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Indie-Placement

Music supervisors look to indie artists to place music in film and TV

GRAMMYs/Dec 3, 2014 - 05:06 am

If you've noticed a jump in the amount of original music in television and movies in recent years, you're not only hearing the work of the respective artists, but also the work of the music supervisor — a role that has emerged as a new A&R force in the evolving music industry.

"Our job is to find the right [musical] fit for the narrative, for the scene," says John Houlihan, who has supervised music for films including all three Austin Powers films and Training Day, as well as the CBS series "The Defenders." "The challenge is finding the right music out of so much music out there."

Music placed in television series, movies and commercials has helped propel the careers of many indie artists — Apple commercials alone have featured music from indie bands such as the Blue Van, the Boy Least Likely To and the Fratellis, among others.

But making the right musical connection can sometimes be like finding a needle in a haystack. While music has come at music supervisor Gary Calamar from every direction, he usually relies on music libraries and performing rights organizations to seek out new music, but it also comes in serendipitous ways. For example, Calamar had never heard indie singer/songwriter Cary Ann Hearst's song "Hell's Bells," but the title alone was enticing enough for Calamar to give it a listen. The next stop for her song was the end credit crawl on an episode of the HBO series "True Blood."

"It's rare when it happens that way," says Calamar, who hosts a radio program on KCRW in Los Angeles and has also placed music for other TV shows such as "Dexter" and "House."

Ralph Sall has been a music supervisor for film and television for more than 20 years, placing key songs in movies including Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Charlotte's Web, and television series such as the Nickelodeon teen drama "Degrassi."

Sall says that TV series are where the biggest opportunities for music placement lie for independent artists. "Television is a beast that requires constant feeding," he says.

However, it's not necessarily where the biggest paydays are. Sall says it's not uncommon for artists to agree to synch licenses for as little as $1,500 to $3,000, compared with the five- and six-figure licenses that chart-toppers by major artists command in major motion pictures.

But Sall believes the trade-off for exposure is usually worth more than a smaller synch advance, especially if the artists develop a sense of which shows best suit their music. He notes that artists such as the Academy Is…, All Time Low, Natasha Bedingfield, and Paramore all agreed to relatively low synch license buyouts early on for "Degrassi," and all benefited when the series became a teen tastemaker. Furthermore, Sall says artists can make step deals: one amount for the initial broadcast but additional payments for reruns and DVD sales.

Tess Taylor, president of the National Association of Record Industry Professionals, thinks placement of music in television shows, movies and commercials offers more opportunities for indie artists than radio.

"Radio is concentrated and getting added to playlists generally requires promotion campaigns and big budgets that are beyond the reach of the average artist," says Taylor.

But while radio may be challenging, the number of opportunities for indie musicians in TV and film has increased in recent years with cuts in production budgets. However, with film studios being open to the idea of lower-cost indie music, there's also no shortage of aspiring artists wishing to, literally, score those opportunities. Sall says his email inbox is "choked" with submissions from music libraries, record labels and other sources.

"I have to be careful because it could easily get overwhelming," says Sall, who uses online sources such as Mojo and Pitchfork to stay current with the indie scene. "It has to come from a trusted source."

But how does one become a music supervisor?

"Get let go from a major record label," jokes Houlihan.

The punch line is a bit of a dark humor commentary on the industry landscape that's seen many former record label employees try their hands at music supervision. But while Houlihan quickly points out that music supervisors have to be intimately familiar with the workflow of films and television, he also acknowledges the newfound power of the position.

"A lot of what we do is what record labels had done for years," he says. "Find new music and find a place for it."

(Dan Daley is a freelance journalist covering the entertainment business industry. He lives in New York and Nashville.)

