You might want to grab some popcorn before you read this!
Joel Zimmerman is the last guy on earth youβd want to mess with. Deadmau5, who is not known to censor himself in the press, has a notorious record of controversies his fans are well aware of. Heβs one producer who is not afraid to speak his mind. And we ought to respect him for that.
1. Deadmau5 vs. Lady Gaga
Last month, Deadmau5 received online death threats by Lady Gaga fans for tweeting about βThe Abramovic Methodβ (a series of exercises designed to heighten mental and physical self-awareness) practiced by the pop-singer. The two-minute video, which Gaga claimed is βartβ, involved clippings of her moaning naked in the woods and hugging a giant crystal. Hereβs what Zimmerman had to say:
βWhat the actual fuck? If some idiot howls in the woods and noones around, does it make a sound? MYTH BUSTED! Iβm inspiredβ¦.gunna go bark at the moon for a bit, get back in the studio, bark at my computer screen and make some duck noises. Iβm an ARTIST!β
2. Deadmau5 vs. EDM Artists
The Canadian has always had an agitated relationship with the EDM industry. He feels EDM artists need to step forth into undiscovered terrain. When asked about the current state of EDM, he blatantly stated:
βI donβt think enough EDM artists are taking risks right now and thatβs the big problem. Everyone wants to be safe, and do that thing you know is going to work. Someone, please take the wheel and turn it. Not to say Iβm going to be that guy and Iβm going to crusade on that journey of making turbo-dub-neo-pro-step but I would just like to encourage a bit of diversity and the way that I do that is the only way I know how, which is to make some down-tempo thingβ¦and just, like flex, engineering muscle on a piece or two.β
3. Deadmau5 vs. Forbes DJ List
When the US business magazine Forbes revealed its list of βThe Worldβs Highest-Paid DJsβ last year, Deadmau5 was ranked at #6 with the an annual income of $11.5 million. Hereβs what he said in an interview:
βIf I was making $11 million, do you think Iβd be fucking sitting right here, right now? No fucking way. Youβre putting the whole industry on one article written by one dude, who does not have access to any of our accounts.β
In another interview with Spin, when the mau5head was asked about the production costs involved in a tour, he said:
βItβs bullshit. I had to call my manager and say, βYo! Whereβs the other 10?β Sure, weβve seen $20 million in the past two years, but thatβs gone back into the studio, into tours β they cost up to $10 million alone. Itβs money in, money out for all of us, but the list makes us look like a bunch of overpaid dicks. The cool thing about it, though, is that it says, βInvest in this shit because itβs hot,β to the idiots with more money than all of us put together. Itβs a self-propelling stupidity thatβs now influxing big industry money into the previously small EDM market.β
4. Deadmau5 vs. βButton Pushersβ
Another one of Zimmermanβs many victims was the bunch of βbutton-pusher DJsβ in the dance music industry, for whom he reserved some cutting remarks:
βDavid Guetta has two iPods and a mixer and he just plays tracks β like, βHereβs one with Akon, check it out!ββ
βEven Skrillex isnβt doing anything too technical. He has a laptop and a MIDI recorder, and heβs just playing his shit. People are, thank God, smartening up about who does what β but thereβs still button-pushers getting paid half a million. And not to say Iβm not a button-pusher. Iβm just pushing a lot more buttons.β
5. Deadmau5 vs. Madonna
During last yearβs Ultra Music Festival, Madonna gave an awkward intro for Aviciiβs set by asking the crowd if theyβd βseen mollyβ. Deadmau5, who has closely worked with Ultra Music, wrote on his Facebook page:
βVery classy there Madonna! βHUR DUR HAS ANYONE SEEN MOLLY???β Such a great message for the young music lovers at ultra. quite the fβn philanthropist. but hey, at least yer HIP AND TRENDY! fucking cant smack my head hard enough right now.β
And that was not it. His incessant rant continued:
βSeriously, I giveth not a fucking single FUCK for slating on Madonna for reaching an entirely NEW level of idiocy β¦ I can appreciate her meteoric career, and all good deeds done, but WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT? Thatβs your big contribution to EDM? Thatβs your big message to Ultra attendees? Hipsterspeak for looking for drugs? Fuck off you fucking IDIOT. fuck.β
6. Deadmau5 vs. Pop Stars
Joel has an obvious distaste for collaborating with commercial artists. On a late night program called βLast Call With Carson Dalyβ, the mau5 bragged:
βDude, Iβve turned down some hilarious things lately. Letβs just say some of the biggest acts in the world. Dude, like, bigger than big. I canβt do it. Itβs not something that I feel is going to help anyone, except for myself. With any fucking luck, creativity will prevail and new, original acts will become bigger and better.β
Following his footsteps is the young Porter Robinson who turned down an offer to work with Katy Perry. The fast-rising Porter admits he gets the notion from Deadmau5. He said:
βI admire him because heβs yet to release a song that sounds like heβs trying to fit into something.β
7. Deadmau5 vs. Dubstep
After the release of his >album title goes here<, Joel had an interview with Fuse where he outspokenly expressed his distaste for Americans embracing dubstep:
βDubstep: I donβt hate it for the culture; I love it for the culture. I donβt hate it for the artists. I hate it for the fucking sound. It is a fuck you to every audio engineer in the world because these kids go out and they want it loud, loud, loud. Youβve got a volume knob for that, dude. And if itβs not loud enough buy an amp and some better speakers.β
8. Deadmau5 vs. Flo Rida
Flo Rida, who isnβt exactly someone youβd look up to in dance music, recently released a peculiar and unnatural βDJ toolβ called Beamz by Flo (sort of reminds you of βBeats by Dreβ) and called it βthe hottest music technology to hit the market.β
Deadmau5 took to Twitter to mock thisβ¦ thing. His already colorful Twitter feed got more amusing β check out his tweets from September 10th to 11th β you will know what we mean! Later that night, he took to Instagram to ridicule it further:
9. Deadmau5 vs. Zedd
Last week, Deadmau5 interviewed Clarity-producer Zedd in his Ferrari. He seems to have a new segment called βCoffee Runβ, which might be an ongoing thing. So if youβre wondering what the guys at the top guns of EDM talk about, itβs mostly just messing around with each other.
Watch the interesting dialogue between Zedd & Zimmerman: