Skream

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Skream, in daily life Oliver Dene Jones, is an English electronic music producer, born in West Wickham, Bromley, in 1986. As a teenager he worked at Big Apple Records in Croydon, a record shop in the heart of the early dubstep scene. He began producing at fifteen with FruityLoops and made tight, grim tracks with his friend Benga. They appeared on the EPs The Judgment in 2003 and Hydro in 2004. Hatcha was the first DJ to play his dubplates.

Music and breakthrough

In 2005 came Midnight Request Line, one of his first solo singles. The track is seen as a key moment in the development of a more melodic dubstep and was called the best-known crossover hit of dubstep by the Los Angeles Times. In 2006 his first album, Skream!, was released, which is considered influential for the early period of the genre. In 2007 Angry and Colourful were heard in the teen series Skins, the first time dubstep was on television. His second album, Outside the Box, was released in 2010 on Tempa. Together with Benga and Artwork he founded Magnetic Man, which released an album in 2010 with the single I Need Air. Skream also made remixes for pop artists, such as La Roux, and worked with Kelis and Miles Kane.

Influence

His music shifted from dark, UK garage-influenced dubstep to more melody, dub and later house, disco and techno. Since 2013 he has focused mainly on house and disco. In 2023 he was back on stage together with Benga. In the mid-2000s Skream showed how a style from the London underground could expand.

Listening

• 
  Midnight Request Line · Skream, 2005
  Apple Music ↗

Discography

Studio albums

• 2006Skream!
• 2010Outside the Box
• 2023Skream!