2023 In Review: 10 Trends That Defined Rock Music
(L-R): blink-182, Phoebe Bridgers, Hayley Williams, Dave Grohl, Bruce Springsteen

Photo: Estevan Oriol/Getty Images, Taylor Hill/Getty Images, Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for The New Yorker, Kevin Mazur/Getty Images, Sergione Infuso/Corbis via Getty Images

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2023 In Review: 10 Trends That Defined Rock Music

Rock acts young and old helped the genre stay alive in 2023. Take a look at 10 of the genre's most prominent trends, from early aughts revivals to long-awaited reunions.

GRAMMYs/Dec 11, 2023 - 05:32 pm

The rock scene may no longer be the dominant force it once was — blink-182's One More Time... is the only Billboard 200 chart-topper this year to predominantly fall under this category. But 2023 has still been an interesting and eventful period for those who like their guitar music turned up to eleven.

Over the past 12 months, we've had the two biggest groups of the Swinging Sixties returning to the fray in style, a new European invasion, and a wave of blockbuster albums that may well go down as modern classics. And then there's the revivals which will no doubt spark nostalgia in any kids of the 2000s, a resurgence in all-star line-ups, and a residency that could possibly change how we experience live music.

As we gear up for the holiday season, here's a look at 10 trends that defined rock music in 2023.

European Rock Traveled To America

From Lacuna Coil and Gojira to Volbeat and Rammstein, the Billboard charts aren't exactly strangers to European rock. But 2023 was the year when the continent appeared to band together for a mini invasion. Italian quartet Måneskin continued their remarkable journey from Eurovision Song Contest winners to bona fide rock gods with a Best New Artist nod at the 2023 GRAMMYs, a top 20 placing on the Billboard 200 albums chart for third album Rush!, and a Best Rock Video win at the MTV VMAs.

Masked metalers Ghost scored a fourth consecutive Top 10 entry on the Billboard 200 with covers EP Phantomime, also landing a Best Metal Performance GRAMMY nomination for its cover of Iron Maiden's "Phantom of the Opera," (alongside Disturbed's "Bad Man," Metallica's "72 Seasons," Slipknot's "Hive Mind," and Spiritbox's "Jaded"). While fellow Swedes Avatar bagged their first Mainstream Rock No. 1 with "The Dirt I'm Buried In," a highly melodic meditation on mortality which combines funky post-punk with freewheeling guitar solos that sound like they've escaped from 1980s Sunset Strip.

Age Proved To Be Nothing But A Number

The theory that rock and roll is a young man's game was blown apart in 2023. Fronted by 80-year-old Mick Jagger, The Rolling Stones reached No.3 on the Billboard 200 thanks to arguably their finest album in 40 years, Hackney Diamonds, with lead single "Angry" also picking up a Best Rock Song GRAMMY nod alongside Olivia Rodrigo's "aallad of a homeschooled girl," Queens of the Stone Age's "Emotion Sickness," Boygenius' "Not Strong Enough," and Foo Fighters' "Rescued." (The latter two will also battle it out with Arctic Monkeys' "Sculpture of Anything Goes," Black Pumas' "More than a Love Song," and Metallica's "Lux Aeterna" for Best Rock Performance.)

The eternally shirtless Iggy Pop, a relative spring chicken at 76, delivered a late-career classic, too, with the star-studded Every Loser. And Bruce Springsteen, KISS, and Paul McCartney all proved they weren't ready for the slippers and cocoa life yet by embarking on lengthy world tours.

Death Was No Barrier To Hits

Jimmy Buffett sadly headed for that tropical paradise in the sky this year. But having already recorded 32nd studio effort, Equal Strain on All Parts, the margarita obsessive was able to posthumously score his first new entry on the Billboard Rock Chart since 1982's "It's Midnight And I'm Not Famous Yet."

But he isn't the only artist to have recently achieved success from beyond the grave. Linkin Park reached the U.S. Top 40 with "Lost," a track recorded for 2003 sophomore Meteora, but which only saw the light of day six years after frontman Chester Bennington's passing.

