent corporate control, American gluttony, or teenage freedom? As the critical conversation around it turns increasingly towards the death of EDM, we felt it necessary to remind people that the genre isn't just alive and well—it's fascinating, critically underappreciated, and part of the very foundation of contemporary pop's DNA.
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But what is it? That's the difficulty of constructing a list of the best EDM songs of all time—anywhere you draw the boundaries is sure to conflict with someone's hard-fought cultural territory. But in truth, although "EDM" has been an incredibly useful marketing term, it has never been a concrete musical identity. It's more like a gear shift—a fusion of sentimentality and sonic torque that's transformed electronic music from a niche genre to a global phenomenon.We relied on instinct when devising this list—if something walks like EDM, talks like EDM, and bangs like EDM, that's probably what it is, regardless of anyone's artificial high vs. low cultural divide. Like it or not, there's a place for all of us somewhere out there under the big tent.Nobody embraced EDM as enthusiastically—and successfully—during its heyday as the K-pop industry. While American pop stars usually smoothed down dance music's excess to make their crossover hits, K-pop groups like 2NE1 did the opposite, pushing the sound to maximalist extremes. Here, CL's bratty chorus shines over the beat's explosion of martial drums and sawtooth synths, an exercise in more is more. —Ezra MarcusSweden's leading purveyors of glucose-coated synthesizer lines add a little bitterness to their sweet symphonies, ripping both the Verve and 808s-era Kanye. You don't want to overdo this sort of treat, but it feels right in the moment. —Colin JoyceSocial media antics aside, deadmau5 is responsible for some of the most magnetic electronic music ever made. Whether its audience is a massive festival crowd or a few high schoolers on a joyride, this immortal progressive house anthem wraps around its listeners and lifts them up like a tractor beam from a hovering UFO.—Ezra MarcusSOPHIE has subverted EDM's tropes on his other compositions, but few tracks smack as, well, hard as this alien ode to rubber, leather, PVC, and silicone. —Colin JoyceIn the years after his initial US chart success with the Akon-featuring "Sexy Bitch," David Guetta started to branch out into more pop-friendly realms, before eventually arriving at "Titanium." It's probably most notable as Sia's star-making turn in front of the microphone, with a steely chorus that makes this an EDM karaoke classic. —David TurnerWiwek's occasionally atonal and typically off-kilter productions are deliberately terrifying—the hair-raising drop of "Boomshakatak" still provokes a fight-or-flight sensation every time I hear it. —Colin JoyceFrench producer Aazar scrapes all the high-pitched frivolity off a Dutch house riff with steel wool, unearthing a lean, skeletal pulse that stings like a diamond-tipped whip. One of the unsung gems of Mad Decent's deep catalogue.— Ezra MarcusMy trance phase was brief, but one of the songs that's stuck with me is this 2011 team-up between two genre titans. "Apollo Road" is a slow-burning joint, but so worth wading through to get to that pensive, plinking piano section. Its bubbling build is a brief moment of hands-in the-air bliss, before the track rips through your body with its hacksaw synths. If there was ever a song that made me wish I were a fluffies-wearing kandi kid, it's this one.— Krystal RodriguezNorwegian producer Alan Walker's breakout hit feels shockingly singular amid the trap arms race, despite sharing a title with one of 2014's biggest EDM hits and having the same chorus as another. While The Chainsmokers were riding waveform roller coasters, Walker chose to make something weightless. Drifting piano parts float around Fourth World synth percussion, resulting in what Enigma might throw together after a big huff of helium. —Colin JoyceBritish trio Above & Beyond's track "Can't Sleep" always floored me no matter where or when I heard it. Despite its speedy 133 BPM, angelic vocals and haunting keys brought the soaring track down to earth. Listen closely to the pining lyrics and it reveals itself as a love song—a simple, human