Music

was there iconic scratchy rapid frenetic drum electronic scraping noises before Bowie?

You can find elements of that in earlier 90s industrial, like Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson. Bowie collaborated with Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails on the Outside Tour, which supported Bowie's prior album Outside, before the release of Earthling. They also collaborated on remixes of I'm Afraid of Americans. You can probably also find some elements Earthling's sound in earlier drum and bass, techno and jungle music.

Skrillex' influences include 90s industrial acts like Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson, plus 90s electronica acts like Aphex Twin and Squarepusher. Bowie's Earthling reminds you of Skrillex because the two share many musical roots.

I’d say that sound was more on the side of industrial / hardcore jungle, blending in rock and pop, with touches of shoegaze. Dubstep grew out of grime, and drum and bass, etc grew out of jungle.

He’s a DJ Hype track from 1993 that gives you a taste of where jungle was at then which might help you see where dubstep came from.

It always sounded more like classic Drum n Bass to me.

Coming out just a little later was Ed Rush and Optical's album "Wormhole," which is just as likely to be an influence.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4KyOEKd2A4&list=PLE766D6259C97EABF&index=7

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIxsP3lJjuE&list=PLE766D6259C97EABF&index=2

Dubstep was emerging around that time, way before Skrillex and the particular style of it that he popularized. I think I hear the similarity you pointed out, though. It may be just a coincidence or a deeper common influence - for example the first song on that Bowie album sounds like drum n bass which was a likely influence on early dubstep.