Game music that resembles mainstream music (or vice versa)...

[SwordBreaker]

Thought of making a topic about this after experiencing something like this recently. My friend had this old 80s CD which we were listening to in his car. There's this song called "Faithfully" by Journey. Very nice power ballad which just says "80s" everywhere. But what interested me the most is that the main riff of the song is similar if not identical to the main riff of "Elec Man's stage song" in Mega Man 1. Somehow, it made the song even catchier to my ears.

So...take it away, guys.

[The Coop]

http://www.doomworld.com/linguica/doomcovers/

[!Nekko!]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=JbVM-l2Oku4

[Tensei]

Great thread idea, I love looking for this kind of stuff!

I'll Start off with an obvious one, listen to the intro's. Uncanny isn't it? :) (yes I know Uematsu basically admitted he was inspired by the intro to purple haze)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yn71hIsm0U8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnFSaqFzSO8

[OverCoat]

http://project2612.org/details.php?id=170

:3

[xRisingForce]

Isn't this everywhere?

If not down to the note, videogame music is extremely reflective of the music from any period. It's hard to be radically original like Uematsu. Not saying the magnitude of originality is indicative of anything in particular, but you see a lot of parallels in all music.

Just like how rock came from jazz came from blues came from delta blues came from black gospel came from slavery, you could say that Videogame music came from all currently existing genres for definitely not all, but a fair amount of artists.

Yasunori Mistuda can write in a ton of different styles, but one style that's almost a dead giveaway is the Mitsuda-style celtic, most notably audible on his Chrono Cross work. If you listen to traditional Irish melodies the melody and subtle progressions of the harmony are really reminiscent of him.

Michiru Yamane is extremely baroque influenced, stuff like Wood Carving Partita from the SoTN OST is powerfully resemblent of a Bach harpsichord piece.

Luna Umegaki of Sound Create Unit: III dabbles in Japanese Jazz Fusion, and some of her pieces sound a lot like early Casiopea. The resemblence is nowhere near as strong as Yamane though.

Somewhat inversely, if you look at the soundtracks from Rockman X compared to Rockman X5, the former has 90s smothered all over it. The hallmark of 80s music was the electric guitar (banal in its own right just like today), which seems to be the lead instrument on most Rockman X tracks. Another obvious allusion to pop culture is the name ROCKMAN, lol. Whether this is just bad Engrish or a reference to the popularity of guitar-driven music, I dunno.

Heavy metal seems to be catching on lately, and the success of all three Guitar Heros only fuels the fire. Bands like Children of Bodom, Lamb of God, Slayer, Trivium, Avenged Sevenfold, they're all coming to the forefront of the mainstream scene. And Guilty Gear, a recent addition to the fighter genre, makes gluttonous use of shred guitar.

[SwordBreaker]

Isn't this everywhere?

If not down to the note, videogame music is extremely reflective of the music from any period. It's hard to be radically original like Uematsu. Not saying the magnitude of originality is indicative of anything in particular, but you see a lot of parallels in all music.


Yasunori Mistuda can write in a ton of different styles, but one style that's almost a dead giveaway is the Mitsuda-style celtic, most notably audible on his Chrono Cross work. If you listen to traditional Irish melodies the melody and subtle progressions of the harmony are really reminiscent of him.


Somewhat inversely, if you look at the soundtracks from Rockman X compared to Rockman X5, the former has 90s smothered all over it. The hallmark of 80s music was the electric guitar (banal in its own right just like today), which seems to be the lead instrument on most Rockman X tracks. Another obvious allusion to pop culture is the name ROCKMAN, lol. Whether this is just bad Engrish or a reference to the popularity of guitar-driven music, I dunno.


Interesting point. I especially agree with you regarding the aforementioned two composers. When Mitsuda goes celtic, he's immediately recognizable. Like when he remixed Pikmin's overworld theme for Brawl, when I first heard that I was like, "typical Mitsuda-style there". I did hear that he tried something radically different with a Japan-exclusive game called Armodyne for the PS2. He went all rock/metal with that game...or so I hear.