sentiment at the core of its breakneck pace. Hit play and tell me you don't feel a shiver creep down your spine. —David GarberThe seasick moombahton of Dillon Francis' "Masta Blasta" helped define the playful, absurdist aesthetic that Mad Decent pioneered in the early 2010s. The label's occasionally moved onto more pop-friendly realms in recent years, but this blast of chirping synths is a throwback to a time when you could recognize any Mad Decent song within the first few seconds. —GRRLUsher and Pitbull's self-aware, proto-EDM smash is a song about how a DJ playing other songs reminds Usher of an old romance. It is also about clubs and sex and being drunk, but primarily it is a song about how each of us imbue music with vast amounts of personal significance. Which is something we've all thought about on the dancefloor, right? As a genre predisposed to sweeping nostalgia, meta-EDM should have been huge, but sadly Usher wasn't the pied piper he might have been. —Josh Baines
101. 2NE1 - "I Am the Best" (2011)
99. deadmau5 and Kaskade - "I Remember" (2008)
98. SOPHIE - "Hard" (2014)
97. David Guetta - "Titanium (feat. Sia)" (2011)
95. Aazar - "Rundat" (2014)
94. ATB and Dash Berlin - "Apollo Road" (2011)
93. Alan Walker - "Faded" (2015)
92. Above & Beyond - "Can't Sleep" (2006)
91. Dillon Francis - "Masta Blasta" (2011)
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89. OMI - "Cheerleader (Felix Jaehn Remix)" (2015)
88. DEV - "Bass Down Low (feat. The Cataracs)" (2010)
87. Shawn Wasabi and YDG - "Burnt Rice" (2015)
85. Lido - "Money" (2014)
83. Anna Lunoe - "B.D.D. (Bass Drum Dealer)" (2014)
82. Cascada - "Everytime We Touch" (2005)
80. Clockwork - "Surge (feat. Wynter Gordon)" (2013)
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79. Destructo - "Higher" (2013)
77. Taio Cruz - "Dynamite" (2010)
75. Avicii - "Silhouettes" (2012)
74. Knife Party - "Internet Friends" (2011)
73. Zedd - "Clarity" (2012)
71. Keys N Krates - "Dum Dee Dum" (2013)
70. Saint and UNIIQU3 - "Yo (I'm Lit)" (2015)
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69. CETANA and moistbreezy - "Running" (2016)
68. Ellie Goulding - "Lights" (2011)
67. Unicorn Kid - "Need U" (2012)
66. Flosstradamus - "Rollup (Baauer Remix)" (2012)
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This Lorde flip shows Diplo beta-testing the now-standard tactic of transforming a pop star's melodies into a synthetic dolphin squeal, which he'd use again to world-beating effect on "Where Are Ü Now" the following year.— Ezra MarcusHere, three big-room residents prove their chops not just as producers, but as mathematicians. Plugged into the 4/4 beat, a single repeating melody becomes trance-like. Elements drop in and out with perfect precision, the drops dividing and multiplying as the track continues. It's the EDM formula perfected—a masterclass in amusement park physics and centrifugal force. —GRRLThis remix of Hardwell's "Spaceman" is a prime example of Carnage doing what he does best—bringing interstellar synths crashing back to earth in a crumpled heap. There isn't a lot else to it. It's just stupid hype. —GRRLAt the height of America's dubstep craze arrived a collaboration between two of the genre's biggest stars: UK's Nero, and homegrown rising star Skrillex. Together, they remixed "Promises," a track off the former's 2011 debut album Welcome Reality. With the latter's touch, the already bass-heavy track becomes a chaotic frenzy of chopped vocals and jagged synths, the musical equivalent of adding a shot of espresso to a Red Bull.— Krystal RodriguezIf any of chillwave's tape deck jugglers allowed themselves the full-on comedown nostalgia rush their fuzzy music often hinted at, it might sound something like the four minutes of gasping synth parts and wailing sampled vocals that make up the Australian duo's "High." There's some blunt lyrics about all the ways love is like a drug, for good measure. How novel! If you think you've heard this one before, you have, and it's very good.— Colin Joyce
62. Hardwell - "Spaceman (Carnage Remix)" (2012)
61. Nero - "Promises (Skrillex & Nero Remix)" (2011)
60. Peking Duk - "High (feat. Nicole Millar)" (2014)
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59. NGHTMRE and Loudpvck - "Click Clack" (2016)
58. TOKiMONSTA - "Mileena's Theme" (2011)