Perhaps most unexpectedly of all, The Beatles topped the U.K. charts for the first time since 1969 thanks to "Now and Then," a psychedelic tear-jerker in which surviving members McCartney and Ringo Starr brought previously unheard recordings from George Harrison and John Lennon back to life.

The Giants Stayed Giant

Foo Fighters also overcame the death of a core member on what many rock fans would consider this year's most eagerly awaited album. Drummer Taylor Hawkins, who passed away in early 2022, doesn't feature on the poignant but vibrant But Here We Are. Yet the two-time GRAMMY nominated LP still proved to be a fitting tribute as well as an encouraging sign that Dave Grohl and co. can extend their legacy:lead single "Rescued" became their 12th number one on Billboard's Main Rock Chart.

The Best Rock Album category for the 2024 GRAMMYs proves that veterans were alive and mighty in 2023. Along with the Foos' latest LP, the nominees include another Grohl-affiliated band,, Queens of the Stone Age's first album in six years, In Times New Roman..., Paramore's This Is Why, Metallica's 72 Seasons and Greta Van Fleet's Starcatcher.. (Metallica's 72 Seasons also struck gold with its singles, three of which landed at No. 1 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart, where lead single "Lux Æterna" spent 11 consecutive weeks on top.)

Of course, we also have to give a shout-out to U2. Not for March's Songs of Surrender album (for which they re-recorded 40 of their biggest and best tracks), but for the immersive, eye-popping Las Vegas residency at The Sphere which potentially reinvented the future of live music.

The Rock Supergroup Continued To Thrive

2023 spawned several new rock supergroups including Mantra of the Cosmos (Shaun Ryder, Zak Starkey and Andy Bell), Lol Tolhurst x Budgie x Jacknife Lee, and Better Lovers (various members of The Dillinger Escape Plan and Every Time I Die). But it was an already established all-star line-up that took the GRAMMY nominations by storm.

Consisting of Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus, and Julien Baker, boygenius bagged a remarkable seven nods at the 2024 ceremony. Throw in a well-received headline set at Coachella, U.S. Top 50 follow-up EP, and even a "Saturday Night Live" showing alongside Timothée Chalamet, and the trio couldn't have asked for a better way to continue what they started together in 2018.

The Early 2000s Enjoyed A Revival

The cyclical nature of the music industry meant that the era of choppy bangs and super-skinny jeans was always going to come back into fashion. And following throwbacks from the likes of Olivia Rodrigo and Willow, the original punk-pop brigade returned this year to prove they could still mosh with the best of them.

Possibly the defining nasal voice of his generation, Tom DeLonge headed back into the studio with blink-182 for the first time in 12 years, with the resulting One More Time... topping the Billboard 200. Linkin Park ("Lost"), Papa Roach ("Cut the Line"), and a reunited Staind ("Lowest in Me") all scored No. 1s on the Mainstream Rock Airplay Chart, while Sum 41, Bowling For Soup, and Good Charlotte were just a few of the high school favorites who helped cement When We Were Young as the millennial's dream festival.

The Emo Scene Went Back To Its Roots

After channeling the new wave and synth-pop of the 1980s on predecessor After Laughter, Paramore returned from a six-year absence with a record which harked back to their mid-2000s beginnings. But it wasn't their own feisty brand of punk-pop that Best Rock Album GRAMMY nominee This Is Why resembled. Instead, its nervy indie rock took its cues, as frontwoman Hayley Williams freely admits, from touring buddies Bloc Party.

Paramore weren't the only emo favorites to rediscover their roots. Fall Out Boy reunited with Under the Cork Tree producer Neal Avron and old label Fueled By Ramen on the dynamic So Much (for) Stardust. And while Taking Back Sunday further veered away from their signature sound, the Long Islanders still embraced the past by naming seventh LP 152 after the North Carolina highway stretch they used to frequent as teens.

Country Artists Tapped Into Rock Sensibilities

We're used to seeing rock musicians going a little bit country: see everyone from Steven Tyler and Bon Jovi to Darius Rucker and Aaron Lewis. But the opposite direction is usually rarer. In 2023, however, it seemed as though every Nashville favorite was suddenly picking up the air guitar.

