games with (at least somewhat) high profile musicians working on them on the dl
focusing on musicians that have made some name for themselves and have some kind of influence in the music world, or are part of an outfit that did, that made some contribution to games without calling much attention to themselves. mainly thinking abt ones that are known primarily for recording music under their own name and aren't known by their game soundtracks primarily, i thought about putting up musicians working for film/tv/theatre/etc scores or writing for other pop artists but that would make my head explode with how many there are that also did games.
no "featuring music from [blank]," cant have their name on it like with the laurie anderson or residents cd-rom games, and must be for more than just promotional material; its disqualified if its clearly drawing on the artist's fame (which i acknowledge can be kinda subjective but theres a clear difference between the stuff on this list so far and, idk, paul mccartney in destiny). focusing on lesser known/non-obvious examples, suggestions welcome.
no "featuring music from [blank]," cant have their name on it like with the laurie anderson or residents cd-rom games, and must be for more than just promotional material; its disqualified if its clearly drawing on the artist's fame (which i acknowledge can be kinda subjective but theres a clear difference between the stuff on this list so far and, idk, paul mccartney in destiny). focusing on lesser known/non-obvious examples, suggestions welcome.
80 Games
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Dream Theater guitarist John Petrucci wrote two songs for Sega Saturn pinball game "Digital Pinball: Necronomicon". They rip. www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG3_U_K8U8M
Rez had some decent well known artists too, like ken ishii and Oval.
added thx!! didnt even know coldcut did a song for rez
Brian Eno on Spore, also to a lesser extent of notoriety (but still decently big pre established artists) Coeur de Pirate on Child of Light and Solar Fields on both Mirrors Edge games
Oh also Caila Thompson, (also known as Cecile Believe and fka Mozart's Sister) really rad solo artist and frequent SOPHIE collaborator, did the soundtracks to Paloma Dawkins' games Museum of Symmetry and Alea!
@pansydragoonsaga added all of these!!
thought of some more! The Orb on Pixeljunk Shooter and The Haxan Cloak recently on Returnal :B
added, ty for coming thru with these pansy!!!
might be worth adding to the note on disco elysium the musicians in the voice cast (mark holcomb from periphery, dot major from london grammar, and mikee goodman from sikth, who also did voice direction & casting); gets talked about less than the podcasters and unlike the chapo people they're all still in the final cut
i forgot about mikee goodman!! thanks for reminding of him, and bringing up the others i wasnt aware of
haruomi hosono did the ost for lattice 200ec7, and i just learned that yukihiro takahashi worked on a game called neugier!
cant believe i forgot to look into the other ymo members' possible work in games but added both, thanks!!!
Herbie Hancock contributed to the Sega CD game Tomcat Alley
Also I know you said no film composers, but Joe Hisaishi composed music for a PC Engine game (Tengai Makyō II) which is really wild
Also I know you said no film composers, but Joe Hisaishi composed music for a PC Engine game (Tengai Makyō II) which is really wild
holding off adding tengai makyo ii bc of the rule i set but the herbie hancock pull is great so thank you!!
Nidhogg was composed by Daedelus, and Flywrench's OST was curated by them and features a big list of musicians. I dunno if any of that work was made FOR the game, tho, so I guess it's just a very specific licensed soundtrack.
The sequel to Nidhogg was composed by Mux Mool who I am not familiar with but is a recording musician in their own right!
YMCK on Pictobits?
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sorry im only just seeing the john petrucci one what the fuck hahaha, why on earth is he on a japan-only sega saturn pinball game
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@turdl3 I have never been able to find any explanation for it lol, all I can think of is that they were pretty big in Japan around then and seemed to enjoy touring there so he must have made some contacts. Some notable Japanese game composers have talked about having DT influences IIRC
thanks mello, added pictobits!!
and yeah some of these are v strange lol. still want to know how herbie hancock was roped into that one specific fmv game. maybe as a springboard for his own game, herbie hancock presents living jazz? but i dont know enough to say for sure
and yeah some of these are v strange lol. still want to know how herbie hancock was roped into that one specific fmv game. maybe as a springboard for his own game, herbie hancock presents living jazz? but i dont know enough to say for sure
the best one I can think of atm is doseone, co-founder of anticon records and prolific underground hip-hop artist, who in the last 10 years has transitioned to working on indie game osts, most notably enter the gungeon.
that sega cd game wild woody has a soundtrack by bumblefoot, who nowadays is mostly known as a guitarist for GnR during the chinese democracy era.
more divisive example: cyberpunk 2077 def leaned on the popularity of its guest musicians some, with the grimes questline + refused playing the plot-important band samurai, but there's some contributions to the soundtrack from other lesser known bands: the two main ones I'm thinking of are metz and pissed jeans, who I think contributed songs under fake names to the in-game radio plus might show up as incidental music anywhere? some other bands contributed as well including RTJ and converge, but these were played up in the media a fair bit more iirc.
anamanaguchi's ost for scott pilgrim vs the world may count as well imo, tho I think the fact that they did the ost is very public.
that sega cd game wild woody has a soundtrack by bumblefoot, who nowadays is mostly known as a guitarist for GnR during the chinese democracy era.
more divisive example: cyberpunk 2077 def leaned on the popularity of its guest musicians some, with the grimes questline + refused playing the plot-important band samurai, but there's some contributions to the soundtrack from other lesser known bands: the two main ones I'm thinking of are metz and pissed jeans, who I think contributed songs under fake names to the in-game radio plus might show up as incidental music anywhere? some other bands contributed as well including RTJ and converge, but these were played up in the media a fair bit more iirc.
anamanaguchi's ost for scott pilgrim vs the world may count as well imo, tho I think the fact that they did the ost is very public.
ty, i added gungeon and woody (a future gnr guitarist being involved with that game makes too much sense lol) and cyberpunk, assuming that the more obscure contributions are original music. amanaguchi w scott pilgrim is definitely too well-known for the list id say
Rise of the Robots had music made by Brian May, of Queen fame.
thanks, added rotr
cornelius did the bit generations coloris ost https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvrlcoLBW0o
animal collective wrote an unused song for red dead 1 https://anmlcollectve.bandcamp.com/album/mountain-game
animal collective wrote an unused song for red dead 1 https://anmlcollectve.bandcamp.com/album/mountain-game
Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo helped compose the soundtracks for the Crash Bandicoot games up to CTR, the Jak and Daxter trilogy, and Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart. Chris Vrenna of Nine Inch Nails composed the soundtracks for American McGee's Alice and its sequel, Madness Returns. Ronnie Montrose composed Mr. Bones. Thomas Dolby composed The Dark Eye (1995). Korn did the main theme for Silent Hill Downpour.
Stuart Chatwood of Canadian rock band The Tea Party composed for the Darkest Dungeon games and Prince of Persia reboot series
mellorine
3 years ago