Skrillex @ The Ritz, Reviewed (Why I Hate or Love Skrillex)
The following editorial is: 1) A review of Skrillex’s “The Mothership Tour” show at the Ritz last Friday or 2) The rudiments of a manifesto on dubstep sociology.
When I found out I had a list spot at Skrillex’s show, I was surprised by how intrigued I became with the show. The Brasky forums know that I’ve been critical of Skrillex since his Deadmau5/Youtube-fueled emergence, but:
- I enjoy live bass music and stick up for dubstep in this spirit
- I’ve been curious to understand Skrillex’s popularity since noticing that his track “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites” has surpassed 50+ million views, putting Skrillex in Lady Gaga territory. And, for the most part, he has done it without the visibility gained via mainstream media exposure. How? I needed to get to the bottom of it.
Upon arrival at the show I started ravenously observing the diversity of showgoers that were rolling in. It was clear that Skrillex was reaching a lot of different audiences within the electronic world, with most everyone represented.
8 Types of Skrillex Listeners
| 1. | Those half-naked rave girls, decorated with fluorescent doodads/trinkets/gewgaws – specifically, those Clydesdale ankle muff things. They are on drugs, but I’m not sure which ones. |  |
| 2. | “Getting laid guys” (credit: Louis CK) in collared shirts, hooting at the fluorescent dancer girls (who of course are immensely detached from the people around them). |  |
| 3. | Awkward computer nerds with Skrillex tees (I think these are the guys who relish the Transformer/dubstep correlation. Note: This correlation has been a terrible thing for dubstep. Also terrible: Zealous YouTube comments about “the drop” or “filth” that are so slobbery you can almost feel the mist) |  |
| 4. | Suburban hipster looking people dressed very randomly with the jean shorts and wayfarer sunglasses and whatnot. I was wearing suspenders so I think that automatically lumps me here. |  |
| 5. | Goth/metal couples on dates. (preemptive correction assuming this class may care greatly about this distinction: “cyber-goth”) |  |
| 6. | People on ecstasy. And weird dudes in masks giving them nose-grazing neon hand jives while they sucked on lollipops and pretended to be rolling hard enough not to notice how REALLY WEIRD THIS LOOKS. IN PUBLIC. |  |
| 7. | Vintage (2000-2005) screamo kids |  |
| 8. | Clusters of white girls who appear to be dressing up to mimic the possibly-sincere fashion guidelines of any combination of the preceding. Most are unfamiliar with Skrillex but they’ve heard of dubstep and they like that band. |  |
Now that I’ve judged 99% of the people in the building, let’s judge the final 1%–the performers.
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