Zach Bryan repositioned himself as Gen-Z's answer to Bruce Springsteen with the heartland rock of his eponymous Billboard 200 chart-topper (which is up for Best Country Album at the 2024 GRAMMYs alongside Kelsea Ballerini's Rolling Up the Welcome Mat, Brothers Osborne's self-titled LP, Tyler Childers' Rustin' in the Rain, and Lainey Wilson's Bell Bottom Country). Meanwhile, Hitmaker HARDY — who first cut his teeth penning hits for Florida Georgia Line and Blake Shelton — leaned into the sounds of hard rock and nu-metal on his second studio LP, The Mockingbird & the Crow.

But few committed more to the crossover than the one of country's greatest living legends. Dolly Parton roped in a whole host of hellraisers and headbangers including Richie Sambora, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, and Rob Halford, for the 30-track Rockstar — her first rock-oriented project of her glittering 49-album career.

Post-Grunge Reunions Were Abundant

Fans of the mopey '90s scene known as post-grunge had all their dreams come true this year thanks to several unexpected reunions. Turn-of-the-century chart-toppers Staind and Matchbox Twenty both returned with new albums after more than a decade away. Creed, meanwhile, announced they'd be headlining next year's Summer of '99 cruise after a similar amount of time out of the spotlight.

The insatiable appetite for all things nostalgia, of course, means that any band — no matter how fleeting their fame — can stage a lucrative comeback. Take Dogstar, for example, the unfashionable outfit boasting Hollywood nice guy Keanu Reeves. Twenty-three years after appearing to call it a day, the Los Angeles trio surprised everyone by hitting the Bottlerock Napa Valley Festival before dropping a belated third LP, Somewhere Between the Power Lines and Palm Trees and embarking on a headlining national tour.

The New Generation Gave The Old Their Dues

Say what you want about today's musical generation, but they know to pay respect where it's due., Olivia Rodrigo, for example, doffed her cap to '90s alt-rock favorites The Breeders by inviting them to open on her 2024 world tour.

New working-class hero Sam Fender invited fellow Newcastle native Brian Johnson to perform two AC/DC classics at his hometown stadium show. While ever-changing Japanese kawaii metalers Babymetal debuted their latest incarnation on "Metali," a collaboration with one of their musical idols, Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello.

Whether new artists are teaming up with the old or veterans are continuing to receive their flowers, 2023 proved that rock is alive and well.

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GRAMMY Rewind: Kendrick Lamar Honors Hip-Hop's Greats While Accepting Best Rap Album GRAMMY For 'To Pimp a Butterfly' In 2016
Kendrick Lamar

Photo: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

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GRAMMY Rewind: Kendrick Lamar Honors Hip-Hop's Greats While Accepting Best Rap Album GRAMMY For 'To Pimp a Butterfly' In 2016

Upon winning the GRAMMY for Best Rap Album for 'To Pimp a Butterfly,' Kendrick Lamar thanked those that helped him get to the stage, and the artists that blazed the trail for him.

GRAMMYs/Oct 13, 2023 - 06:01 pm

Updated Friday Oct. 13, 2023 to include info about Kendrick Lamar's most recent GRAMMY wins, as of the 2023 GRAMMYs.

A GRAMMY veteran these days, Kendrick Lamar has won 17 GRAMMYs and has received 47 GRAMMY nominations overall. A sizable chunk of his trophies came from the 58th annual GRAMMY Awards in 2016, when he walked away with five — including his first-ever win in the Best Rap Album category.

This installment of GRAMMY Rewind turns back the clock to 2016, revisiting Lamar's acceptance speech upon winning Best Rap Album for To Pimp A Butterfly. Though Lamar was alone on stage, he made it clear that he wouldn't be at the top of his game without the help of a broad support system. 