Regarding Mega Man X, one of the reasons I love most of the series' soundtracks is because of the rock influence. Even the most recent game in the series, Mega Man X8, had some truly kick-ass tunes.

But yeah...once you look hard enough, you can easily find "influences" of mainstream music in game music or the other way 'round. Do you have anything that comes to mind, Risingforce? Like a few particular tracks that immediately come to mind?

[Salluz]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbVM-l2Oku4
Those comparisons between Sonic 3 and Michael Jackson had the whole lab screaming! AHAHAHAHA!

[Schwaltzvald]

allusion to pop culture is the name ROCKMAN, lol. Whether this is just bad Engrish or a reference to the popularity of guitar-driven music, I dunno.

Always thought it had to do with the pun including Roll, "Rock and Roll", Protoman is Blues, Bass(Forte) and Treble(Gospel) is more obvious. There's a mid boss/boss character by the name of Punk as well. Heck Dr. Cossack's daughter "Kalinka" makes a reference to an old russian folk song.

From Wikipedia~

Although originally the names "Mighty Kid" and "Knuckle Kid" were proposed, Capcom eventually settled on "Rockman" as Mega Man's Japanese moniker. The word "Rock" in Rockman is a reference to the music genre rock and roll, and is meant to work in tandem with his "sister" robot, Roll. Such music-themed naming conventions are present in a number of Keiji Inafune's other character designs, such as Blues. In addition, the original Mega Man titles intentionally incorporated a "Rock, Paper, Scissors" game play mechanic into defeating certain enemies.[2] In parts of the English speaking world, some people call Mega Man "The Blue Bomber" because of his blue armor and high fighting capabilities.

[xRisingForce]

Always thought it had to do with the pun including Roll, "Rock and Roll", Protoman is Blues, Bass and Treble is more obvious. There's a mid boss/boss character by the name of Punk as well.

From Wikipedia~

Thanks for enlightening me, I had no idea about Protoman or the boss, haha. My pre-X knowledge is pretty much.. nonexistent. Now the question is whether the term "Rock and Roll" is indicative of a very specific period of rock and roll (most likely 70s) or whether they're referring to 90s rock as "Rock and Roll" because of Japan's very by the book grasp of English. It was at least, before Westernization become a hot trend, the three East-Asian countries all impregnated it, and it gave birth to Engrish.

[Ralphis]

I've never seen this one mentioned before. Megaman 1 Stage Select and Bon Jovi's Runaway. I heard Runaway on the radio one day and I said "Wow, Megaman". Inspired just like I think Journey's Faithfully inspired Elecman's stage.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=vwjGsNFF14Y

http://youtube.com/watch?v=22yHMCjNtk8

[Schwaltzvald]

Thanks for enlightening me, I had no idea about Protoman or the boss, haha. My pre-X knowledge is pretty much.. nonexistent. Now the question is whether the term "Rock and Roll" is indicative of a very specific period of rock and roll (most likely 70s) or whether they're referring to 90s rock as "Rock and Roll" because of Japan's very by the book grasp of English. It was at least, before Westernization become a hot trend, the three East-Asian countries all impregnated it, and it gave birth to Engrish.

Megadave ought to be able to tell ya more.

But back on topic... somwhat...

Ever notice the changes between the series Classic Megaman's rock tunes to Megaman X's 5 tracks to the Zero series Rock Opera-ish music..? Is this a sign of something pushing rock further into possibly metal for the Mega series...? I haven't heard/played the DS games so I don't know how their tracks sound like...

in particularly to the Ragnarok Record Final Battle...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYEODRw-WzE&feature=related

[Kureejii Lea]

Always thought it had to do with the pun including Roll, "Rock and Roll", Protoman is Blues, Bass(Forte) and Treble(Gospel) is more obvious. There's a mid boss/boss character by the name of Punk as well. Heck Dr. Cossack's daughter "Kalinka" makes a reference to an old russian folk song.

