Video Game Series and Fan Band Scenes

[DarkeSword]

Yesterday at work I was talking to a friend of mine about Blizzcon. He's attended for a few years and we talked about the fact that Blink-182 is performing there this year. In the past, Blizzard's gotten Foo Fighters and Ozzy Osborne to appear at Blizzcon, and before that they always had performances by one of their in-house bands, L90ETC (formerly L85ETC, L80ETC, etc.).

I mentioned that it seemed interesting to me that Blizzcon went for some very mainstream rock acts for entertainment at the event rather than showcasing game bands; to me, music from the featured acts felt a little incongruous with what I think of when I think about WoW and Diablo music; maybe they fit with Starcraft more, but the vibe I got from SC2 (from what little I've played of it) was more of a space-western.

I get was Blizzard is doing, in that they just want people to have a good time, but this led me to another question: is there a music scene that exists around Blizzard games?

Years ago, when Harry Potter was at the very height of popularity, there was a small music scene that grew out of that fandom oriented around "Wizard Rock" which was basically just rock music with Harry Potter oriented lyrics. They referenced the books and movies and borrowed their style from the characters.

There are also a lot of Mega Man cover bands. Sure they hit other games sometimes, but they also do original music and sing songs ABOUT Mega Man too.

So is there a music scene around Blizzard games that I don't know about? What about other series? Is there a Castlevania band scene? Final Fantasy? What is it about certain media properties that inspires these small niche music scenes?

[Brandon Strader]

I will shamefully admit that I was a fan of wizard rock for a while.

[Meteo Xavier]

Final Fantasy?

http://thelegendaryzoltan.bandcamp.com/album/first-fantasy - and other RPGs as well.

I'm on two of these tracks.

[Chernabogue]

Is there a Castlevania band scene?

An instrumental CV band named Naian released an album in 2013 (on CD Baby) called To Vanquish This Horrible Night. Nice album.

[OceansAndrew]

I am almost certain I read that Critical Hit is playing Blizzcon this year, playing all Blizzard songs, so they do have a mix of popular bands and gaming specific bands. Also I think one year Korn played Blizzcon too.

[KyleJCrb]

I would say Final Fantasy and Zelda are probably the closest that it gets to specific series' with a music scene. Maaaaaybe Mega Man could be included as well.

Sonic doesn't really have bands per se, but the Sonic fanbase (particularly at The Sonic Stadium) has been putting together remix album compilations for a few years now.

Edited November 6, 2013 by KyleJCrb

[Garrett Williamson]

Hearing of a new Sonic remix album is nothing new, but it also always seems to be a big deal.

Sonic Heroes and Shadow the Hedgehog (forgive me for bringing that game up) both had a track in their soundtracks by a band called Julien K. They actually grabbed a bit of attention at one point. They had a song in one of the Transformers movies; I think it was the first one.

Let us never forget that Masato Nakamura from Dreams Come True did the music for the one and only original Sonic the Hedgehog hahaha

but that's changing the subject.