Since he is one of the most eccentric and polarizing figures in electronic music, many wonder how deadmau5 became the way he is. While Joel Zimmerman is certainly a brilliant artist, he is also known for being one of the most outspoken voices in the industry. Joel is a consistently passionate critic of the banality in electronic music, fearlessly taking on huge targets such as Armin van Buuren and the trio of Diplo, Skrillex and Justin Bieber. The web series “Before They Were Famous” has just featured a ten minute video on deadmau5, offering valuable insight into the origins of his technical mastery and opinionated nature.
Deadmau5 was fascinated with technology as a kid, playing video games for entire days and dismantling and reassembling gadgets as a hobby. In his teenage years, he turned to raving, sporting spiked bright yellow hair, baggy pants and a Pikachu backpack. The video also mentions a brief and long defunct deadmau5 side project called Blue Screen of Death, which he formed with current Mau5trap member Steve Duda. The two made a song that satirized the formulaic nature of electronic music, only to see it rocket up the Beatport charts to the number one spot. “Before They Were Famous” offers unprecedented depth to deadmau5’s life story, chronicling everything from his childhood to his breakthrough as an artist to the origins of his name, which came from an actual dead mouse that crashed his computer.
