The Impact of Games on Music That We Listen To
It is common practice for game developers to use pieces by musicians for their trailers for upcoming games such as Call of Dragons, who are sometimes more, sometimes less known. In this way, many players find access to new artists and songs – including Susanne. She shares her top list of songs and artists she found thanks to games. And what about you?
I don’t think I’ve ever really thought about how many artists and musicians I’ve found access to just because I like to play games and watch game trailers. Until I wrote an article about the music of Final Fantasy 7 Remake last week. It wasn’t until I typed the name Survive Said The Prophet into Spotify that I thought that I’ve often found musicians and bands just because I liked a song in a game or in a trailer. And I thought to myself that there are certainly a lot of gamers among you who feel the same way. That’s why I want to share with you some of the songs and artists I’ve come across over the years – and maybe you’d like to share your discoveries with us in the comments section.
Poets of the Fall (Alan Wake)
Poets of the Fall is a Finnish band formed in 2003 and quickly caught the attention of Sam Lake, his character script writer at Remedy Entertainment. Poets of the Fall then got the chance to contribute a song to the game Max Payne 2, Late Goodbye. But it wasn’t Max Payne 2 who drew my attention to the band, but another game in which the band Old Gods of Asgard performed – Alan Wake. Under this pseudonym inspired by Norse legends, Poets of the Fall recorded the songs Children of the Elder Gods and The Poet and The Muse, as well as Alan Wake’s American Nightmare, as well as the title Balance Slays The Demon. The song War is also the title song of the game, and maybe the song that excited me the most… until I heard Carnival of Rust ^^ Marko Saaresto just has a fantastic voice.
Asobius (Let It Die)
Let It Die is a Free2Play game released in 2016 for the PlayStation 4 and 2018 for PCs. It’s kind of a mixture of Dark Souls and Diablo. In the near future, shifts in the earth’s crust will lead to destructive catastrophes (Japan sinks sends its regards); the southwestern part of Tokyo is separated from the rest of the city and further quakes create a kind of tower that is taken over by the inhabitants of this new island. Your task: to climb the top of the tower. The super funny and rather brutally difficult game is underlaid with a fantastic soundtrack, which plays in different places of the tower. For the game, numerous, mainly Japanese, bands have recorded songs that almost all bear the same name: Let It Die. Yes, it fits. I got stuck with Asobius’ Let It Die, here too there are songs of the band that I think is better. Fun fact: Listen to singer Shinsaku Takahashi and try to figure out when he sings in English and when he sings in Japanese ^^
Mike Oldfield (Metal Gear Solid 5)
Here comes the fun fact right in the first place: Whenever I see a trailer for Metal Gear, I know even without a title overlay at the end that it is an MGS game. This has to do with the back view of Snake. When I saw the trailer for MGS5 and the song by Mike Oldfield was played, I was immediately thrilled. Not that I’ve never heard of Mike Oldfield before. The trailer reminded me that it still exists. And the song is just epic! Hideo Kojima has made a fantastic choice with Nuclear.
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Archive (Cyberpunk 2077)
Remember the very first trailer for Cyberpunk 2077? (buy now 57,99 € )? Of course, I was super hyped at the time that there is a trailer for the new CD Project Red role-playing game, even though I now have the feeling that there is not much left of the vision at that time. At the end of the year, of course, we will be able to find out. The trailer was accompanied by the song Bullets by the British band Archive, which is a bit reminiscent of Massive Attack in terms of setup and sound – so this group of artists fits perfectly into my loot scheme. However, I have to admit that I didn’t really warm up to any other song from Archive.
The Chain Gang of 1974 (GTA 5)
A similar phenomenon to Archive also applies to The Chain Gang of 1974, whose song (it’s a 1-man band, the artist is called Kamtin Mohager) Sleepwalking conveyed to me more than any other song of the game the feeling of freedom in the American sunshine state, where Los Santos is located. Give me a golf cart, a sunset, and Trevor, turn on sleepwalking and let me get into town on the freeway… And I’m happy. Alternatively, Queen’s Radio Gaga also works in this scene. And yes, golf carts can get pretty fast in GTA 5, so don’t laugh!
Twin Shadow (Tales from the Borderlands)
The great thing about the Telltale adventure Tales from the Borderlands isn’t just that it has fantastic voice actors (Troy Baker is just as great as Nolan North), that you’re not just doomed to watch like many Telltale games before it, and that the story is big. No, it’s also fantastic that each episode begins with an epic sequence accompanied by the appropriate music. Jungle’s Busy Earnin’ fits just as well into the opening scene as Shawn Lee’s Ping Pong Orchestras Kiss The Sky. Actually, every song is great and I recommend every Telltale and Borderlands fan to play this game so you understand what I mean by the magic of the moment. Because these opening sequences with the background music are magical. But Twin Shadows’ To The Top, the intro song of the fourth episode, really stuck. It fits perfectly to the Slomo walk and the upcoming launch of the spaceship.
Bonus: Troy Baker
By the way, did you know that Troy Baker, who can also be heard in the games of Naughty Dog (such as Joel in The Last Of Us and Nate’s brother Sam in Uncharted 4), makes music himself? If not: please.