Welcome all to another edition of the 8 Ball! This week I’m here to talk about music, specifically songs about video games. These aren’t songs that are in the soundtrack’s of the game (save one, which isn’t actually in the game), but songs where video games/consoles are the main point. As a special consideration to a friend, I’ll mention “Guitar Hero” by MC Lars. It’s not my bag of tea, but he likes it. Let’s begin:
#8: Frogger (Bad Religion)
I usually love Bad Religion but this song is fairly slight coming from them. While they do adequately explain the life of Frogger and the suicidal nature that Frogger (likely) has, it’s just too short to really get going. Their song “21St Century Digital Boy” and “I Love My Computer” would fit this category a lot better, since they are more involved songs, but neither is specifically about video games, which is a bummer.
#7: Symphony of the Night (Dragonforce)
So, part of this song actually does sound like it belongs in a Castlevania game. The intro, specifically, would fit well into Super Castlevania IV or something. However, the actual lyrics are a little too gaudy to fit into the spirit of Castlevania. The lyrics are too nebulous to really connect to Castlevania, which is odd, since there are a few specific mentions to it, such as vampires. The underlying melody is pretty solid though, and keeps up the energy of the song well. When it kind of breaks halfway through, it sounds a lot more Castlevania-ish, but the lyrics are incongruous with it.
#6: Pac-Man Fever (Buckner and Garcia)
OK, OK, the song is a bit goofy, but it is also fairly catchy. Also, the Pac-Man sound effects do add a lot to the game. You have to remember that this song was done in 1981, which was the tail end of disco, and it sounds like a song that is appropriate from that era. There is kind of a weird hitch in the song when the lyrics are “’Cause Pokey’s too slow and Blinky’s out of sight”. I say it’s strange because most people know the ghosts by their nicknames (like Blinky) as opposed to their character names (Pokey). Using “Clyde”, which is Pokey’s nickname would be cooler, I think.
#5: Vi sitter i Ventrilo och spelar DotA (Basshunter)
I actually really love this song, and I’m not being ironic. It has a really good beat, and despite me only knowing the lyrics from English subtitled videos, I still enjoy it. Also, the music video is quite excellent, as I’m sure everyone who sits in dark rooms with their DOTA team, has a few hot blonde Swedish women just lounging around as well. The song does decently talk about some DOTA tactics, like hanging out in the creep, and waiting for your opponents to make a mistake, just toying with them. This song is MUCH better than the English bastardized version “All I Ever Wanted”. All of Basshunter’s English stuff has been terrible, he needs to go back to singing in Swedish about DOTA and mIRC bots.
#4: I Am Not Your Gameboy (Freezepop)
For a band that is typically synonymous with video game releases, Freezepop doesn’t have a lot of songs specifically about video games. They are probably in more video games than a lot of other bands that aren’t huge, but they aren’t specifically game-centric. Still, Gameboy is about their only song dedicated to/about video games. I like the lyrics because there is clearly a lot of fondness for video games, talking about Donkey Kong, Mario, Burger Time, etc. My big question is, in regards to what she is singing about, is it supposed to be a Game Gear? There is the intro of the Speak & Spell, but if I remember right, that took C batteries. There are specific lines of “6 Double A batteries”, which is what the Game Gear had. Or, maybe I’m just reading too much into this.
#3: Retrograde (Starbomb)
The first of the two Starbomb songs on my list. Frankly, I could have made this list entirely about them but that might get boring. I chose Retrograde first because I enjoy how it exemplifies how a lot of old and current fans of Samus feel. Back on the NES, everyone kind of assumed that Samus was a guy, until you beat the game and she comes out of her armor. Then, once they realized she was a woman, they started to perv on her. This is even illustrated in recent Metroid/Smash Bros games when she becomes Zero Suit Samus, in a frankly ridiculous costume. My favorite part of the song though is Samus’ (Emily Hughes) lyrics, as she has kind of a spunky quality that makes it unique compared to other female singers.
#2: Power of the Meat (Josh Whelchel)
I think this is the only song on this list that is actually on the soundtrack of the game that it is about. So…that’s cool. The song is funny in that it gives more/better context for Dr. Fetus’ actions than the actual game does. Aside from that, both singers (Josh and Melinda) are great, and the beat for the song is very catchy and energetic. Also, the beginning parts of the song we use for the podcast intro. I actually think this is the best song from the Super Meat Boy game, despite it actually not being in the game.
#1: This Song Sucks (Starbomb)
The second (and best) Starbomb song. Despite their claim that “This Song Sucks”, I love the sarcastic humor in it. The song basically is about different scenarios Egoraptor and Danny can sing about, be it Sonic’s legs getting amputated, Silent Hill where nothing happens (so like the real Silent Hill games), and discarding Yoshi into a pit and flying away. The chorus gets even more meta (and better) when Danny breaks the fourth wall completely and sings about how they compose Starbomb songs, “This is usually the part where I sing the chorus out
But we haven’t established what this song is all about!”, for example. This is a superb song, and one of my favorites from the group.
For comments, list your favorite songs about video games
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