57. Calvin Harris - "Let's Go (feat. Ne-Yo)" (2012)
54. Ducky - "Work" (2016)
53. La Roux - "In For The Kill (Skrillex Remix)" (2010)
52. Wolfgang Gartner - "Illmerica" (2010)
51. Flume - "Never Be Like You (feat. Kai)" (2016)
50. Carnage - "Bricks (feat. Migos)" (2014)
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On "Bricks," Migos debuted an even more adlib-heavy and distorted style than ever before, presaging the sound that would take them to number-one with "Bad and Boujee." Though Carnage would go on to be an early collaborator with Famous Dex, Lil Yachty, Rich The Kid, and Ugly God, it was "Bricks" that demonstrated how EDM and rap could fully embrace one other.— David TurnerIt's unfortunate that the words "PC Music" make some cringe. Whether or not you think they created an all-time great gimmick by giving off the appearance they were manufacturing uncanny-valley pop stars in a lab, the prankish collective wielded amazing pop songs beneath the smokescreen of hype. Never was this more apparent than on QT's one-off single "Hey QT," which co-masterminds SOPHIE and A.G. Cook tried to pass off as an energy drink singing to an audience. (They even made a limited amount of promotional beverages.) Peel back all those layers and you've got a Carly Rae Jepsen-league shot of syrup that will be stuck in your head (and teeth) for months. —Dan WeissThe Scandinavian trio's minor key farewell was also their finest moment. The teary-eyed wave goodbye leaned heavily on prog-house's capacity for outsized emotion, to build toward a series of drops that felt like an entire arena suddenly erupting into sobs. Its title was a subtle consolation to fans, as if they were saying, "We don't know what comes next, but for now, at least we all have this song."— Colin Joyce"Subtle" isn't an adjective often used to describe the maximal music of Swedish superstar Eric Prydz. Yet Four Tet's unlikely nine-minute remix of "Opus"—which spawned out of simple tweet by the British producer—manages to mellow out the crowd-pleaser, while serving as a lesson in how to build tension. If they ever make a We Are Your Friends sequel, considering how much Zac Efron's character loves a sick drop, they should use this remix in the trailer— Max MertensI never had more fun in college than when my friends and I would plug an iPod into a bass amp in a dorm and blast Rusko tunes until security came. On "Woo Boost," as ever, the British wobble pioneer gives his drops an impish personality, their melodies surfing over bottomless troughs of bass with a wink and a middle finger.— Ezra MarcusIt's easy to appreciate Skrillex's recent forays into pop production and restrained "future bass," but I'll always cherish the era of 2010-2012 when his audience seemed to consist of Minecraft YouTubers and angry BMX teens. Peak Skrill had so much shamelessness, purity, and soul—he was like ZZ Top except channeling the unhinged id of the internet's underbelly instead of a Texas dive bar. Case in point: this Krewella collaboration. Sonny's firing on all cylinders, with his trademark julienned vocal melodies and a snarling drop that moves like a wingsuit stunt flyer cheating death in a canyon. Revisiting this stuff after the last few years of tasteful, adult contemporary EDM-lite dominating the pop charts feels like sinking your teeth into an artery-clogging sirloin after too many kale smoothies. —Ezra MarcusA fittingly mysterious offering from a producer who began his career intentionally anonymous, "Faded" is EDM refracted through the grayscale lens of French New Wave, 2-step, and James Bond themes. It's muted, compared to much of what's on this list—more suited to an early morning sunrise than a peak-hours fireworks display, which only adds to its surreal bliss. —Colin JoyceElectronic music with indie cred at the end of the 00s was typically brash and loud (think Major Lazer and Justice) or subtle and downcast (Matthew Dear, Burial, Four Tet). But it was not, by and large, uplifting and emotional. These attributes were generally derided by the era's early adopters, until Araabmuzik re-introduced a generation of aloof college kids to the heart-opening pleasures of trance on his 2011 album Electronic Dream. One song he sampled almost wholesale on "Streetz Tonight" is this classic from 2008. The original still reigns supreme—a neon wormhole in the sky, sucking you up, up, and away.