What genre of music fits each style of Sonic best?

[OzGuy]

So, Sonic has a pretty good track record with music. *accepts Understatement Of The Millenium award*

But what type of music fits each style of Sonic?

Classic Sonic seems to be 90's dance music and EDM, whereas Adventure is more delving into punk rock and ska-punk, like Goldfinger. Then Modern Sonic gives off more of a Green Day/blink-182 vibe.

Penny for your thoughts!

[DarkEco]

Well, I think most people would just say the styles that were chosen for each era suit them best. Are you asking what alternative styles could have been used instead of the ones they went with?

To me the Megadrive era of of Sonic thrived musically with Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Sonic 3 was very funk based whereas S&K had a more in your face electronic vibe in some cases like Flying Battery and Death Egg, along with more generic thematically appropriate tracks like Sandopolis and Sky Sanctuary. I don't know what I would class Lava Reef as but it's dope either way. So for me Megadrive Sonic would ideally consist of that era mainly. I prefer Sonic 3D Blast's music overall (not the Saturn version). It just has a "moodiness" that I find very absorbing, like a dark analogue sound. 

In the GC era, while I liked the punk rock styles of Sonic Adventure I think the more heavy electronic/rock style in the Shadow the Hedgehog soundtrack really shone through to me. I found myself listening to it far more than anything else in that era. Shame about the game itself though. It definitely wouldn't work for SA unless it was brightened up a bit though. 

After that I pretty much lost interest in any Sonic game apart from Generations...

 

SONIC MANIA THO.

[AngelCityOutlaw]

Death metal

[Garpocalypse]

I'll admit it took me awhile to accept Senoue's punk esque work for the Adventure games but I honestly don't know how EDM became THE sound for "classic" sonic.  I know Generations had everything to do with that but honestly the classic rearrangements of those tracks didn't do a whole lot for me.  

I would have to say Power Metal would work the best with Sonic games and I base that on absolutely nothing but my own personal bias. Kind of like how this guy did.   

I'm digging the hell out of what they released so far for Mania tho.

[OzGuy]

For me, Sonic music should have some serious tracks, but also have optimism in a badass sense.

[AngelCityOutlaw]

Ah, Sonic Adventure. Giving washed-up 80s, B-grade rockstars work since 1998.

In all honesty, I think each style of Sonic (that I've played) has had an appropriate soundtrack.

As long as the music is upbeat (Major key or Dorian mode) and fast paced, you can't really go wrong. That's probably why EDM, Funk and Pop-Punk are the mainstays of the series.

[Tex]

Ending from GG Sonic 2 has a New Jack Swing feel to it.

[OzGuy]

5 hours ago, AngelCityOutlaw said:

In all honesty, I think each style of Sonic (that I've played) has had an appropriate soundtrack.

As long as the music is upbeat (Major key or Dorian mode) and fast paced, you can't really go wrong. That's probably why EDM, Funk and Pop-Punk are the mainstays of the series.

Well, not all tracks in Sonic games are upbeat. 

[OzGuy]

There are some great moody or melancholy tracks in there as well. And not just in Shadow the Hedgehog, but in games like '06, Unleashed and Heroes.

[AngelCityOutlaw]

1st rule of Sonic '06

• You don't talk about Sonic '06

[OzGuy]

You CAN talk about its OST though. THAT'S good.

[DMT Produktionen]

On ‎5‎/‎8‎/‎2017 at 0:32 AM, AngelCityOutlaw said:

1st rule of Sonic '06

• You don't talk about Sonic '06

What are you talking about, Sonic '06 is the GOAT.

[Ronald Poe]

I'd say being fast paced is a definitive trait of Sonic music regardless of era (it fits because Sonic himself is super-fast). The different eras each have different styles and most the soundtracks are great (to say the least). My personal favorite Sonic song is "With Me" but that's another can of worms (best Sonic song is a long and heated debate that I don't want to start).