While it's mostly found in the Classic games, music-based names/puns are fairly common throughout the series. In addition to those mentioned, there's also Beat, Reggae, Tango, Techno, Middy, Serenade, Ballade, and so on... not to mention the various Guns n' Roses references (not just the X5 Maverick names; go listen to X3's Neon Tiger's stage, and then the band's My Michelle).

[AMT]

It's funny you mention Elec-man, because it always reminded me of Between Angels and Insects by Papa Roach. Obviously Journey and Megaman 1 came before that, but there's still definitely a similarity.

[X]

Even if I've said it before (maybe not here though), I'll still say it again - I've always assumed that Elec Man's stage was most likely based on 38 Special's "If I'd Been the One." The first time I heard this on radio, I said, "OMG! It's Elec Man!" Listen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tknMjFKKm5c

Far from breaking precedent though, the Mega Man series continues to ape the classics. It's fairly obvious where Neon Tiger's stage comes from. This is "My Michelle" by Guns 'n Roses:
*WARNING* - Obscene Content Ahead (this is GnR after all...) - *WARNING*

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkVudkWC0k4



[edit]I just noticed this.
Always thought it had to do with the pun including Roll, "Rock and Roll", Protoman is Blues, Bass(Forte) and Treble(Gospel) is more obvious. There's a mid boss/boss character by the name of Punk as well. Heck Dr. Cossack's daughter "Kalinka" makes a reference to an old russian folk song.

From Wikipedia~
Thanks for enlightening me, I had no idea about Protoman or the boss, haha. My pre-X knowledge is pretty much.. nonexistent. Now the question is whether the term "Rock and Roll" is indicative of a very specific period of rock and roll (most likely 70s) or whether they're referring to 90s rock as "Rock and Roll" because of Japan's very by the book grasp of English. It was at least, before Westernization become a hot trend, the three East-Asian countries all impregnated it, and it gave birth to Engrish.
There's a boatload of musical references, esp. in the original Japanese:

Rock / Rockman - speaks for itself
Roll - not by herself, but combined with Rock... well...
Rush - maybe not, but it's also the name of a band... coincidence?
Blues - known as Protoman in the US
Duo - well, not directly, but suspiciously close to "duet"; same roots anyway
Forte - known as Bass in the US
Gospel - known as Treble in the US
Beat - bird from MM5 for NES
Kalinka - Russian folk song reference
Punk - from MMIII for GB
Ballade - from MMIV for GB
Tango - the cat from MMV for GB
Reggae - a robotic pet bird of Wily's; serves as a weapon for Forte in some games
Alia - doesn't seem like it at first, but the proper Japanese-related spelling would be "Aria" (no L's)
Serenade - character from the BN series
Harp - a character from the Star Force series; known as Lyra in the US, both are the names of instruments
Solo - a character from the Star Force series
Phantom - a character from the Star Force series; at times resembles a character from Phantom of the Opera, a famous theatre and musical production (based on the book)

There's probably more, but I just can't think of 'em at the current time.

[DrumUltimA]

a lot of the next gen sonic games have music that is metal and shitty :D

also, I always thought that I could hear the instrumental track to Rhianna's "Unfaithful" in a game...

[zircon]

Pendulum's song "Showdown" from their new album "In Silico" is similar to Flashman at times, from MM2.

[Dunnowhathuh]

Great thread idea, I love looking for this kind of stuff!

I'll Start off with an obvious one, listen to the intro's. Uncanny isn't it? :) (yes I know Uematsu basically admitted he was inspired by the intro to purple haze)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yn71hIsm0U8

I'm annoyed that I missed that concert. Hadn't heard about A Night in Fantasia until 2006/7 and as a result missed out on seeing the main man himself in the flesh. Did get to see Yasunori Mitsuda in action though in the '06 and '07 concerts.

[xRisingForce]

Why hasn't anyone linked this yet?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbVM-l2Oku4

[Tensei]

Why hasn't anyone linked this yet?



http://youtube.com/watch?v=JbVM-l2Oku4

Congratulations. You lash out at people who don't read your pagelong rants but you miss the first reply of the thread. :)

[xRisingForce]

..I can't believe I missed it. I guess I'll erase my post.