— Ezra MarcusBritish producer Mat Zo excels at a very particular flavor of uplifting, seamless prog-house, beloved by the kind of hardbody gym rats who carefully catalog every meal they eat. Porter Robinson injects a little soul into the high-definition gloss, courtesy of a heavily manipulated vocal melody with a bittersweet edge. This is "One More Time" for the Beatport set. —Ezra MarcusIt's unfortunate that Harry Bauer Rodrigues' legacy in wider public consciousness is tied to a fluke meme, because he's long been one of the best producers excavating the crumbling foundations beneath trap and bass music. "GoGo!" is one of his most destructive efforts—the bassline crawls along at a bulldozer's pace, tearing up whatever's in its path. Bursts of chopped-up vocals spring like flowers from the wreckage, a testament to the joys of ripping it all up and starting again. —Colin JoyceWhile the video for A-Trak and Armand van Helden's "Barbra Streisand" features a who's who of music world cameos—including Kanye, Pharrell, Diplo, Chromeo, and the Roots' Questlove—it never overshadows how outrageously catchy this 2010 disco-house anthem is.
49. QT - "Hey QT" (2014)
47. Eric Prydz - "Opus (Four Tet Remix)" (2015)
46. Rusko - "Woo Boost" (2010)
45. Skrillex - "Breathe (Krewella Vocal Edit)" (2011)
44. ZHU - "Faded" (2014)
43. Kaskade - "4 AM (Adam K and Soha Mix)" (2008)
42. Mat Zo and Porter Robinson - "Easy" (2013)
41. Baauer - "GoGo!" (2015)
40. Duck Sauce - "Barbra Streisand" (2010)
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All together now: WOOO, WOOO, WOOO-OH. WOOO, WOOO, WOOO-OH. WOOO, WOOO, WOOO-OH. WOOO, WOOO, WOOO-OH. WOOO, WOOO, WOOO-OH. WOOO, WOOO, WOOO-OH. WOOO, WOOO, WOOO-OH. WOOO, WOOO, WOOO-OH. WOOO, WOOO, WOOO-OH. —Max MertensMore than half a decade after this foundation-shaking edit of an edit first rumbled onto SoundCloud, it still follows me around. This thing can show up anywhere: a low-key house party, quasi-ironically during a set by an otherwise cerebral IDM-ish DJ, the Indy 500 or, of course, at peak time during an EDC set. This remix—like many on this list—uses drops as super weapons, which makes its inescapability all the more unsettling. Have you ever been stalked by an atomic bomb? —Colin JoyceTwo of trap's steeliest stuntmen ended up on a collision course in 2014 for this unexpectedly sensitive assemblage of speed demon spinouts and high energy leaps. It'd get a glossier, Skrillex-assisted sequel a few years later with "Waiting," but like the best action movies, "Tell Me" balances feats of strength with emotional moments. It's an anthem for those who like the sad parts in The Fast and the Furious series. —Colin JoyceFlosstradamus weren't patient zero for the trap virus that spread across the mega-fests in the early 10s, but they did seem to understand its dynamics better than just about anyone else. This collaboration with New Jersey's DJ Sliink could function as a tutorial for all the different tricks that other producers working in the field would come to employ. They spring dizzily between a variety of air-raid synth sounds, eardrum-busting bass drops, and martial percussion. Listen closely, you might learn something. —Colin JoyceThere's a reason this song plays in the trailer for the underrated 2016 Shia LaBeouf vehicle American Honey [full disclosure: American Honey was produced by VICE's Pulse Films] , which is basically three hours of teens running wild, hooking up, and occasionally selling magazines on a trip through the country's hinterlands. Carnage and Makonnen's big-hearted candy-trap ode to drug-dealing as escapism makes the American dream feel (almost) real. —Ezra MarcusThere's a reason this song is in pretty much every single Apple Music "Trap" playlist, and that's the Diplo feature. But there's more to the song than an A-list assist. There's also a masterfully executed Boingy Drop and the druggy magic of its lyrics. Some stroke of genius inspired a perfect coalescence of molly thoughts ("I just wanna dance among the stars") and thotty tweets ("These afterhours got me charged")—the combination of which gives me FOMO for parties that don't even exist.— Kitty
38. RL Grime and What So Not - "Tell Me" (2014)