"First off, all glory to God, that's for sure," he said, kicking off a speech that went on to thank his parents, who he described as his "those who gave me the responsibility of knowing, of accepting the good with the bad."

Looking for more GRAMMYs news? The 2024 GRAMMY nominations are here!

He also extended his love and gratitude to his fiancée, Whitney Alford, and shouted out his Top Dawg Entertainment labelmates. Lamar specifically praised Top Dawg's CEO, Anthony Tiffith, for finding and developing raw talent that might not otherwise get the chance to pursue their musical dreams.

"We'd never forget that: Taking these kids out of the projects, out of Compton, and putting them right here on this stage, to be the best that they can be," Lamar — a Compton native himself — continued, leading into an impassioned conclusion spotlighting some of the cornerstone rap albums that came before To Pimp a Butterfly.

"Hip-hop. Ice Cube. This is for hip-hop," he said. "This is for Snoop Dogg, Doggystyle. This is for Illmatic, this is for Nas. We will live forever. Believe that."

To Pimp a Butterfly singles "Alright" and "These Walls" earned Lamar three more GRAMMYs that night, the former winning Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song and the latter taking Best Rap/Sung Collaboration (the song features Bilal, Anna Wise and Thundercat). He also won Best Music Video for the remix of Taylor Swift's "Bad Blood." 

Lamar has since won Best Rap Album two more times, taking home the golden gramophone in 2018 for his blockbuster LP DAMN., and in 2023 for his bold fifth album, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers.

Watch Lamar's full acceptance speech above, and check back at GRAMMY.com every Friday for more GRAMMY Rewind episodes. 

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Tour Diary: See All Time Low's Favorite Photos & Memories From The Sound Of Letting Go Tour
All Time Low

Photo: Ashley Osborn

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Tour Diary: See All Time Low's Favorite Photos & Memories From The Sound Of Letting Go Tour

Go backstage with All Time Low on their 2023 fall tour across North America with Gym Class Heroes and Lauran Hibberd, from playing an acoustic show in the rain to returning to some of their favorite venues.

GRAMMYs/Oct 10, 2023 - 10:22 pm

Even after 20 years, All Time Low still relish their time on stage every night. And as frontman Alex Gaskarth said just a week after starting their latest trek, "there's some kinda magic happening on this tour."

Perhaps it's the fact that the Baltimore-born pop-punk band have new music to perform (their ninth album, Tell Me I'm Alive dropped in March), or that they're sharing the stage with longtime buddies Gym Class Heroes. But whatever it is, The Sound Of Letting Go Tour is a special one for the band and their fans alike.

With a few shows left to go on the North American stretch, All Time Low shared some of their favorite onstage and behind-the-scenes moments from the 25-date trek, which wraps in Portland, Oregon, on Oct. 17. (But they're far from done — they'll play the When We Were Young Festival in Las Vegas, followed by five dates in Australia in November and another five in Brazil in March 2024.)

Below, check out a collection of photos from All Time Low's The Sound Of Letting Go Tour, captioned by Gaskarth himself. 

All photos by Salma Bustos.

All Time Low Baltimore 1

Sept. 8 — Maryland State Fair, Baltimore, Maryland: Making lemonade out of lemons — what should've been the first show in our hometown ended up getting canceled due to crazy storms in the area. Luckily we were able to reschedule the show, and [did] a little impromptu acoustic-performance [that] had us feeling right as rain.

All Time Low Boston 1

Sept. 10 — MGM Music Hall, Boston, Massachusetts: Some sagely advice from the man, the myth, Mr. Travie McCoy [Gym Class Heroes' lead singer]. We've known each other for a long time and go way back to the days that we were still just starting out as a band in high school, opening up for Gym Class Heroes at the Otto Bar in Baltimore. It's great to be back out on the road and sharing the stage with them now.

All Time Low Boston 2

Sept. 10 — MGM Music Hall, Boston, Massachusetts: This is one of my favorite pics our photographer Salma Bustos captured of me during a piano break in the set. She's always spotting the special moments, but there's something really classic-feeling about this picture.

