The 10 Best Deadmau5 Songs to Listen to

Tap to Read ➤ Rashmi Sunder

If you listen to House music (and even if you haven't!), you've heard of the man. This Mickey Mouse look-alike persona has taken the world of EDM music by storm. Music brings you a list of the top 10 Deadmau5 songs that you can groove to!

Techie Mouse!

Joel Zimmerman adopted the name Deadmau5 after he found a dead mouse in his computer system and thought it would make for a cool username. He shortened the name using ASCII coding, with a method that is known as "Leet".

Born on the 5th of January, 1981, Joel Thomas Zimmerman was a little boy, who was also a tech whiz. He played with his mother's computer and fiddled with programming codes. His grandmother bought him his first Atari system, which got him hooked on to gaming, the love for which is seen in his old-school, gaming-graphics-inspired tattoos.

At the age of 15, he started making Chiptunes, and from there was born the legend we now know as Deadmau5 (pronounced dead mouse). His tech genius and ear for music has led him to create software applications for mixing music, but his genius was realized when he was working for a small radio show back home.

He moved away from the conventional mixing methods and started exploring the world of electronic equipment, samplers, loopers, sequencers, and synthesizers, which were used to create a new form of music. He soon mastered the art, but was nowhere close to realizing what he wanted to do.

After playing around with the song "This is a Hook" and adding real-time vocals that were digitally manipulated, he uploaded it under the name of B.S.O.D (stands for Blue Sign of Death, the programming lingo for the Windows error message). This landed on online music store Beatport's chart at the number one position.

Realizing his potential, he went on to make his own music, assuming the avatar of Deadmau5, creating his own logo and the now famous mau5head, which he sports in all his performances―as do the fans!

And thus, began the journey of the man who has 5 Grammy nominations to his name, 3 Juno Awards (6 nominations), is the first Canadian to headline both the Roger's Center in Toronto and the Earl's Court in London, and the record holder for the most number of consecutive shows at the Roseland Ballroom in NYC.

And if that wasn't enough, he is also the first EDM artist to be featured on the cover of the Rolling Stones Magazine.

So here's to Deadmau5 and his top 10 most popular tracks that are sure to get you off the couch and on your feet! And since we believe that it is nice to have the dessert first sometimes, the list goes from #1 to #10. * (These songs are rated based on a balance between chart performances, popularity, and a little bit of personal opinion!)

10 GREAT DEADMAU5 HITS

"Move for Me"

♫ Album: Was a CD Single ♪ Release Date: May 14, 2008 ♫ Why Pick This? This song topped the Billboard Hot Dance Airplay in the U.S. Charts, giving Deadmau5 his first #1 hit. It features vocals by Haley Gibby, and also charted in Canada and the U.K.

"I Remember"

♫ Album: It was a single (Digital Download) ♪ Release Date: September 15, 2008 ♫ Why Pick This? Following the Success of "Move for Me", Kaskade and Deadmau5 paired up again (featuring Haley Gibby's vocals once more) to create "I Remember". It charted at #1 on the U.S. Charts, and peaked at 14 on the U.K. Singles chart, staying in the Top 40 for nine weeks.

It was a hit in the London clubs and was a regular track on the scene. The song also appears on two video games released in 2010―"DJ Hero 2" and "GoldenEye 007", as the soundtrack for the 2011 movie, "The Lincoln Lawyer", and Zimmerman himself appears in the TV series Gossip Girl's episode "The Empire Strikes Back", playing the track.

"Ghosts 'n' Stuff"

♫ Album: For Lack of a Better Name ♪ Release Date: November 25, 2008 ♫ Why Pick This? As if two consecutive #1 singles weren't enough, Zimmerman adds another #1 hit single to his belt in the same year.

Conceptualized in 2004, he says it was modified about 10 times before he met with Rob Swire (member of "Pendulum" and "Knife Party") at a couple of shows and decided to collaborate with him. It was created with the aim to be featured on Pete Tong's BBC Radio 1's Essential Selection Show, at the RJ's request.

This track has had a crazy run on the U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Airplay charts, with the slowest climb to the top after being dropped off. It finally peaked at number 2 on the U.K. Dance chart, number 12 on the U.K. Singles chart, and on #1 in both the Hot Dance Airplay and the Hot Dance Club Songs charts.

It was popularized by extensive airplays and the TV show America's Best Dance Crew. It also charted in Canada.

"Faxing Berlin"

♫ Album: Random Album Title ♪ Release Date: October 25, 2006 ♫ Why Pick This? This track pretty much kick-started Deadmau5's career as a mainstream artist. This was the first track released under his moniker and was sent to Pete Tong of BBC Radio 1.

