ReMix:Revolution X "Music Is a Weapon" 3:15

By Jredd

Arranging the music of 2 songs...

"The Club is Closed", "Up Against the Wall"

Primary Game: Revolution X (Acclaim , 1995, SNES), music by Chris Granner, Vince Pontarelli

Posted 2008-02-05, evaluated by the judges panel


Music is a Weapon! If you need proof, just listen to Barry Manilow: you could level entire cities with that stuff, given the right amplification ratio. Of course, this mantra was repeated ad infinitum by members of a band who actually DO kick serious amounts of posterior, Aerosmith. To give you some idea of how cool Aerosmith really are, they agreed to appear in the fairly ridiculous and demeaning 90's gun game Revolution X, and they STILL rock. For almost any other band, this would have been a career-ending PR disaster, but the game wasn't that bad (despite Seanbaby's claims to the contrary), and Tyler and co. emerged relatively unscathed. As a sidenote, I actually beat this game in the ARCADE, at the beach. I'd like to say it was due to amazing skill, lightning quick reflexes, and laser aim, but I think I ended up spending seven bucks in quarters, and I was really just killing time.

The most frustrating thing about the game is that they disabled your ability to shoot whenever Aerosmith were on screen. Now, I love Aerosmith, and Steven Tyler's got a freakin' amazing voice, but I really wanted to shoot his lips. They're just... supple. They beckon you. They beg to be pumped full of lead. And yet... no dice. Anyways, while more than half of the soundtrack of both the Arcade and SNES ports consisted of lo-fi loops of Aerosmith tracks, there's actually some original stuff in there, too, and Jredd's provided our first ReMix of such:

"Also, I am pretty sure that the way in which I used in-game sound fx and voice clips will have some of you cringing or at least wondering "What the hell man!?!" My reply to you is simply this. They were there for me to use, and given the oddity of the game in question how could I not? I think it's pretty cool and hilarious at the same time, but I am no OC judge and there is probably good reason for that :P. In any case, I mixed 2 songs together. "Inside Club X" and "Outside club X" and threw in some original improvisations all over the place. I really added a ton here. I hope you at least enjoy it!"

You can't help but appreciate the sheer enthusiasm: while few would choose to venture into RevX territory for their source material, Jredd's done an admirable job livening up the original with creative arrangement and sound selection. There are equal parts meaty guitar and dirty synth over an aggressive beat with... let's say "generous" usage of in-game samples/fx, and leave it at that ;) It's fun stuff - this mix certainly isn't going to win any awards for subtlety or emotional depth, but what's here is solid, well-constructed fun. The "de-de-de-de-destroy" sample usage towards the end alone takes me way back. Wikipedia informs me that Midway were considering another Revolution X game starring Public Enemy, but the game didn't do well enough to justify it... shame. Andy writes:

"Arrangement is pretty creative overall, and the way the song is structured works. I have no complaints here and think the mix has a good flow. My issues w/ the somewhat rough production are not enough to outweigh the creative sound design (to be expected of Jredd) and the arrangement."

With BGC adding, in a fashion that's sufficient to close out this writeup, simply:

"Ye- Ye-Ye Ye-Ye Y-Y-Y YES"

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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paradiddlesjosh
on 2024-01-25 21:18:29

A charming take on the sources! Love the lead work and the rhythm section, as well as the sample work.

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Liontamer
on 2024-01-25 21:11:35

I'm more about the writing than the sound design, which was why I was a dissent here. I did dig the electric guitar doubling going on, and I like that this doesn't take itself too seriously. Would have loved for the timing to be tighter, but that's part of the charm.

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DarkeSword
on 2024-01-25 21:10:07

Haven't heard this one in a really long time, TBH I actually really love how much the texture of this sounds like it's the OST of a Neo Geo game, especially with that announcer at the beginning. Super high energy. Really fun.

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pixelseph
on 2024-01-25 21:08:33

So much more groovy than the source! Love the samples used in this remix and the blend of both tracks for something that's greater than either source alone.

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Dyluck
on 2024-01-25 21:07:35

The start and end of this is almost cringey (isn't anything Aerosmith attaches itself to?), but that section with the leads fighting each other in the middle? Chef-kiss.

And there is the title, we can go home now.

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MegaMixtape
on 2024-01-25 21:07:26

Never heard about this game before, but having listened to the source, I can safely say this remix takes it to the next level. Cheesy voice samples aside, the guitars make all the difference.