All Time Low Boston 3

Sept. 10 — MGM Music Hall, Boston, Massachusetts: Life on the road is all about finding balance between the extreme highs of the stage and the quiet moments. It's not always easy to feel totally normal out here, so the little comforts of watching a football game with all the boys can be super grounding. Here we are cheering on the Ravens backstage in Boston, while the Orioles played the Red Sox literally right next door.

All Time Low New York 1

Sept. 12 — The Rooftop at Pier 17, New York, New York: This is Trav straight-up embarrassing me with his piano prowess in New York.

All Time Low New York 2

Sept. 12 — The Rooftop at Pier 17, New York, New York: Every day we throw a soundcheck party for a smaller group of fans where they can experience some tunes a bit more up-close and personal, ask us some questions, hang out and be merry. I feel like it's a cool way to interact with our most invested listeners and have some laughs about old songs and what we had for breakfast.

All Time Low Baltimore 2

Sept. 14 — Maryland State Fair, Baltimore, MD: This is Jack trying to be as cool as [opener] Lauran Hibberd and her bandmates. Unfortunately it's just not possible to be as cool as they are because they're English (and fortunately I am too).

All Time Low Philly 1

Sept. 17 — The Fillmore Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Who doesn't love confetti at a rock show?! Always makes the crowd go nuts and makes for some amazing photos. This was the opening of our show, setting things off with a bang.

All Time Low Philly 2

Sept. 17 — The Fillmore Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: We recently released a new track featuring Avril Lavigne, who obviously isn't out on the road with us but was kind enough to film some rad content to add into our show to make the song really come to life. This picture is the first time we played the song live, I think!

All Time Low Montreal

Sept. 19, 2023 — L'Olympia, Montreal, Quebec: We wanted to add an element of theater to our live show and nothing beats a simulated curtain opening to set the stage during what's become one of the rowdiest songs in our set, "Calm Down."

All Time Low Detroit

Sept. 22 — The Fillmore, Detroit, Michigan: Lauran's been joining us on stage every night to perform our song "PMA." She had the best outfits and is probably the best dressed on the tour. Here I am during our show probably thinking about what I need to do to step up my wardrobe game.

All Time Low Chicago

Sept. 23 — Byline Bank Aragon Ballroom, Chicago, Illinois: A big ol' sold out show at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago! One of my favorite venues to play and this show in particular was a highlight of the tour. Amazing energy from the crowd and so much nonstop dancing.

All Time Low Atlanta

Sept. 27 — Coca Cola Roxy, Atlanta, Georgia: This is one of my favorite moments in the set. We bring someone on stage to push a button that randomly selects one of four old ATL songs. Looks like this night we landed on "Vegas" and high-fived it out because we were all happy with that outcome.

All Time Low Tampa

Sept. 29 — The Ritz Ybor, Tampa, Florida: Pretty sure this is James, Lauran's drummer, doing his best impersonation of [All Time Low's drummer] Rian [Dawson]'s drumming backstage in Tampa. Gotta get your mean face on.

All Time Low Phoenix

Oct. 6 — The Van Buren, Phoenix, Arizona: After-show pizza, video games and our good friends in Grayscale kicking it in the green room.

10 Pop-Punk Albums Turning 20 In 2023: Fall Out Boy, Blink-182, The Ataris & More

8 Times Dance Stars Channeled Their Inner Punk Kid, From Deadmau5 & Gerard Way To Rezz & Silverstein
(L-R) Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy and Steve Aoki in Las Vegas in 2014.

Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images for iHeartMedia

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8 Times Dance Stars Channeled Their Inner Punk Kid, From Deadmau5 & Gerard Way To Rezz & Silverstein

With the release of Rezz's new emo-loving EP, 'It's Not A Phase,' dig into eight songs that saw the dance and rock worlds collide.

