Ultra Thursday | Legends On The Lineup | Tiësto Started Out By Producing WHAT Kind Of Music?!?

Most of the artists on this year’s lineup, like Tiësto, are extremely recognizable. Whether they are recently up and coming with a few hit songs or they may be a household name because they’ve been around for so long. Today, I want to highlight the headlining artists that were game changers for the electronic music scene. Many of the DJs and producers on this lineup have paved the way for the younger artists, like Martin Garrix. Just imagine a world without that little boy wonder. It’s true though. He may not have become a world famous DJ if it weren’t for the pioneers that I’m going to talk about in this article.

Ultra Music Festival always delivers when it comes to their lineup.

I want to give you all a little insight into why Ultra Music Festival really is a world class music festival. They continuously bring their A-game when it comes to developing their lineup. They are the only festival that truly hosts this many legends over the span of those magical three days every year.

I’m going to go ahead and start with my personal favorite (you can probably already guess who it is), Armin Van Buuren. He started producing music in 1996. How many of you were even in grade school yet at that time? His track, “Blue Fear” was his first real success back in 1997 and then “Communication” in 1999. In 2001, Armin started his radio show, ASOT. He’s still going at it 18 years later and hosts an ASOT stage every year at Ultra, which is where you can find me all day on Sunday. Also, he was born on Christmas — coincidence? I think not.

Now for the king of Resistance himself, Carl Cox. You think Armin has been at it for a long time? Well, Carl Cox has been DJing since he was 15, back in 1977. He started producing music in the early 1990s and has always embraced the sounds of underground techno. In 2004, Ultra Music Festival first gave him his own stage, Carl Cox and Friends. This stage has been home to countless techno and tech-house artists for years. And this year, Resistance will return with 3 stages across all 3 days. Techno? Tech-yes!

Joel Zimmerman aka Deadmau5 (and Testpilot) needs no introduction. He’s definitely known as the bad boy of the scene with his hilarious Twitter fights. But to be honest, he’s just passionate about what he loves most — music. The 6-time Grammy nominee has been producing music since 1998. He has tons of electronic music anthems that we all know and love. His songs have even hit the mainstream radio waves and he has been a key factor in bringing this music into so many people’s lives. It’s no wonder Deadmau5 is a household name for so many. By the way, he adopted that name because he found a dead mouse in his computer.

Richie Hawtin began DJing at 17 years old, back in 1987. He has tons of other aliases that he goes by, so you may also know him as Plastikman. His early sounds were a mix of house and techno. A few years later he experimented with IDM (intelligent dance music), which is built for at home listening rather than dancing to. Over the years, Richie has helped grow the electronic music industry’s growth in ways other than music production. He has actually developed the MODEL 1 mixer (alongside Andy Rigby-Jones), which is used by world class DJs such as Carl Cox, Jamie Jones, Loco Dice, and many others.

Last, but certainly not least, we have Tijs Verwest aka Tiësto on this year’s lineup. He’s probably one of the most well-known DJs on the lineup each year as he’s produced tracks with pop stars like Post Malone, Gucci Mane and even Busta Rhymes. But little do you all know, he began his career is 1994 producing hardcore and gabber tracks under such aliases as Da Joker and DJ Limited. He was also a leader in the trance scene in the late-1990s until the late-2000s. Since then he has bounced from big room to electro, and has now landed in the category of pop music, which has disheartened many dedicated trance fans. But he is a legend nonetheless.

Those are just five of the 60+ artists that have been named so far on the 2019 edition of Ultra Music Festival. And that’s just phase one, folks. I can’t wait to see who else gets announced; maybe we’ll see a few more legends on the lineup!

*Featured image via welovetrance.com*