DJs who changed the Art of DJing

Electronic Dance Music or EDM is ruling the scene at discos and nightclubs around the world. A genre that is becoming more and more popular thanks to all the talented music artists and famous DJ experimenting and playing with their styles.

While some names are familiar, some even considered legends, there are also several new faces. Find out who they are.

DJing is not new to people. It has been the most creative yet demanding field. The art of DJing used to be different previously than it is now, though. The digital medium has replaced physical equipment. Still, the ways of mixing, applying effects, creating new and different genres, even the way music connects with the listeners or dancers have been transformed. Before, mixing was about mixing two or more tracks and then applying effects and syncing all the tracks to form one piece that speaks to the hearts of its listeners. Some of the established or aspiring DJs have now changed this art into something more creative.

The list of some of those magnificent and talented DJs are as follows-

1. Aphex Twin

Richard David James, better known by his alias, was born on 18th August 1971 in Limerick, Ireland. He is an English electronic musician, famous for his tremendous work in genres like IDM and techno ambient. Twin produced music in other genres too. He is a record producer, remixer, composer and a DJ who goes by several stage names or aliases. He received recognition on a wider level in 1992 for the first time. His popularity rose to the maximum by 1997 after his EP, Come to Daddy. He was one of the DJs who broke the trend and brought ‘acid’ and ‘electronica’ into the live DJ concert and deviated from the trend line of dance music into something that is more than just a dance music. He turned it into an expression and focus of the energy leaving the bodies of the listeners.

2. Tiesto

Tijs Michiel Verwest best known by his stage name, Tiesto, was born on 17th January in 1969. Tiesto was born in the Netherlands, and therefore is a Dutch DJ and record producer. As a result of a poll (his fans conducted that), he was recognized as ‘the Greatest DJ of all times’ by the Mixmag magazine. The DJ Magazine announced him as ‘best DJ of last 20 years’. He is also known as the ‘Godfather of EDM’ as reported by other sources. Originally, Tiesto was an expert in the Trance world. But later on, he left trance, which left his fans confused and surprised. This, in fact, led to the evolution of Tiesto into multiple genre approaches. Now, he is known more for the music he produces and not only the genre.

His long and successful EDM journey has made him a common name amongst all the aspiring DJs in every household. Along with having his own wax statue at the Madame Tussauds Museum in Amsterdam, he has also won a Grammy for his remix of the song “All of Me” by John Legend. He is also the first DJ to have ever played live at the Olympic Games.

3. Skrillex

Sonny John Moore, better known as Skrillex is an American electronic dance music (EDM) producer. He was born in 1988 on 15th

January in Los Angeles, California, United States. Besides EDM, he is also good at genres like trap, electro house, post-hardcore, and dubstep. Skrillex’s music style has created a bridge through his EDM music style between all generations, from the 1900s to 2000s. Skrillex has contributed a lot in the fields of dubstep and EDM. As a result of which, he has won about 6 Grammy’s. Skrillex is one of the DJs who enabled the ‘pop drop’. He produced remixes of Robyn, Lady Gaga, and La Roux, by which the recent pop music stars were able to embed the dubstep IEDs in their tracks. Finally, Skrillex brought the dubstep music out of its unhealthy reputation which involved, grim and gloom.

4. Daft Punk

Daft Punk is the name for French duo, known for producing splendid electronic music with vibrant energy. The duo was formed in 1993 by the members; Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter. Daft Punk is known for their production in French house genre. The duo gained tremendous popularity worldwide, in the late 1990s and their success graph kept rising to this day. Their music contains house music with a blend of disco, rock, funk, techno and more, which gives their productions the hype and rise they need to get the crowd rolling. The duo are also known for keeping their veils on, which only contributed to the rise of excitement within the crowd while the speakers blasted their ultimately influential music through them. Daft Punk has taken electronic music to a platform which was never imagined before.

5. Hardwell

Robbert van de Copurt, better known as Hardwell, was born on 7th January in 1988. Hardwell was born in Breda, Netherlands. Ever since childhood, he was passionate about music and always dreamt to be world no.1 DJ. With his growing passion and hard work, he made his dream come true. Hardwell was recognized as number one DJ in the world by DJ Mag 2013 and in 2014 consecutively. His journey of recognition and popularity started in 2009, soon after releasing his remix ‘Show Me Love vs Be’. People started loving his experimental music. He has been experimenting with the traditional EDM music to create new beats to transform it into something that is more expressive and that connects with listeners on a deeper level.

Music trajectory of Hardwell has been amazing since he started his career in DJing at an exceedingly early age. Till now he has had given countless global hits and gained a loyal fanbase worldwide. Spaceman being his most popular mix whose sales were more than 3 million in the year 2012 itself. But if there is something that people should know about him, it’s his hard work, passion, and energy that he puts into every track. Even the sets that he played at Ultra Music Festival and Tomorrowland have become historic and legendary.

6. Martin Garrix

Martin Garrix is known to be the future of electronic dance music and a child prodigy in the music industry. He fully inherited the art of DJ as he began mixing tracks at a tender age of 8 years and by the age of 12, he was already famous as DJ Marty. At just the age of 20 and a newbie in the industry, he established a name for himself along with some of the most popular and experienced DJs. With his passion and drive to create music, he has become one of the most famous DJ worldwide. He has produced hits after and hits ever since he entered the game and the child prodigy just known what his audience wants and he keeps on serving them that.

7. Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike

Dimitri Vegas and Like Mike, the DJ duo from Belgium who topped the DJ Mag list in the year 2015 is one of the most popular DJ duo the world has ever seen. The two brothers have produced number one hits as soon as they stepped into the music industry and showed their talent at the stage of Tomorrowland, which is known to be the most prestigious EDM music festival globally. They were made the host of Tomorrowland in 2010 and they continue to participate in the festival year after year.

8. Armin Van Buuren

Armin Van Buuren is a born perfectionist DJ and a music producer. He has gained a loyal fan following as he topped the DJ Mag list five times in his career, an exclusive record in itself. His weekly radio show, ‘A state of Trance’ with more than a whopping 20 million listeners, where he is the host, proves his perseverance and passion towards music as he brings in unique energy in the crowd in front of him. Despite being one of the most popular DJs in the world he has never his focus on music and has handled the pressure that comes along with it really well.

Wrap Up!

The world has seen many legendary music artists and DJ and it will not be possible to name all of them here, but we have curated a list of those who completely revolutionized the music industry and paved the way for upcoming DJs and artists.