 

[Slamrarn]

Honestly, Sonic 06 has one of the best video game soundtracks and styles out there, just listen to this: 

 

Otherwise, Sonic Heroes has this one song that is great (), and then a bunch of songs in the same style that really miss the mark: 

 

[SuaveDandy]

For classic Sonic it's house (including progressive, jazz house, hip house, Chicago house), lullaby, samba, orchestral and experimental. For modern Sonic it's big beat, ska, techno, psytrance, drum 'n' bass, orchestral and some pop rock (and NO, that DOES NOT include Chrash 40 and other cheesy stuff. By that I mean something like Speed Highway, Seaside Hill or Rooftop Run themes).

[AngelCityOutlaw]

On 4/5/2018 at 2:27 AM, SuaveDandy said:

and NO, that DOES NOT include Chrash 40 and other cheesy stuff

[Nabeel Ansari]

I feel bad for anyone who thinks Crash 40's Sonic music is bad.

[AngelCityOutlaw]

My god people, it's CRUSH 40.

[SuaveDandy]

5 hours ago, Nabeel Ansari said:

I feel bad for anyone who thinks Crash 40's Sonic music is bad.

You probably think that I criticize them because I'm told they're bad. I have a reason. You see, all vocal pop rock songs in Sonic games are repetitive. I must admit, they have a hook at the beginning but after that they go really slowly and have very little variation in their melodies. Not to mention that all those guitars sound kinda low-quality. Just listen to Gamma Ray or Megadeth for a little bit. Clean, marvelous solos and powerful, sound-shredding bass guitars. That's quality! Okay, okay, it's closer to pop-punk or post-grunge. Then take a look at Green Day or Foo Fighters or The Ramones. They still sound better even if the guitars are dirtier. Also the lyrics are not good either. Generally speaking, I'm not peaky when it comes to lyrics. For me the music is more important. These songs definetely have hooks in the beginning but after them they become stale. These hooks would be better utilized in sample-based genres like breakbeat hardcore or drum 'n' bass or remixes but here they are only beginnings of the songs. The songs' main parts are forgettable.

[AngelCityOutlaw]

2 hours ago, SuaveDandy said:

You see, all vocal pop rock songs in Sonic games are repetitive

They are no more repetitive than any song typical of the genre and less repetetive than normal even by VGM standards.

As I recall, many of them are also cutdown edits of the arrangements on the Crush 40 albums.

 

2 hours ago, SuaveDandy said:

Not to mention that all those guitars sound kinda low-quality. Just listen to Gamma Ray or Megadeth for a little bit. Clean, marvelous solos and powerful, sound-shredding bass guitars

I'm sorry, I know this is a bit subjective, but these are among the worst examples you could have picked if you're talking great guitar sounds. The bulk of both bands work consists of excessively-distorted, thin-sounding, scooped guitars. No doubt Kai Hansen and Dave Mustaine are fantastic guitar players, but the production quality of MOST metal bands has never been stellar. Also, solos have nothing to do with whether or not a piece of music is good.

I'd consider something like this to be a "quality" guitar tone.

Lead:

Rhythm, hate on their music all you want, they have phenomenal production. Probably the best out of all the big rock bands today.

Both examples, as far as guitars go, are not using much distortion and let the amp's natural breakup do the work. You can hear, especially in the Kenny Wayne song, how the guitar's distortion fluctuates as they pick harder or softer. Dynamics.

So if you're criticizing Jun's guitars in Crush 40, I'd definitely look to better examples than Gamma Ray

 

2 hours ago, SuaveDandy said:

These hooks would be better utilized in sample-based genres like breakbeat hardcore or drum 'n' bass or remixes but here they are only beginnings of the songs

Again, this makes me think you've not actually listened to the band's songs in full or really paid attention to the pop-rock soundtracks on Sonic at all.

2 hours ago, SuaveDandy said:

The songs' main parts are forgettable.

You'd be hard pressed to find too many video game fans who CAN'T sing you Live and Learn, City Escape, etc. end to end.

Look, it's fine you don't like the soundtracks, but you're making some pretty ridiculous arguments here.