Zimmerman impressed the man, because he got airplay, one that created so much buzz that it became one of the most sought-after and imitated records of 2007. At 128 bpm, it is played in the D minor key. It entered the Hot Dance Club Songs chart at #50 in 2009, charting for 12 weeks, and peaking at number 6.

"Raise Your Weapon"

♫ Album: 4x4=12 ♪ Release Date: May 23, 2011 ♫ Why Pick This? Zimmerman shows us that he has got some sweet skills when he ropes in Greta Svabo Bech to do the vocals on this Progressive House track that skillfully breaks into the Dubstep genre.

He wrote the song along with Skrillex and Cydney Sheffield, and shows how he can play with music and give us something totally fresh, when he takes melodic vocals and clubs it with sick Dubstep beats. It entered at #100 on the Billboard Hot 100, his first appearance on the list.

He also came in at #93 on the Canadian Hot 100, #11 on the Heatseekers Songs, and charted in the U.K. too.

"Aural Psynapse"

♫ Album: It is a Single (Digital Download) ♪ Release Date: November 4, 2011 ♫ Why Pick This? Deadmau5 changes pace with the piano-infused, slower-paced sound which is nice to groove to after the thump of the night.

It is layered and has certain hard-hitting parts, but shows us that Zimmerman can experiment with styles and vibes. It was featured in the tour "Hard x Mouth Taped Shut". It peaked at #38 on the Canadian Hot 100, #27 on the U.K. Dance chart, #16 on U.S. Heat chart, and #19 on the U.K. Indie Chart.

"The Veldt"

♫ Album: Album Title Goes Here ♪ Release Date: May 8, 2012 ♫ Why Pick This? Influenced by a Ray Bradbury short story of the same name, Deadmau5's original version was formed through a live streaming session.

Originally it was released in "The Veldt" EP, along with a remix by Freeform Five and one by Tommy Trash. At that time, Chris James made his own version of the song, with lyrics that mentioned Bradbury. Impressed by his vocals, Zimmerman contacted him through Twitter and the collaboration was formed.

It saw massive chart success in many countries, reaching #35 on Belgium Ultratip Flanders, #19 on Belgium Ultratip Wallonia, #149 in France, #31 in Ireland, #63 in Netherlands, #24 in Canada, #68 in Switzerland, #16 on U.K. Dance, #68 on U.K Singles, and #43 on U.S. Hot Dance Club Songs.

Rolling Stones Magazine finally ranked it at #48 on the list of Top 50 Songs of 2012.

"Sofi Needs a Ladder"

♫ Album: 4x4=12 ♪ Release Date: November 1, 2010 ♫ Why Pick This? This trace is a full-force rave scene, get-dancing kind of track that uses his unreleased track "You Need a Ladder" minus the "Overworld" theme music he used originally, replacing it with incorporated vocals on loop by S.O.F.I.

It featured as a club song in the "Hangover Part II" and TV Series "Entourage" in Season 8. It is used in the video game Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit also. It charted at #10 on the U.K. Dance chart, #68 on the U.S. Singles chart, and #73 on the Canada Hot 100 list.

"Strobe"

♫ Album: For Lack of a Better Name ♪ Release Date: February 23, 2010 ♫ Why Pick This? Deadmau5 is truly a new-gen artist when it comes to music. Strobe is a great example, which starts with clear, melodic, and soothing instrumentals that slowly build up pace with the snare and drums, and finally dropping to a dance beat.

It merges Electronic music with Ambient style, and gives you the perfectly engineered sound. It has charted at #13 on the U.K. Dance chart, #128 on the U.K. Singles Chart, and #29 on the U.S. Dance/Electronic Digital Songs chart.

"Professional Griefers"

♫ Album: Album Title Goes Here ♪ Release Date: August 14, 2012 ♫ Why Pick This? This track includes vocals by My Chemical Romance's singer Gerard Way and has hard-hitting beats mixed with distorted guitar stabs, which is followed by syncopated synth lines that build up to a catchy chorus. It is the soundtrack for "FIFA 13" and also appears in the video game "Asphalt 8: Airborne".

SOME OTHER POPULAR SONGS

Now it is always hard to pick a top 10 when an artist has so many good songs to his name. Favorites will always change with taste and opinions, so we thought we'd mention some of Zimmerman's other popular songs. So here are a few of them:

Animal Rights Some Chords HR 8938 Cephei Maths Levels (Remix) Failbit Closer Right This Second Slip Phantoms Can't Hang

Deadmau5 is a forerunner in the EDM scene, and we are sure that he will have more hits up his sleeve in the time to come. Kudos to this unique and game-changing music artist!