37. Flosstradamus and DJ Sliink - "Crowd CTRL" (2013)
36. Carnage - "I Like Tuh (feat. iLoveMakonnen)" (2015)
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34. Mija and Vindata - "Better" (2016)
31. DJ Snake and Lil Jon - "Turn Down For What" (2013)
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30. Krewella - "Enjoy the Ride" (2013)
29. Dada Life - "Kickout the Epic Motherfucker" (2012)
28. David Guetta - "Without You (feat. Usher)" (2011)
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Diplo has spent his adult life traveling the globe, infiltrating musical hotspots, and partying and influencer-ing—all in pursuit of some kind of Lost Ark of bangers. DJ Snake—no slouch himself—helps him climb Everest here. "Lean On" is the perfect summer jam, with slip & slide voices cut up between spiked-juice verses and pool-grotto harmonies. Legend has it that no one's ever lived to tell the tale sober. —Dan WeissThe Chainsmokers' number-one hit with Halsey is probably purest representation of EDM's slow injection into pop's bloodstream (and vice versa). Like a lot of Top 40 songs over the past half-decade, it hinges on compressed synth hits, soaring topline vocals, and the cyclical movements of EDM. But The Chainsmokers' whole schtick is taking that formula and using it as a canvas for vaseline-smeared visions of a half-remembered past. Smoothed-down edges and fogged-up lyrics lubricate their songs' glide into universal relatability. "Closer" doubles down on this gambit, shoehorning pointillist details of longing into a romantic Mad Libs narrative that you can't help writing yourself into.— Colin JoyceMoombahton was robbed. The short-lived genre fell victim to a glut of copycats and a cringeworthy name, but for a shining moment, it gave EDM's bombast a rhythmic power-up. With an assist from the singer Maluca, Francis and Diplo manage to make squeaky Dutch synths sound legitimately sultry. This might be the genre's greatest moment.— Ezra Marcus
26. The Chainsmokers - "Closer (feat. Halsey)" (2016)
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24. Rustie - "First Mythz" (2015)
22. Lil Jon - "Outta Your Mind (feat. LMFAO)" (2010)
20. Sleepy Tom and Anna Lunoe - "Pusher" (2015)
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With Lunoe's perfectly pitched vocals and the song's truly wild drop, though, "Pusher" delivers on its own merits, striking a middle ground between party-hardy hedonism and zonked-out contemplation. Most moments in EDM are ephemeral, but we'll be listening to "Pusher" for years.— Larry FitzmauriceThe turn of the 2010s represented a peak both for EDM as a commercial phenomenon and for the more aggro-leaning side of Steve Aoki's Dim Mak label. "Warp 1.9," perhaps the definitive track from that particularly fruitful period of hook-laden abrasiveness, saw Aoki teaming with the masked Italians the Bloody Beetroots. Compared with standard EDM excess, the Beetroots offered something a little more grayscale, a little more raw and gothic. When paired with Aoki's grinning energy, the track stands out like a dose of digital acid within a sea of sweetness.— GRRLIt was only a matter of time before an FL Studio whiz finally stumbled upon the neon-lit, heavy-lidded spirit of Phil Collins' solo work. And like a lost cut from that artist's 1985 studio album, No Jacket Required, "Finale" is gleaming, high-drama pop at its finest. Madeon's prismatic synth runs and dial-tone arpeggios only add further color to the super-saturated track. The effect is so bright that you can't look away, even if you wanted to.— Colin JoyceIt's nearly impossible to pin down Rihanna's most iconic tune. Is it "Umbrella," the big-tent ballad that hung its giant chorus over Pro Tools drums? "Work," the Drake duet that swirled over 2016 like hookah smoke? Or is her most enduring anthem this undeniable Calvin Harris collaboration? Anyone who's adopted a cat to cope with the Trumpocalypse will surely identify with the idea of finding love in a hopeless place. That's why "We Found Love" transcends EDM. It's not willing the listener to escape; it's asking them to wait for the calm within the eye of the storm. —Dan WeissREZZ rose to prominence through a deadmau5 co-sign, but her music's a little more grim than you'd expect. "Edge," her biggest hit, crawls along at an