[SuaveDandy]

Man. I wasn't talking about how much distortion the guitars have (in fact, the lack of distortion makes the guitars sound bland) and how catchy the lyrics are. I'm talking about the actual melody. It's boring. Not only guitars' melody but the vocal melody as well. They're uninteresting. They have little to no variation, no punch, no emotions, no energy. That makes the guitars sound low-quality. Just listen to Kai Hansen. His guitar sounds really colorful. And oh, Megadeth. Their bass guitar melodies are a rollercoaster. Crush 40's guitars? Bland. Have no variation in patterns or volume. Strike a chord, wait several seconds, strike another one.

And regarding that I haven't listened to any of their songs. That's not true at all. I completed Sonic Adventure, played Sonic Adventure 2, completed Sonic Heroes and completed Sonic Generations. I know exactly how they sound.

Also I must say that these songs don't fit Sonic not only because they're bland and lack energy but also because they're slowwwwww. Sonic is about going fast. He's about movement. He's about style. This music doesn't fit these criterias at all.

Speaking about these songs' quality compared to other music. If you compare it to pop punk then yeah, they're better. But only compared to most songs because modern pop punk is 90% as uninteresting and boring. But if we're talking about The Ramones and early Green Day then no.

And the fact that they're less repetitive than normal doesn't make these songs good. There's a lot of VGM music. Of course the amount of repetitive or down right horrible music is way bigger than that of good music. That doesn't speak about the songs' quality. It's just statistics.

[AngelCityOutlaw]

10 hours ago, SuaveDandy said:

I wasn't talking about how much distortion the guitars have (in fact, the lack of distortion makes the guitars sound bland)

I disagreed with your claim that the guitars are low-quality (thought I don't think they're amazing) and I spoke of distortion as an example.

I also said the exact opposite; less distortion equates to a more dynamic guitar tone. The overtones become increasingly prominent and the guitar's sound more homogenized and compressed as distortion increases. You can try it on your own guitar if you have one; crank up the gain on either amp or pedal to max or close to it and you will hear that the guitar loses dynamics and if you look at it as a waveform, you'll see it looks greatly compressed compared to a clean, strong DI signal.

So saying the guitars are more bland from less distortion is literally at odds with physics.

10 hours ago, SuaveDandy said:

I'm talking about the actual melody. It's boring

What would you considering an "exciting" melody?

You're welcome to this opinion of course, but again: The Sonic Adventure vocal tracks are among the most popular and recognized in video games. I don't even think as many people would be familiar with Guilty Gear's vocal tracks.

10 hours ago, SuaveDandy said:

And regarding that I haven't listened to any of their songs. That's not true at all. I completed Sonic Adventure, played Sonic Adventure 2, completed Sonic Heroes and completed Sonic Generations. I know exactly how they sound.

 

10 hours ago, SuaveDandy said:

Also I must say that these songs don't fit Sonic not only because they're bland and lack energy but also because they're slowwwwww

This is why I have great difficulty believing you.

Most of the SA tracks ARE fast. It seems that you consider anything below the steady stream of power/thrash metal sixteenth note rows to be "slow".

10 hours ago, SuaveDandy said:

Strike a chord, wait several seconds, strike another one.

...right

 

[WillRock]

14 hours ago, SuaveDandy said:

Man. I wasn't talking about how much distortion the guitars have (in fact, the lack of distortion makes the guitars sound bland) and how catchy the lyrics are. I'm talking about the actual melody. It's boring. Not only guitars' melody but the vocal melody as well. They're uninteresting. They have little to no variation, no punch, no emotions, no energy. That makes the guitars sound low-quality. Just listen to Kai Hansen. His guitar sounds really colorful. And oh, Megadeth. Their bass guitar melodies are a rollercoaster. Crush 40's guitars? Bland. Have no variation in patterns or volume. Strike a chord, wait several seconds, strike another one.

And regarding that I haven't listened to any of their songs. That's not true at all. I completed Sonic Adventure, played Sonic Adventure 2, completed Sonic Heroes and completed Sonic Generations. I know exactly how they sound.