[X]

http://www.doomworld.com/linguica/doomcovers/
I must've missed this before, but this reminds me of some short time ago when John Ramero compiled that group of 30 or so unreleased Doom midis for the first game and most of 'em were Slayer, Stone Temple Pilots, Alice in Chains, etc. This is what lost me any leftover respect I had for Bobby Prince after the bliss of Commander Keen. If you want to hear what I'm talking about, head over to this page ( http://rome.ro/2007/06/doom-archaeology.html). Here's a list of known ripoffs:

un08: StormTroopers of Death - Sargent D
un12: StormTroopers of Death - Phi Alpha Nu
un13: StormTroopers of Death - Milano Mosh
un14: StormTroopers of Death - Phi Alpha Nu (again?)
un15: Dio - Holy Diver?
(coincidentally, part of un15 was used in a Blake Stone AOG tune which reeks of the Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song")
un16: Stormtroopers of Death - Speak English or Die
un17: Slayer - Rain in Blood
un18: Slayer - Silent Scream
un19: Alice in Chains - We Die Young
un20: Alice in Chains - Man in the Box
un21-f: Stone Temple Pilots - Dead and Bloated
un23: Stone Temple Pilots - Sex Type Thing
un28: Alice in Chains - Them Bones
un31: Soundgarden - Rusty Cage
un32: Soundgarden - Outshined
un36: Soundgarden - Slaves & Bulldozers
un37: Judas Priest - Leather Rebel
un39: Alice in Chains - Rain When I Die
un41: Alice in Chains - Rooster
un42: Alice in Chains - Junkhead
un43: Alice in Chains - Dirt
un45: Alice in Chains - God Smack
un46: Alice in Chains - Angry Chair
un51: Pantera - Walk
un52: Slayer - South of Heaven

[edit]Hot dang. I just realized what un36 is - Soundgarden's "Slaves & Bulldozers". I'm gonna update the other site if I can. That makes three Soundgarden songs now! Yeah, I'm pretty ticked.

[The Coop]

I must've missed this before, but this reminds me of some short time ago when John Ramero compiled that group of 30 or so unreleased Doom midis for the first game and most of 'em were Slayer, Stone Temple Pilots, Alice in Chains, etc. This is what lost me any leftover respect I had for Bobby Prince after the bliss of Commander Keen. If you want to hear what I'm talking about, head over to this page ( http://rome.ro/2007/06/doom-archaeology.html). Here's a list of known ripoffs:

un08: StormTroopers of Death - Sargent D
un12: StormTroopers of Death - Phi Alpha Nu
un13: StormTroopers of Death - Milano Mosh
un14: StormTroopers of Death - Phi Alpha Nu (again?)
un15: Dio - Holy Diver?
(coincidentally, part of un15 was used in a Blake Stone AOG tune which reeks of the Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song")
un16: Stormtroopers of Death - Speak English or Die
un17: Slayer - Rain in Blood
un18: Slayer - Silent Scream
un19: Alice in Chains - We Die Young
un20: Alice in Chains - Man in the Box
un21-f: Stone Temple Pilots - Dead and Bloated
un23: Stone Temple Pilots - Sex Type Thing
un28: Alice in Chains - Them Bones
un31: Soundgarden - Rusty Cage
un32: Soundgarden - Outshined
un36: Soundgarden - Slaves & Bulldozers
un37: Judas Priest - Leather Rebel
un39: Alice in Chains - Rain When I Die
un41: Alice in Chains - Rooster
un42: Alice in Chains - Junkhead
un43: Alice in Chains - Dirt
un45: Alice in Chains - God Smack
un46: Alice in Chains - Angry Chair
un51: Pantera - Walk
un52: Slayer - South of Heaven

[edit]Hot dang. I just realized what un36 is - Soundgarden's "Slaves & Bulldozers". I'm gonna update the other site if I can. That makes three Soundgarden songs now! Yeah, I'm pretty ticked.