industrial pace, more Wax Trax! than mau5trap. Its monotonic synth parts and nauseating bass drones render it bleaker than almost anything else in the EDM orbit, and that's the beauty of it. At the time, she warned listeners to "be careful not to get sucked into the abyss plz." But that's a shame, because it's a pretty tempting void. —Colin JoyceWhen we profiled the young Jersey-born producer Slushii, he told us his goal was to make the most "feelsy" music possible. What that means on this remix of Porter Robinson and Madeon's "Shelter"—the original of which already has poignancy to spare—is a Skrillex-indebted combination of pitch-shifted vocals, sparkling synthetic texture, and hyper-kinetic drops. Slushii loves kawaii culture (his logo is an adorable anthropomorphic soft drink modeled on a Yu-Gi-Oh card), and here, his production overflows with the cartoonish physics and exaggerated sentimentality of anime. —Ezra Marcus
18. Madeon - "Finale" (2012)
17. Calvin Harris and Rihanna - "We Found Love" (2011)
16. REZZ - "Edge" (2016)
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14. deadmau5 - "Raise Your Weapon" (2011)
13. Nero - "Dark Skies" (2015)
- TNGHT - "Higher Ground" (2012)
10. Cashmere Cat - "Mirror Maru" (2012)
With his early output, Magnus August Høiberg tried cultivating a more introverted strain of EDM. "When I was making that music, I was thinking more of a girl or a boy alone in their bedroom listening to it, than a crowd full of people going insane," he told THUMP earlier this year.
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The Norwegian producer's 2012 single "Mirror Maru" is one of his most successfully pillowy works from that era. Trance-y keys circle around feather-light synth parts, hopscotching kickdrums, and—in a nod to his Jersey club influences—the playful squeak of a bedframe. There's no drop, no high-gain synths—just a bed of rippling riffs for you to sink into. No wonder the song ended up on a video game soundtrack—it's the perfect music for closing the windows and letting the shades down on a bright summer day. —Colin JoyceThe best moments on Diplo and Switch's 2009 LP as Major Lazer offered a warped take on dancehall, one that transcended pastiche and potential cries of cultural co-option to create a sound so alien and distinctive it set its own trends. Nowhere is that skill more apparent than on "Pon De Floor," a Caribbean-inspired scorcher co-produced by DJ Mag's favorite Dutchman Afrojack, with brazen come-ons courtesy of veteran Jamaican MC Vybz Kartel.The synths whirr like five-alarm fire sirens, but the single's marching-band drums are the real show-stopper, capable of making even the shyest of fans engage in some reckless living room daggering. Two years after its release, the song would become the backbone of Beyoncé's chart-topping empowerment anthem "Run the World (Girls)," cementing its place in the pantheon of EDM-pop crossover classics.— Max Mertens
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8. Marshmello - "Alone" (2016)
7. Porter Robinson - "Sad Machine" (2014)
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It was a moment for Diplo, who was emerging out of a quiet period and would go on to rightfully retake his position as one of pop's most potent producers. It was a moment for Skrillex, who finally got his own due as a melodic genius after years of derision both earned and unearned. And it was a moment for pop's King Joffrey, Justin Bieber, who needed a hit like this to distract people from, well, everything else. And guess what? It worked.— Larry FitzmauriceWhen they blew up on the bloghouse circuit in the mid-aughts, Gaspar Augé and Xavier de Rosnay were leather-jacketed, distortion-peddling Jesus Christ Superstars for whom nostalgia meant "P.Y.T." and the old-school HBO logo. This monolithic Michael Jackson tribute folded loads of references into its children's choir, disco strings, and harpsichord, along with Ed Banger's signature walking bass and all sorts of touches that haven't been heard at the VMAs since. No one has connected dance music to maximalist rock & roll quite like this.— Dan WeissThere's an argument to be made that filthy dubstep was the last truly original sound, with everything that followed devolving into mere genre synthesis or tweaks on a well-known formula. Think about it: when they emerged at the end of the aughts, demonic wobbles offered a genuinely shocking break in the continuum of popular music, unleashed from deep within the Ableton matrix by a generation of Monster Energy™-fueled ravers seeking something harder.Of course, nobody ever did much with the sound other than construct ludicrous drops. But when you consider songs like "Bass Cannon," that complaint feels kinda wimpy. Flux Pavilion is a master of cartoonish dynamics, his wall of bass crushing the nimble marimba riff like an avalanche falling on a teacup.— Ezra MarcusDid Britney Spears invent EDM? Put aside the outlandishness of the suggestion for a minute, and consider the way female vocalists typically appear within the context of the genre-cum-marketing-term: painted on with total anonymity, not unlike the blank android faces in the faux-deep Will Smith sci-fi actioner I, Robot. There's a ton of subtext to be read into this endless trend, almost all of it relating to industry-based misogyny—and Spears has certainly been through the wringer when it comes to the myriad ways that the music industry chews up and spits out female artists."Till the World Ends," from Spears' 2011 album Femme Fatale, was borne from Spears' latest career phase—managed by a conservatorship that was set up following her highly publicized mental health struggles in the mid-to-late-2000s. She's sounded like a ghost in the machine of her own music ever since, and this particular confection—spun to sugary perfection by producers Max Martin, Alexander Kronlund, Ke$ha, and Dr. Luke—is no exception. The "whoa-oh-oh"s sound like candy-painted drill bits boring into the track's cool, metallic foundation. It's giddy, impersonal, and an uncanny presaging of the "Live for today, because tomorrow may never come" attitude that would come to define EDM as a whole. In other words, it's just as easy to overthink as it is to play over for the eightieth time. —Larry FitzmauriceImagine "Levels" in a vacuum. Forget the frats, and the festivals, and every time you heard it piped from the speakers at CVS at four in the morning. Taken on its own terms, there's something strange about it. The cold fusion of diva vocals and stadium synths leaves a chemical aftertaste, a bolt of android power streaking over the crowds in the Las Vegas desert. It's a post-human sonic weapon—an alluring, frightening document of just how peak "peak EDM" could be.— Ezra MarcusRemember when people hated Skrillex? It feels like forever ago, but there was a time in the 2010s when just mentioning his name would make people (mostly, music critics) go absolutely apeshit. He was perverting the true nature of dubstep! His haircut sucked! He used to be emo! Also, his fans were terrible!Like most music criticism, very little of these gripes have held up years later—and the song that started it all, "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites," still bangs. It's an otherworldly combination of old-school video game music, gross-sounding basslines, internet detritus, and the wide-eyed optimism of the lap-pop music made by the Postal Service, Lali Puna, and the Notwist in the early 2000s. Listening back today, it reads like a Calvin-peeing windshield decal in the face of genre purism, and seems to predict today's post-genre pop music landscape.And can you talk about "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites" without mentioning the drop? It's the song that launched a thousand bass faces. It practically made "the drop" a mainstream term—to the point that, after the song's release, Skrillex himself couldn't even share his favorite Aphex Twin song without being plagued by a thousand people asking, "Where's the drop?"And with good reason: no other faux-dubstep-era "drop"—the kind anchored around bass so coruscating and abrasive that it knocks the fillings loose from your teeth—has sounded so simultaneously aggressive and melodic. (You could whistle it, even.) Over the last five years, both Skrillex's work and overground electronic music at large have moved far past the blocky brilliance of "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites," but both would sound unquestionably different if it never existed. You can't light a powder keg without a match. —Larry Fitzmaurice