''Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites'' is the second

extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

(EP) by American

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

producer

Skrillex Sonny John Moore (born January 15, 1988), known professionally as Skrillex, is an American DJ, record producer, musician, singer. Raised in Northeast Los Angeles and Northern California, he began his career in 2004 as the lead vocalist of the ...

. It was released exclusively through

Beatport Beatport is an American electronic music-oriented online music store owned by LiveStyle. The company is based in Denver, Los Angeles, and Berlin. Beatport is oriented primarily towards disk jockey, DJs, selling full songs as well as resources that ...

on October 22, 2010, through

mau5trap Mau5trap (stylized as mau5trap; pronounced "mousetrap") is a Canadian independent record label founded in 2007 by electronic music producer Deadmau5. The label was formerly a vanity label, hosting releases through labels such as Ultra Music, V ...

and Big Beat Records, while being released on December 20 for digital download via other online retailers and on March 1, 2011, as a physical release. It was recorded in 2010 at Skrillex's apartment using a laptop. The EP features guest contributions from Pennybirdrabbit,

Foreign Beggars Foreign Beggars were an English Hip hop music, hip hop and dubstep group. Since their formation in 2002, the group's trajectory had seen them evolve from an underground hip hop group to an electronic crossover act. The group consisted of four a ...

and Bare Noize as well as remixes done by

Noisia Noisia was a Dutch electronic music trio from Groningen, Netherlands. The trio was composed of Nik Roos, Martijn van Sonderen, and Thijs de Vlieger. Their music spanned several genres, including drum and bass, dubstep, breakbeat, and house. They ...

Zedd Anton Zaslavski (; born 2 September 1989), known professionally as Zedd (), is a German record producer and DJ. His stage name, Zedd, was derived from ''zed'', the Z#Name and pronunciation, English pronunciation, barring American English, for ...

and Bare Noize. It won two Grammys at the

54th Annual Grammy Awards The 54th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 12, 2012, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles being broadcast on CBS honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning October 1, 2010 through September 30, 2011. LL Cool J hosted ...

: one for Best Dance Recording, and another for Best Dance/Electronica Album. The EP received generally positive reviews from music critics and became a moderate commercial success, reaching number 49 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' 200, while also topping the ''Billboard''

Heatseekers Albums The Heatseekers charts were "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. The Heatseekers Albums and the Heatseekers Songs charts were introduced by ''Billboard'' in 1991 with the purpose of highlighting the sales b ...

chart and reaching number 28 in Australia. As of November 2011, the EP was certified Gold in Canada with sales exceeding 40,000 copies. The EP's

lead single A lead single (or first single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. A similar term, "debut ...

, " Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites", was a moderate commercial success internationally, peaking within the charts of the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and Sweden. It was later certified

Gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

(RIAA), with sales exceeding 500,000. On November 30, 2011, it was announced that the EP was nominated at the

54th Grammy Awards The 54th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 12, 2012, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles being broadcast on CBS honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning October 1, 2010 through September 30, 2011. LL Cool J hosted t ...

for Best Dance/Electronica Album. On February 12, 2012, the album won the Grammy for that category. A follow-up EP, '' More Monsters and Sprites'', contains several remixes of the title track done by Dirtyphonics, Phonat, The Juggernaut and

Kaskade Ryan Gary Raddon (born February 25, 1971), better known by his stage name Kaskade, is an American DJ, music producer and remixer. ''DJ Times'' voted Kaskade as "America's Best DJ" in 2011 and 2013. ''DJ Magazine, DJ Mag'' named Kaskade fifty-fi ...

. It is named after

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

's 1980 album '' Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)''.

Composition

According to Jon O'Brien of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

, " cary Monsters and Nice Spritescontinues to develop his unforeseen

dubstep Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken ...

tendencies". According to ''

Dazed ''Dazed'' (''Dazed & Confused'' until February 2014) is a quarterly British lifestyle magazine founded in 1991. It covers music, fashion, film, art, and literature. ''Dazed'' is published by Dazed Media, an independent media group known for produ ...

'', the EP "marked the birth of

brostep Brostep is a harder form of dubstep that emerged during the late 2000s and early 2010s and pioneered by artists like Skrillex and Rusko (musician), Rusko. In 2011, dubstep gained significant traction in the US market, by way of a post-dubst ...

outright." According to Andrew Ryce of ''

Resident Advisor ''Resident Advisor'' (also known as ''RA'') is an online music magazine and community platform established in 2001 and dedicated to showcasing electronic music, artists and events across the globe. Its editorial team provides news, music and ev ...

'', Skrillex is noted for "splitting his EP down the middle with

electro house Electro house is a genre of electronic dance music and a subgenre of house music characterized by heavy bass and a tempo around 125–135 beats per minute. The term has been used to describe the music of many ''DJ Mag'' Top 100 DJs, including ...

and dubstep". The EP features three remixes with

and

remixing the title track, and Bare Noize remixing Kill Everybody.

Critical reception

''Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites'' received generally positive reviews from music critics. Jon O'Brien from

gave the EP a positive review, saying, "The three remixes from Noisia, Bare Noize, and Zedd are solid if unspectacular, with only the latter's chilled-out version of the title track providing anything wildly different from the originals. But the invention showcased on the first six bass-heavy anthems is more than enough to suggest that the U.S. has found someone who is capable of selling the dubstep sound back to its South London homeland". ''

Alternative Press Alternative press may refer to: Individual publications * ''Alternative Press'' (magazine), an American music magazine Alternative journalism * Alternative media ** Alternative media (U.S. political left) ** Alternative media (U.S. political r ...

'' also gave a positive review, saying, "On ''Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites'', Moore has hit his mash-up groove, combining monster dance riffs with melodic ambience. The EP title is fitting, since these nine tracks (three of which are remixes) embody both sides of Moore; the rambunctious, punk-rock kid who screamed his head off in From First to Last (see the chaos of 'Kill EVERYBODY'), but also the melodic, pensive adult who can seamlessly collaborate with pop singers like Penny and producers and rappers like Bare Noize and Foreign Beggars". Nat Schaefer of ''The Indiependent'' said the songs were "quite unlike anything else heard before, and little heard since".

Track listing

Charts and certifications

Commercial performance

The EP has since become a moderate commercial success. In the United States, it has reached a peak of number forty-nine on the ''

'' 200, and has spent more than thirty weeks within the chart. It has also reached the summit of the ''Billboard''

chart, as well as number three on the

Dance/Electronic Albums Top Dance Albums (formerly Top Electronic Albums and Top Dance/Electronic Albums) is a music chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine which ranks the top-selling dance music albums in the United States based on sales compiled by Nielsen ...

. It reached number twenty-eight on the

ARIA Charts The ARIA Charts are the main Australian record chart, music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA beca ...

in Australia. As of October 3, 2013, the single "Scary Monsters And Nice Sprites" has reached double platinum status, with sales of over 2,000,000 copies

Weekly charts

Year-end

Certifications

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2010 EPs Skrillex albums Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronica Album Mau5trap albums Big Beat Records (American record label) albums Albums produced by Skrillex