Need help finding VG music for non-gamers

[Zeddah]

Hi everyone,

I recently started a radio station at my college where I play video game music and talk about the games that the songs come from. Ever since my family heard the first broadcast they have been interested in hearing more interesting video game music. I have been having difficulty finding music in the genres they like. My father likes Rock; my mother likes Jazz; my cousin likes Metal and my aunt likes Rap.

I figured OC ReMix would be the best place to ask for help since no one else knows more about the varieties of video game music than OC ReMix. 

These songs don't need to be exclusively OC ReMixes; I'm looking for any music on a video game soundtrack, remixed or not. I'm trying my best to find as many songs as I can in these genres, but I only grew up with a PC, PS2 and a SNES, so my recollection of music was limited to those platforms. 

If anyone has any suggestions I would be very appreciative. You don't need to post a link or anything, just the name (or location/description) of the song and the game it's from.

Thank you

P.S. I'm very new to forums in general, so sorry if this layout looks weird for a post.

[nitrozsz]

I know  @OverClocked PodCast did a themed playlist on rap music, I would definitely check out any of the tracks contributed. It's episode 10. If I had known about that playlist, I would have contributed the song Outlaw by Croove from the DJ Max Portable series. 

For rock/metal, I would suggest looking into the Guilty Gear and BlazBlue soundtracks. Akira Yamaoka is also a great rock composer, I would check out his works as well. I would start with Theme of Laura, and Tender Sugar if you want to go down the rock path.

For jazz, it depends on what kind of jazz your Mom likes. So for starters, I would go with the Grim Fandango soundtrack.

Hope this helps!

[Zeddah]

Thanks for your help nitrozsz,

The Guilty Gear and BlazBlue soundtracks sound awesome! I showed my mom the Grim Fandango soundtrack and she's been listening to it happily for the past 15 minutes. Perhaps I can get her to try out the game now, since I just got it in the Humble Mobile Bundle for Android. Also, I totally forgot how awesome Silent Hill's composer was. Looks like I've got a long lineup of music to look through on the past OC Podcasts; I can't wait to listen to them all and find new music. 

Thanks again for these suggestions.

 

[YoungProdigy]

If you're looking for jazz video game music; you'll find a lot of that in old arranged albums.

There's an arranged album for Mega Man X; that mostly contains smooth jazz remixes of the music.

F-Zero also has an arranged jazz soundtrack.

Phoenix Wright also has a jazz album called "Gyakuten Saiban Meets Jazz Soul" or something like that.

Those albums will probably be difficult to find outside of Japan though. But it shouldn't be too hard to find MP3s.

Simcity 3000 also has a soundtrack that consists mostly of jazz.

[MindWanderer]

For rock and metal, cover/remix bands are my recommended way to go.  The Megas, Powerglove, The Black Mages, MegaDriver, and Metroid Metal are my personal favorites.  There are a lot of great YouTubers as well, like FamilyJules and CarboHydroM.  There are even some official albums by the publishers, such as Perfect Selection Dracula Battle for Castlevania and We Are ROCK-MEN for Mega Man.

Edit: Totally forgot about Mega Ran, formerly known as Random.  He's the dude to impress your aunt.

[DarkeSword]

This one's for your mom: the Layton Brothers Mystery Room soundtrack.

I highly recommend checking out track 4, "Investigation."

[Garpocalypse]

Your cousin would love some of the late 90's work by Capcom's Akari Kaida and Takayuki Iwai.  Be sure to check out Cyberbots and Star Gladiator's ost's.  

 

 

[WillRock]

For Rock, look up Sixto Sounds and Prince Uf Darkness on here. Pretty much the go to guys for me with rock. 

[WiFiSunset]

This one's good, I played it on my radio show at UNLV (along with some Ocremixes  ). And my friend who came on said he wouldn't have known it was vg music if I didn't say so.

 

 

[Zeddah]

Thanks everyone for all of your help! 

I showed each of the suggestions to my family on Easter and they all loved it! I now also have a bunch of artists and resources to look into for more awesome video game music, and my family has a greater appreciation of video game music.