Skrillex is the stage name of American electronic producer Sonny John Moore, whose aggressive dubstep sound and distinctive haircut made him a heavily memed figure in the early 2010s.

Where did Skrillex come from?

Moore was the screamo vocalist for From First to Last before starting the Skrillex project around 2008, breaking through with the 2010 EP 'Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites' on Deadmau5's Mau5trap label.

What does Skrillex mean?

It is a made-up stage name Moore adopted for his solo electronic project; Urban Dictionary joke entries invented fake etymologies like a 'Latin root skrillisus', which are pure parody.

How do you use Skrillex in memes?

Common bits include jokes about his side-shaved haircut, exaggerated wobble bass parodies of tracks like 'Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites', and roasts of his emo-to-dubstep career pivot on forums like the Coachella board.

Is Skrillex still popular?

The 2010 to 2012 wobble-dubstep meme wave is a classic period piece now, though Moore is still an active producer and the 'Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites' YouTube video is still a reference point for that era.

Skrillex

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Published September 27, 2026

Skrillex is the stage name of American producer Sonny John Moore, a former screamo vocalist who reinvented himself as an aggressive dubstep artist in the late 2000s. His signature undercut hairstyle, over-the-top wobble bass drops, and Hot Topic aesthetic made him a magnet for internet mockery, spawning a wave of hair jokes, sound-alike parodies, and hate threads that turned him into one of dubstep's most memed figures1.

music memes celebrity backlash memes late 2000s memes fashion aesthetic memes forum era memes

Overview

The Skrillex meme cluster centers on a few recurring jokes. The first is his hair, a long-on-top, shaved-on-one-side cut with black-rim glasses that fans and haters alike turned into a shorthand for 'brostep' fashion1. The second is the sound itself, the fidgety wobble drop from tracks like 'Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites', which The Guardian described as taking dubstep's wobble 'to an extreme that suggests Satan belching'1. Parody videos, ringtone jokes and 'what my Skrillex sounds like' clips built on that texture.

The third strand is Sonny Moore's backstory. Before Skrillex he fronted the post-hardcore band From First to Last, and the pivot from emo screamer to dubstep megastar became its own running gag on forums like the Coachella message board, where a thread titled 'I never realised how horrible Skrillex was until now' racked up nearly 1,500 posts1. Urban Dictionary entries piled on with joke etymologies, including a widely upvoted 2010 definition submitted by user crashride that debated whether he was a genius or the worst thing to happen to dubstep3.

Gallery

Origin & Background

Platform

YouTube / message boards (viral spread)

Date

2010

Sonny John Moore, born January 15th, 1988, adopted the Skrillex name for a solo electronic project after leaving From First to Last due to vocal problems2. His early releases were free MySpace uploads under his own name, then a self-released 'My Name Is Skrillex' EP in early 2010 that included his first dubstep experiments3.

The meme era started with the October 2010 release of the 'Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites' EP on Deadmau5's Mau5trap label2. The title track's music video hit YouTube and pulled in tens of millions of views, exposing a mainstream US audience to the wobble bass sound and to Moore's distinctive haircut4. That combination, the aggressive drops plus the visual, was what forum posters, YouTubers and Urban Dictionary contributors seized on to build the Skrillex jokes1.

How It Spread

Backlash and adoration arrived in parallel through 2011. Dubstep purists on UK forums attacked Moore as a Los Angeleno Korn fan dressing like an emo kid who dragged their underground genre onto daytime radio, while US crowds packed his shows and Beatport searches for Skrillex outpaced every other producer by roughly fifty to one1. That gap between hater energy and superstar sales was the fuel for the meme.

The jokes traveled through several channels. Urban Dictionary entries piled up starting in late 2010, with crashride's November 30th, 2010 definition becoming one of the top rated3. YouTube filled with hair tutorials, wobble parodies and 'if you play Skrillex backwards' bits pinned to the 'Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites' clip4. In September 2011 The Guardian ran a feature interview that formalized the 'dubstep's most hated producer' framing for a wider readership1. By the 54th Annual Grammy Awards in February 2012 Skrillex won three trophies, including Best Dance Recording for 'Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites', which pushed both the music and the mockery further into the mainstream2.

Timeline

2010

Sonny Moore releases the 'My Name Is Skrillex' EP, his first dubstep material.

2010-10

'Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites' EP drops on Deadmau5's Mau5trap label.

2010-11-30

Urban Dictionary user crashride submits an early top-voted Skrillex definition.

2011-09-29

The Guardian publishes a profile calling him 'dubstep's most hated producer'.

2011

Skrillex plays over 320 live shows and releases the 'Bangarang' EP in December.

2012-02-12

Wins three Grammy Awards, including Best Dance Recording for 'Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites'.

Skrillex

Overview

Gallery

Origin & Background

How It Spread

Frequently Asked Questions

References (5)