Do you hear game music in popular music?

[DrCirno]

Maybe I'm just listening to too many chiptunes all the time, or popular artists are ripping off games (Which is highly likely), but I keep hearing melodies that are similar or exactly like songs from my favorite retro games.

Just the other day I heard this on the radio.

and thought... "Wow that sounds like something right out of Vectorman 2"

Any of you have a similar experience or think the same thing while listening to music? Popular or not?

BTW that muse song probably is reminding me of this track:


Anyway I thought this would be an interesting topic to converse. Thoughts?

[ZenErik]

Not necessary really popular music, but yes, I hear it a lot with music I listen to.

Like the middle sections in this song.

Rx Bandits - Crushing Destroyer



What do you hear here?

[Nintendork666]

Sometimes the exact opposite is true, i.e. the infamous Earthbound/Beatles controversy.

Also, these articles will probably be of interest here:

http://maubrowncow.com/2006/09/21/nintendo-stole-a-super-mario-theme-from-6-years-ealier/

http://www.1up.com/features/game-music-sounds-familiar

[OldSchool_Boy]

Cocoa Brovaz - Super Brooklyn

The beat sounds familiar but can't remember

[BoneSnapDeez]

We've all heard of chiptune music, but there's also another genre called "dungeon synth" which sounds a lot like the tunes you'd hear in old DOS RPGs (like D&D gold box games for instance). For reference:

http://dungeonsynth.blogspot.com/

Also of note is Dimmu Borgir's "cover" (ie: rip-off) of a classic Amiga opening track:

[DrCirno]

Cocoa Brovaz - Super Brooklyn

The beat sounds familiar but can't remember

I can almost hear it, but I can't really discern what the the connection is. It must be a reference to some obscure game or poorly made game that no one cares about.

[isiolia]

Usually the other way around, but it's not that rare.

Kotaku had linked to this Spin article not too long ago with a bunch of songs that sampled games as well.

[Menegrothx]

Timbaland rips off demoscene music
Atleast he had a solid defence

On February 2, 2007, Timbaland responded to the plagiarism accusations in an interview by the radio show Elliot in the Morning. In this interview, Timbaland admits to what he calls "sampling", but he also claims that sampling is "not stealing", because "everybody samples from everybody every day". Timbaland also says that the sample is "from a video game" and mentions the Commodore 64. He also says that he has no time for research and that it is sometimes impossible to "know what's public domain and what's not". Timbaland also calls the issue "ridiculous" but mentions that he is "in legal discussions" and therefore can't say much about it. He did, however, call Janne Suni an "idiot" and a "freakin' jerk" on the show. He consistently talked about the incident as sampling, failing to address the claims with regards to the melody.[11]

On February 9, 2007, Timbaland commented on the issue as follows in an MTV interview:

It makes me laugh. The part I don't understand, the dude is trying to act like I went to his house and took it from his computer. I don't know him from a can of paint. I'm 15 years deep. That's how you attack a king? You attack moi? Come on, man. You got to come correct. You the laughing stock. People are like, 'You can't be serious.'"[12]

I also recall hearing a radio interview where he defended himself by saying that the music he ripped off was from a video game (hence it doesn't matter, because video game music is worthless, right?), even though it's not from a video game originally.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timbaland_ ... ontroversy


Another famous case is Zombie Nation's Kernkraft 400 which stole it's melody from a C64 game called Lazy Jones

[o.pwuaioc]

http://www.1up.com/features/game-music-sounds-familiar

Holy crap I never knew Zombie Nation was originally a C64 song!

[Luke]

Usually the other way around, but it's not that rare.

Kotaku had linked to this Spin article not too long ago with a bunch of songs that sampled games as well.

Had I known about MOOGFEST I would have purchased tickets immediately. Sonova.