GRAMMYs/Jul 27, 2023 - 08:53 pm

At first glance, the worlds of rock and dance music might appear diametrically opposed. Dig a little deeper, though, and the two genres share more than just a love for all-black outfits.

In recent years, a wave of dance stars have embraced their inner mosher by collaborating with their favorite metal, post-hardcore, emo, and pop-punk artists, creating a mutant sound with a foot in both spaces. Just this month, Canada's dark bass maestro Rezz released a winkingly titled EP, It's Not A Phase, which channels the punk and metal she loved as a teen. (On release day, she posted an old photo in front of a My Chemical Romance poster, with the caption, "this one's for everyone who had an emo phase.") 

The EP followed Illenium's self-titled album in April — which features several of the Denver producer's rock heroes — while the likes of Marshmello, Kayzo and Excision have also tried their hands at rock/dance collaborations. For DJ-producers who grew up on raw guitars and tear-the-house-down vocals, it's a natural next step. 

Of course, this mixing of worlds is not just a recent phenomenon. For decades, dance artists have remixed, borrowed from, and occasionally collaborated with their rock counterparts. From the punkish ferocity of the Prodigy's 1997 album The Fat of the Land to Justice's Slipknot-sampling "Genesis" ten years later, the examples are endless. 

In the decade since the EDM boom minted a new generation of superstars, crossover collaborations have increasingly positioned the dance artist in the lead. In honor of this phenomenon, we're head-banging our way through eight of the best. 

deadmau5 feat. Gerard Way — "Professional Griefers" (2012)

Back in 2012, as EDM was taking over America, deadmau5 was busy touring an early iteration of his eye-popping 'Cube' show and preparing to release his sixth studio album, > album title goes here <. Ahead of the LP, the producer born Joel Zimmerman released "Professional Griefers," a hard-charging dance-rock stomper featuring My Chemical Romance vocalist Gerard Way.

While fans had already heard an instrumental version of the track in deadmau5's live shows, Way's vampy vocals brought the rock swagger, even as the production remained resolutely electronic. To celebrate the release, the collaborators appeared as gamers piloting a UFC battle between two giant mau5-headed robots in what Zimmerman told SPIN was "one of the highest-budget electronic music videos of all time." And yes, it's as extra as it sounds. 

Steve Aoki feat. Fall Out Boy — "Back To Earth" (2014)

Steve Aoki is one of dance music's most voracious collaborators, teaming up with everyone from will.i.am to Louis Tomlinson to Backstreet Boys. He's also a punk rocker from way back, having jumped between hardcore bands as a singer and guitarist in his pre-fame life.

These passions have intersected throughout Aoki's DJ/producer career in his collaborations with Linkin Park and blink-182, as well as Rifoki, the straight-up hardcore band he formed with Sir Bob Cornelius Rifo of the Bloody Beetroots. 

In 2014, Aoki joined forces with pop-punk favorites Fall Out Boy on "Back To Earth," which featured on his collab-stacked album, Neon Future I. In an interview with Billboard, Aoki explained that the band worked on their live instrumentation in a separate studio before he added the dance elements, and the result was "one of my favorite rock collaborations." 

The Bloody Beetroots feat. Jason Butler — "Crash" (2017)

Like his friend and collaborator Steve Aoki, the Bloody Beetroots' masked leader Sir Bob Cornelius Rifo is a punk at heart. That raucous spirit was present on the breakout Aoki/Beetroots team-up, "Warp 1.9" (2009), then turned up to 11 in their aforementioned hardcore band, Rifoki.

In 2017, after a few years away from the limelight, Sir Rifo delivered the third Bloody Beetroots album, The Great Electronic Swindle, featuring guests like Jane's Addiction frontman Perry Farrell, GRAMMY-nominated singer-songwriter Greta Svabo Bech, and Australian rock band Jet. 

On "Crash," the Italian producer hooked up with post-hardcore singer Jason Butler, of Letlive and Fever 333, to make a heavy, distorted and shouty head-banger that honors both of their styles. In true punk fashion, it's over and out in just over two minutes. 