Yeah, I brought up that unreleased zip last year here (http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=10429&highlight=Doom+music). We named a good amount of them, but not all of them.

[X]

Yeah, I brought up that unreleased zip last year here (http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=10429&highlight=Doom+music). We named a good amount of them, but not all of them.
Didn't know about that thread (even though looking at the date, I think VGM was doing one around the same time if I remember right).

If I'd known I might've posted this there, but I'm not really fond of necrobumping, so probably not. Thanks for the link though.

[The Coop]

Didn't know about that thread (even though looking at the date, I think VGM was doing one around the same time if I remember right).

If I'd known I might've posted this there, but I'm not really fond of necrobumping, so probably not. Thanks for the link though.

No problem. At nearly a year since its last post, I'm not surprised you didn't know about it :lol:

But never fear a little necro-bumping if it's actually adding something. No one will bite your head off... I think...

[Bobwillis]

Setzer's theme from FFVI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bneQYya6c_M

and one of Chopin's polonaises Op. 53 in A flat major (the part that starts at 3:17 in the below video) it's mostly the accompaniment, not the melody

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZGi49Bnghs

[Darth Lime]

Mainstream music is fail. Underground/indie music is vastly superior.

srsly

[X]

No problem. At nearly a year since its last post, I'm not surprised you didn't know about it :lol:
Actually, up to about about half a year ago, I barely ever posted despite the fact that I've been around since 2004.

But never fear a little necro-bumping if it's actually adding something. No one will bite your head off... I think...
Hmmm......

/me thinks that the "I think..." part of that statement is the scary part......

Mainstream music is fail. Underground/indie music is vastly superior.

srsly
Love live Haji's Kitchen! :mrgreen:

Which reminds me... the beginning of Haji's "As Ever Beyond" has always made me think of the beginning of the Metroid II title screen for some inexplicable reason. It's not exactly a replica of it, but I hafta admit that it kinda sounds like Metroid squirming to me. The lyrics also make me think of Metroid as well.

[exdeath1]

I dont know why spaced out made by play paul reminds me the buy song from armored core 2.

[DramaNoMore]

Hey guys, another silly comparison:
Song of Memories, from Final Fantasy IX:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOBRPKOXB4w
and...
Bohemian Rhapsody, by Queen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irp8CNj9qBI

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Robo's theme from CT sounds very much like a Rickroll.

[Neonlare]

Robo's theme from CT sounds very much like a Rickroll.

Indeed it does.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=NZ20N6syuwc

[The Coop]

Indeed it does.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=NZ20N6syuwc

...

:lol:

This is going to haunt some CT players for the rest of their lives.

[starla]

^That's the best roboroll i've heard to date.

There are some similiarities between the intro to the original Metroid

http://youtube.com/watch?v=s1GxznTaiwI

and the guitar parts from The Cars - I'm Not The One

http://youtube.com/watch?v=a_HpVbD1_Ao

[The Pezman]

Very surprised this wasn't mentioned.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YNhhD-Zt-8&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwNrmYRiX_o

This is how I first learned about "Take Five."

[Neonlare]

Robo-Roll shalt live!

http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/4637/roborollqa7.gif

Anyhow, I'm preaty sure that Flashman's Theme from Megaman 3 sounds a helluva similar to Metallica at points too.


http://megamanmetallica.ytmnd.com/

Thankums very much YTMND.

On a side note, are there any examples of this practice being inverted? I.E Mainstream music mimicing Video Game music?

[HengDe]

the cars song reminds me more of the ending to metroid actually - especially the high pitched doo dee doo doo that starts around 1:15 and repeats till 1:30ish, sounds just like in the metroid ending at 1:25 in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKpxgAqn_Xk&feature=related

[JH Sounds]

I already brought this up earlier, but what the hey...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=We0pnqX4MQA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSQ3ZRmkmy4

[mr.wholesome]

Donkey Kong Country- Ice

Vangellis- Antartica theme.

I cant reference them right now. but i remeber playing them back to back.very similair.