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evktalo
on 2008-12-21 06:12:06

This is some cheese I can't stomach regularly, so I won't be keeping this, but it definitely made me smile. The d-d-d-de-destroy bit is ridiculous, I can't get it out of my head.

--Eino

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KungFuFurby06Edition
on 2008-03-04 14:41:18

I'm actually that guy: I dumped the SPCs for the game and gave jredd a challenge on VersusCompo. He won the challenge, and it's nice to see that he submitted his piece here!

The SPC set comes from SNESMusic.org, if you didn't notice, and I have another composer: Kev Bruce. Why Kev Bruce? He's in the credits for the SNES version for music.

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Martin Penwald
on 2008-02-22 16:42:34

The general funkiness and energy, together with the voice samples, makes this sound like something out of Jet Set Radio. A 16-Bit version of Jet Set Radio, that is, seeing as how the remix sounds very 16-Bit-era-esque to me.

Well done; I really enjoyed this one.

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PatrickWagstaff
on 2008-02-14 20:15:26

Got to hand it to ya, i love the sound effects!

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Kidd Jredd
on 2008-02-09 21:37:07

Well, it certainly is interesting that this ReMix made it up here :). Had it not been for a guy named Kung Fu Furby and his hilarious challenge, I doubt I would've thought to tackle Revolution X.

This Remix was almost more like a joke at first, but somehow I actually really got into it and ended up spending way more time on it than I thought I would. I can't help but feel a little silly about this being here, but at the same time I think it is pretty awesome.

Considering the cheesiness of the game, and the lackluster soundtrack I think I am pretty happy with how this turned out over all. The vocal samples are hilariously awesome in my opinion, I think it would've been too hard for me not to include those in game sound bites

I had a lot of fun with this one and I am glad the majority of you seem to enjoy it :). For those that don't as much, I can't say I blame ya. However, it is an honor to once again be part of a collection with so many great artists.

I can only imagine what my next mix to go here might be. I am making mostly original music these days, but that's not to say I don't have a few ideas for Vg songs to try and arrange at some point in the future. Until then, let's hope my extremely loud kick drums doesn't de de-de de-de ddd destroy your speakers :P.

Thanks for listening to my strangeness!

Jredd-

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Sinewav
on 2008-02-07 15:20:50

I always see this game in the used games bin and come really close to dropping the 2 bucks on it, just because I figure a 16-bit version of Aerosmith HAS TO BE pretty amusing.

I enjoyed this remix. Definitely not Jredd's magnum opus, but it's certainly entertaining. I, for one, always appreciate whenever a remixer finds a tasteful use for the otherwise gawdawful "HEAVYGUITAR" sample. That and the liberal use of in-game voice samples are what made this mix work for me.

I figure there are two kinds of cheese: good, fine cheese and smelly, moldy cheese. This remix is the good kind of cheese. There's enough of it to make you constipated, but it is nonetheless tasty and satisfying.

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Jaybell
on 2008-02-06 22:44:27

TEAR DOWN THE WALL TEAR DOWN THE WALL

This mix is good stuff. It seems loud/distorted at times, but that's probably just me having my headphones on too loud and not realizing it. But all around, it is pretty good nice down and dirty funkiness, and better than I expected, given the source material. Good to hear from Jredd again.

DE-DE-DE-DE-DE-DDDDESTROY

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JJT
on 2008-02-06 17:02:21

haters need to realize that generation x is in effect

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OA
on 2008-02-06 11:31:51

I'm pretty torn on this one.

It's pretty repetitive, and I hate the samples (sample bias omg), but there is some really good stuff in here. The synth runs are nice, and the tone on them is good, as opposed to the pretty fakey sounding guitar synth, which grated on me. :-(

Melodically this worked pretty well, but I think the rhythms were kind of samey.

Bah, sorry for the harsh review, I think the overused vocal samples colored my opinion for the rest of the track. Great synth noodling though.

Sources Arranged (2 Songs)


Primary Game:
Revolution X (Acclaim , 1995, SNES)
Music by Chris Granner,Vince Pontarelli
Songs:
"The Club is Closed"
"Up Against the Wall"

Tags (3)


Genre:
Rock
Mood:
Instrumentation:
Electric Guitar,Synth
Additional:

File Information


Name:
Revolution_X_Music_Is_a_Weapon_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
4,729,667 bytes
MD5:
f1ed34fb79462cb4bfe8a1c31d2ef3d0
Bitrate:
190Kbps
Duration:
3:15

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