Also I must say that these songs don't fit Sonic not only because they're bland and lack energy but also because they're slowwwwww. Sonic is about going fast. He's about movement. He's about style. This music doesn't fit these criterias at all.

Speaking about these songs' quality compared to other music. If you compare it to pop punk then yeah, they're better. But only compared to most songs because modern pop punk is 90% as uninteresting and boring. But if we're talking about The Ramones and early Green Day then no.

And the fact that they're less repetitive than normal doesn't make these songs good. There's a lot of VGM music. Of course the amount of repetitive or down right horrible music is way bigger than that of good music. That doesn't speak about the songs' quality. It's just statistics.

Ok lets examine these claims.

How are the melodies boring? From my perspective, they're pretty catchy imo, they certainly stick in my head. The guitar work, if you analyse it is a lot more than just guitar chords like you suggested, there are lots of cool little melodies thrown in there. Its a lot more creative than a lot of backing guitar work imo, and the solos are pretty neat too. Not sure why you're comparing them to megadeth either, megadeth are thrash, and Dave Mustine is known for having some of the most crazy and intricrite lead and rhythm playing of all time, he's a complete monster, and don't get me started on their bassist Dave Ellefson, who does some completely insane stuff. Its like looking at a painting and going "its not as detailed as Leonardo Da Vinci's work, therefore, it must be worthless"

So... tempo.... The majority of the sonic songs i've heard are around the 160-200 mark? Thats pretty fast honestly. What is your definition of slow exactly? For me, Hotel California is slow. Sweet Home Alabama is slow. Sonic heroes main theme and escape to the city are pretty damn speedy, and open your heart and live and learn are upbeat romps. I'd hardly call sonic music slow, in fact when I think of modern day sonic music, I automatically think of pretty fast, frantic pop rock so I STRONGLY disagree with you there. 

Also, you're talking about the quality of music when it is a completely subjective thing. Simple does not mean boring. It might mean boring to YOU but some people like that. Some people find megadeth too fast, too aggressive, with hard to follow arrangements and weird change ups that don't make a lot of sense to them. Some people find that really refreshing. Led Zeppelin are one of the greatest bands of all time - I consider their music boring sometimes. They can make some amazingly intricate and amazing compositions... then some of their songs have 1 bar long riffs that repeat endlessly, but sometimes thats the point - its about mood, its about feel, its not about musical complexity - thats why 4 on the floor beats are so popular  in clubs, because it is easy to dance and groove to it. I think thats why Led Zeppelin are so special, they had something for everyone while keeping to a very cohesive and identifiable sound.

I don't want to sound patronising but you need to stop thinking about music as good vs bad and try to understand why someone else might enjoy it. Just because you personally don't like something doesn't make it completely worthless, or "bad". 

[SuaveDandy]

Catchy does not equal good at all. Pop music is catchy. It doesn't mean it's good. It means that it's easier to remember and sing along with. It also means that the music is able to ingect itself into your brain like some kind of a drug.

200 bpm? That's insane even for most speed metal. That's a hardcore techno tempo. Here, take a look.

And what? I can't voice my opinion regarding Sonic's music? I thought this thread was meant for exactly that. I just said what music suits Sonic best in my opinion. I really don't understand why you take it as some kind of offence directed to you personally. Neither did I say that it's bad. It's just "meh." Come on, it's just a band. One of millions. Why do you care?

And again, I heard Sonic Adventure songs over 9000 times. I'm a Sonic fan myself so obviously I played all the important games. I just think that Crash 40 isn't fun and there is a lot of way more enjoyable music that Sonic games have besides Crash 40.

 

 

[Jorito]

I think Will had some issues with you stating your opinions as objective facts, rather as subjective opinions. I'm not opposed to strong opinions myself, but I can see why some people would feel triggered to respond to your strongly worded opinions. C'est le ton qui fait la musique, and all that.

 

(c'est le ton qui fait la musique: it is the tone that makes the music; it's not what you say but how you say it (i.e.: how things are said makes their meaning credible))