"Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites" is a song by American electronic dance music producer

Skrillex Sonny John Moore (born January 15, 1988), known professionally as Skrillex, is an American DJ and music producer. Growing up in Northeast Los Angeles and Northern California, he joined the post-hardcore band From First to Last as the lead sing ...

. It was released as the

lead single A lead single (also known as a debut 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. Release s ...

from his second EP of the same name. It uses a vocal sample of exclamations from Rachael Nedrow (also known as "speedstackinggirl") shouting "Yes, oh my gosh!", after speedily stacking a set of cups in one of her YouTube videos. Although permission to use the sample was not initially granted nor was Nedrow aware of its use, she was later compensated an undisclosed sum. On October 3, 2013, the song was certified 2× Platinum 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 2,000,000 units. It was also certified Gold within

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, with sales exceeding 40,000 units. On February 12, the song won

Best Dance Recording The Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronic Recording (formerly known as Best Dance Recording) is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists f ...

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 the ...

. It was used in the 2012 film ''

Spring Breakers ''Spring Breakers'' is a 2012 American comedy crime film written and directed by Harmony Korine and starring James Franco, Vanessa Hudgens, Selena Gomez, Ashley Benson and Rachel Korine. Gomez, Hudgens, Benson and Korine portray four college-ag ...

'' and an ad for

GoPro GoPro, Inc. (marketed as GoPro and sometimes stylized as GoPRO) is an American technology company founded in 2002 by Nick Woodman. It manufactures action cameras and develops its own mobile apps and video-editing software. Founded as Woodman La ...

titled "Kayak Kiss with Ben Brown", and also the video games ''

MLB 2K12 ''Major League Baseball 2K12'' or, in short, ''MLB 2K12'', is a Major League Baseball licensed baseball simulation video game published by 2K that was released for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Wii, Nintendo DS, Xbo ...

'' and '' Ridge Racer Unbounded''. The song name was inspired by the

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

album and song '' Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps),'' and has been remixed by a variety of producers such as

Zedd Anton Zaslavski (russian: Антон Заславский; born 2 September 1989), known professionally as Zedd (), is a Russian-born German disc jockey, DJ, record producer, and songwriter. Zedd grew up and began his musical journey in Kaise ...

Noisia Noisia (stylised as NOISIΛ; "VISION" turned upside down) was a Dutch electronic music trio consisting of members Nik Roos, Martijn van Sonderen and Thijs de Vlieger from Groningen, Netherlands. They produce a wide variety of music including dr ...

Kaskade Ryan Gary Raddon (born February 25, 1971), better known by his stage name Kaskade, is an American DJ, record producer and remixer. ''DJ Times'' voted Kaskade "America's Best DJ" in 2011 and 2013. ''DJ Mag'' named Kaskade fifty-first on its 200 ...

among others.

As a mosquito repellent

According to a scientific study published in ''Acta Tropica'', the song can provide protection against mosquito bites; in the study, the authors write that "female mosquitoes exposed to the song 'Scary Monsters And Nice Sprites' attacked hosts much later than their non-exposed peers." Although this observation at first glance is humorous, it also indicates that low-frequency tones (a signature of "Scary Monsters And Nice Sprites") can serve as a more environmentally friendly means of pest control (versus pesticides).

Track listing

Official remixes

Dirtyphonics Dirtyphonics is a French electronic music band from Paris, consisting of members Charly Barranger and Julien "PitchIn" Corrales. Their music style is based on dubstep, drum and bass, drumstep. In 2008, Dirtyphonics signed on Shimon's label A ...

Remix * The Juggernaut Remix *

Remix *

Remix * Phonat Remix *

Remix

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control Songs about monsters 2010 singles Skrillex songs Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording Song recordings produced by Skrillex Songs written by Skrillex Songs written for films 2010 songs Big Beat Records (American record label) singles