Make sure to put your headphones on, or to turn of the volume by quite a bit! But don't do both at the same time, as it might hurt your ears.
Have you heard this song before?
If you don't know the story behind this song, then you should go out and play "Portal" right now. Seriously do it. If you DON'T have the time/patience/guts to play this incredibly good game, then I'll just tell you that this is the game's main antagonist singing about how in the end, even though she lost, she really did win. All the while she does a great job of being passive-aggressive with her insults. But what is the significance of this?
Music is an integral part of being human. No matter where
you go, there will always be music developed by the culture in that area. In
fact, it is likely that music has existed in human culture ever since we
developed the ability to talk. With our ability to talk came the ability to
listen to the pitch, tone, and speed of the voice. Should it be any surprise
that music is a part of video games as well? It shouldn’t be, if you’ve played
or watched someone else play.
I would argue that some of the most
memorable and popular early video games had very catchy songs attached to them.
For example, we’ve got the theme to
the first Super Mario Bros:
And then the
theme for Tetris:
As the
technology advanced, we started to get music that was more complex as well. Frogger
was one of the earliest instances where the music actually changed according to
the actions of the player (like with getting a game over).
Over
time the technology improved to the point where we could get music like was
shown in The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time
Also,
compare the music from the original Super Mario Bros to the music in Super
Mario 64:
Then,
of course, we have the iconic music from GoldenEye 007:
Jump
ahead another few years and we have the music of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim ,
which uses a full orchestra and choir:
If you
feel like I’ve been speeding through the history of video game music, then
you’re right. I mostly want to focus on something that I’ve discovered within
the last year that has become a major part of my music library.
With
the emergence of the internet, and more importantly websites like YouTube, it
allows people to upload the music they’ve created. We have the example of
Justin Bieber to show that you can become really famous, but even people like
Peter Hollens, Pentatonix, Eli Lieb, and Linsday Stirling can gain a substantial fan
base.
And
with any type of entertainment, you will have fans who love it so much that
they go out and create their own content for it. I myself am one of those fans.
If you check sites like DeviantART, you can find a huge collection of art and
stories. You can find fan-made video games.
Another
part of the fan creation area would be the mods. A mod is a file that you can
download that either adds in extra content, changes a part of the game that
already exists, or removes a part of the game. In fact, some companies (like
Bethesda) have recognized the importance of mods and provide extra programs
along with the actual game so that it makes it easier to create mods.
There
are a lot of different things that fans have done to show how much they love a
game, and I know that I only covered a few of them briefly in this post.
If you
haven’t heard some of these songs and musicians/singers who I’m going to talk
about, then you really do need to go listen to them. Like right now. Or,
rather, after you’re done reading the post.
The way
that I would like to describe the types of music based on video games would be
like this: There is a line where on one end you have the music that is dependent
on the listener being really familiar with the game, while on the other end you
have music that is completely independent of the game and can be enjoyed by
anyone. However, very few songs are on one end or the other. Most fall
somewhere in-between.
There
are benefits to a song being further towards one end of the spectrum than the
other. If a song is really connected with a game, then it helps recall your
memories and enriches the game for you. However, if the song is more
independent from the game then it allows people who haven’t played the game, or
who don’t play video games at all, to enjoy the music and maybe be teased into
playing.
Here are some examples of songs that are closely related to
a game:
"Commander Shepard" by Miracle of Sound
"Beauty of Dawn" by Malukah
"Khajit Like to Sneak" by Miracle of Sound
"Life in Bullet Time" by Miracle of Sound
You see (or rather hear), each of these songs requires that you know about the game enough to get what they are talking about. They are enjoyable only if you understand the game behind them.
Now, here are some examples that I would argue are more
independent from the game:
"What I Used to Be (Revan's Song)" by Starwarspunk (Dani the Girl)
"Reignite" by Malukah
"The Savage Side of Me" by Miracle of Sound
"Frozen Sleep" by Malukah
With these songs, you can appreciate the music even if you haven't played. In fact, "Reignite" by Malukah was the reason that I bought the entire Mass Effect Trilogy. The song got so ingrained in my head that I just had to know WHAT she was singing about. And boy am I ever glad that I did.
In the end, you should really know that music matters. As the years go by, we'll probably remember the really great moments we had while playing a game. We'll probably remember the characters if they were really good (or bad). But you can't really hum a tune from any of those things. It will be the music that brings those thoughts to our minds. It will be the music that we will continue to create for our favorite games. It will be the music that will be our memory.
Here's one more song, just for the road:
"Dream of the Sky" by Miracle of Sound:
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