[atmuh]

still waiting for a game to have a screamo ost

[mrhiccup]

Uematsu combo! xD

FFI, FFII, FFIII, FFIV, FFV, FFVI, FFIX:
"Battle Theme" (only the intro, by Uematsu) and "Battle of Evermore" (Led Zeppelin):
http://youtube.com/watch?v=SplNqFfSAhc

http://youtube.com/watch?v=b6pQrZPwoOU


FFV:
"To the North Mountain" (Uematsu) and "Fanfare for the Common man" (Emerson, Lake & Palmer):
http://youtube.com/watch?v=WMtgYccv30U

http://youtube.com/watch?v=0OLWgrr671g

"Toccata", "Hoedown", "Trilogy" and "Knife Edge", are, among others, songs by ELP that you could hear in a Final Fantasy game... ;)

FFVI, FFIX:
"Terra's Theme", "Vamo' alla Flamenco", "Limited Time", "Black Mages Village" (Uematsu) and "La Folia" (unknown composer, more info here: http://www.folias.nl) But I think the main inspiration for Uematsu was "Conquest of Paradise" (by Vangelis, who also used the Folia chord progression...).

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ExqC2T232sk

http://youtube.com/watch?v=GtmlAaybIEs


FFVII:

"Debut" (Uematsu) and "House of the King" (Focus):

http://youtube.com/watch?v=H2HoM41iZys

http://youtube.com/watch?v=bOtGUJIi_dE (ignore the video, just listen to the music)

FFIX:

"The Evil Mist's Rebirth" (Uematsu) = "A Salty Dog" (Procol Harum) + "Watcher of the skies" (Genesis)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ylzCPwCKn1c

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Q6BzNEZxbiw

http://youtube.com/watch?v=rq5vFpGD_so



And the list goes on...

[Sil]

"Toccata", "Hoedown", "Trilogy" and "Knife Edge", are, among others, songs by ELP that you could hear in a Final Fantasy game... ;)

You forgot the most obvious one! The final "rock" segment of Dancing Mad seems to be influenced by ELP's Tarkus.

[mrhiccup]

You forgot the most obvious one! The final "rock" segment of Dancing Mad seems to be influenced by ELP's Tarkus.

How could I?! :S
You're absolutely right. :)

Final Fantasy IX also has several ELP-style songs (the final battle theme, "Run!" and "Lifa Tree" come to mind).

Queen's "We Will Rock You" is also referenced in Kuja's theme.

Deep Purple is another great influence in Uematsu's music: "Maybe I'm a Lion", the Jon Lord-like Hammond organ solo in FFVII's "Crazy Motorcycle", and FFVII's "The Birth of a god" (the Bizarro Sephiroth battle).

Progressive/Symphonic Rock is a great source of music that resembles game music. ;)

[Tables]

Does the infamous 'Kirby Snoop Dog' thing count?

[mrhiccup]

Tommy Tallarico's music for Udderly Abducted (EWJ2 stage) is a remix of "El Choclo" (an argentinean tango).

Link to Udderly Abducted music: http://www.geocities.com/rcm_ca/ewjsite/media/udderlya.mid

Link to the tango:
http://www.mibsasquerido.com.ar/Assets/Tango/elchoclo.mid

The EWJ2 Quiz Show theme is based on a famous polka:
http://members.tripod.com/~barb_1/polka/CLARINET-POLKA.mid

We also have these:
Puppy Love = Funiculi, Funicula
Blind Sally = Moonlight Sonata, 1st Mvmt.
See Jim Run, Run Jim Run = Moonlight Sonata, 3rd Mvmt.

And in the first EWJ game:
What the Heck? = Night on Bald Mountain

[Drayzon]

One of my best friends swears that the opening to "Fury of the Storm" and "Operation Ground and Pound," both by DragonForce, sound like they came straight out of a Megaman game.

[xRisingForce]

One of my best friends swears that the opening to "Fury of the Storm" and "Operation Ground and Pound," both by DragonForce, sound like they came straight out of a Megaman game.

Well that's not so surprising, given that Herman Li cites 90s videogame music as a huge musical influence.