Kayzo & Underoath — "Wasted Space" (2018)

Few DJ-producers relish the opportunity to slam together dance music and rock quite like Houston-born Kayzo. For his 2019 album, Unleashed, the rising star secured some of his favorite metal, hardcore and pop-punk acts as guests, including Of Mice & Men, Boys of Fall, Blessthefall, and Alex Gaskarth of All Time Low.

One of the album's standouts, "Wasted Space," pairs Kayzo with Underoath, the Florida metalcore outfit who previously collaborated with Rezz on her 2019 release, "Falling." The collaboration is equal parts metal — with dueling vocalists Aaron Gillespie and Spencer Chamberlain at full-tilt — and shuddering bass drops built for an EDM main stage. 

Marshmello feat. A Day To Remember — "Rescue Me" (2019)

Perma-helmeted producer Marshmello has enjoyed a whirlwind decade, with a famously prolific output that includes several dance and pop hits. In 2019, he surprised fans by announcing a team-up with Florida four-piece A Day To Remember, whose metalcore meets pop-punk sound is a far cry from Marshmello's usual vibe.

Their collaboration, "Rescue Me," finds an easy middle ground between crunching rock guitars, frontman Jeremy McKinnon's impassioned vocals, and Marshmello's skittering trap-pop beats. In an interview with Kerrang! Radio, McKinnon recalled his surprise at how quickly Marshmello shared the chorus on socials, adding that he wishes rock artists could be as spontaneous. 

Illenium and All Time Low — "Back To You" (2023)

Hot on the heels of his first GRAMMY nomination in 2022, Denver-based phenom Illenium got back in the studio to make another album straight from the heart. The producer's self-titled fifth LP took inspiration from his teenage years listening to the likes of blink-182 and Linkin Park, while staying true to his own bass-heavy aesthetic.

Thanks to his stadium-filling stature, Illenium assembled a starry lineup of guests, including pop-punk royalty Avril Lavigne and Travis Barker on "Eyes Wide Shut" and metalcore band Motionless in White on "Nothing Ever After." Early fan favorite "Back To You" features the full force of pop-punkers All Time Low going up against Illenium's furious drops — and achieving perfect harmony. 

Excision, Wooli, and The Devil Wears Prada — "Reasons" (2023)

Fellow bass lovers Excision and Wooli are frequently paired, whether they're going back-to-back as DJs or co-producing EPs like 2019's Evolution and 2023's Titans. This time around, the collaborators decided to try something outside their comfort zone, calling up Ohioan metalcore band The Devil Wears Prada to bring their distinctive grit to "Reasons."

In contrast to more pop-leaning entries on this list, "Reasons" is unapologetically heavy from the halfway mark, morphing back-and-forth from metalcore theatrics to hard-hitting wubs. In a statement, The Devil Wears Prada described this team-up as "uncharted territory" for the band, and their gamble paid off. 

Rezz, Tim Henson, and Silverstein — "Dreamstate" (2023)

In a statement accompanying her new EP, It's Not A Phase, Rezz notes that she "grew up listening to bands exclusively, and over time developed an understanding of what it was about those songs that I loved." 

That innate grasp of rock dynamics is on full display throughout Rezz's most vocal-driven release to date, with guest turns from the likes of Alice Glass, Johnny Goth, and Raven Gray. On "Dreamstate," Rezz embraces her inner emo kid with the help of Canadian post-hardcore band Silverstein and metal guitar prodigy Tim Henson, undergirding her guests' contributions with dark, stabbing bass.

"I listened to a bunch of Silverstein growing up, so it felt nostalgic to me," Rezz told Front Row Live Ent., before admitting that it was "the hardest song I've ever mixed." The extra sweat resulted in a one-of-a-kind collaboration, proving once again that dance music and rock are a potent mix — one with plenty of fuel left in the tank.

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