Video Game Soundtracks And The Humble Folks Who Annouce 'Em
Our video gaming glory days were left with the 16-bit revolution (so if you want to get schooled in NHL or Madden '96 -- Genesis style -- you know where to come; the same place for obviously lame smack talk), and though Guitar Hero has ushered in somewhat of a renaissance in this treasured form of useless procrastination, we acknowledge that placing music in the electronic arts, if you will, is a big deal. Just not quite as big a deal as the folks that work at Electronic Arts think it is. If you will.
EA has released to MTV the QOTSA-including soundtrack lineup for this summer's football game Madden '08, saying that the Madden soundtrack announcement was "the most important showcase for music industry icons." Though that's impressively delusional, the EA guys just wanted to add:
"The annual goal of the 'Madden NFL' soundtrack is to give unprecedented exposure to new artists, bring established stars to a whole new level, and single-handedly define the sound of the coming year via the biggest sports franchise in video game history," said [Electronic Arts] executive Steve Schnur."Single-handedly"? Any master-gamer worth his joystick knows you can't get much done with just one hand (well...), but at least EA is consistent in its flights of grandeur. Actually, a recent Rolling Stone piece mentions that licensing to video games is an increasingly important source of music business revenue, and that majors like Warner are saying that ultimately "We expect to be a brand licensing organization." So we're all for that, just not that our new music-gatekeeping video-game overlords seem to fancy the Bravery. Here's your Madden '08 tracklist:
Airbourne - "Runnin' Wild"Ahh. That's where the Hives went. Best video game soundtrack ever? We have no idea, really ... still playing "You Really Got Me" on Guitar Hero. If you have some video-game music-score experience, jump in.
Atreyu - "Becoming the Bull"
The Bravery - "Believe"
Brother Ali - "Whatcha Got"
Daddy Yankee - "Impacto"
Datarock - "The New Song"
Earl Greyhound - "S.O.S."
Enter Shikari - "OK, Time for Plan B"
From Autumn to Ashes - "Daylight Slaving"
Hellyeah - "You Wouldn't Know"
The Hives - "Tick Tick Boom"
Jupiter One - "Countdown"
MIMS - "Cop It"
Murs - "Dreadlocks"
O-Solo - "Monsta"
Operator - "Soulcrusher"
Ozzy Osbourne - "I Don't Wanna Stop"
Pharoahe Monch (featuring Showtyme) - "Desire"
Pitbull (featuring Don Omar) - "Fuego" (remix)
Queens Of The Stone Age - "3's & 7's"
Red1 (featuring Afu-Ra) - "Dem No Worry We"
Shadows Fall - "Redemption"
Swizz Beatz - "It's Me Snitches"
Sum 41 - "Underclass Hero"
Team Shadetek (featuring 77Klash & Jahdan) - "Brooklyn Anthem"
The Used - "The Ripper"
Timbaland (featuring Justin Timberlake) - "Release"
Yellowcard - "Fighting"
Zion I & the Grouch - "Hit 'Em"
Posted at 8:53 AM in Video Games
I don't mean to start this with negativity - but this tracklisting looks like garbage.
Note to EA: Secure licensing for a very large selection of songs and then let the individual gamers download the actual songs they want to appear in the game from that pool of available songs. If you want to insure that some unknown bands get heard, make their listing mandatory.
Don't most people turn the volume down and rock out with their own stuff anyway?
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the bravery.. what a joke
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This soundtrack sounds a bit pop like the others. No step further was taken here, like the epic text EA guys had written.
And btw, Avril Lavigne playing 4 different versions of the same j-popish lame song on BURNOUT soundtrack was the worst decision a game company could ever have taken.
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oh, how i miss the heady days of hearing prodigy's firestarter while buzzing around tracks in WipeOut. and pop will eat itself in LOADED.
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fuck EA. i want to say that i am in complete wonderment over their huge super status, but people like some medicore-ass games.
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mediocre, too. i still don't like EA, either.
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Personally, I know that yellowcard will single-handedly define my '08.
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EA is so Billy Corgan-ish.
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Gum,
Moving that mp3 player down on the side bar is really throwing me off. Who do I have to pay to get that moved back the way it was?
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It's all about the Vandals on Tony Hawk's Pro-Skater... "I am the ambassador of kick your assador!"
'Assador', what a great word.
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I also agree with Ju Bean.
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The Hives are the only thing that aren't garbage on that list.
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guitar hero rocks the 80's comes out in july and i think i'm turning japanese is on it. are you going to play it?
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"The annual goal of the 'Madden NFL' soundtrack is to give unprecedented exposure to new artists" -EA
So which of these are "new artist" who need exposure? Videogames could potentially be huge publicity for unknown artists and it would not cost EA nearly as much to license them. So why is this soundtrack stuffed with artists we all know?
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i love seeing Earl Greyhound on this though!
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If these are icons, they need to be smashed.
But didnt the NHL game last year have a bunch of indie on it? Is hockey a hipster sport now?
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"The annual goal of the 'Madden NFL' soundtrack is to give unprecedented exposure to new artists" -EA
I can see the commerical right now ....... (clears throat) "Play with your favorite NFL team while rocking out to Queens of the Stone Age, Daddy Yankee, The Bravery, Yellowcard, and featuring the new 'hit' single from Sum 41, 'Underclass Hero'" ....... then a 30 second clip of that song plays as you hear short blurbs (BOOM!) from Mr. Madden himself. Blah!
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If you think about it though, video game obsessives that I've known over the years (and anime geeks, by proxy) indeed get sold on this Sum 41, yellowcard crap rock. So if, heaven forbid, someone with across-the-board terrific taste in music worked for EA one day, this would be a problem of the past.
So, keep dreamin', i guess.
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I have to believe that EA has the balls to make these claims solely based on the fact they they sell more copies of Madden than the top 5 records of the year combined, hence the music in the game reaches a sincerely massive amount of people. Though i think EA would be hard pressed to prove that they indeed had anything more than a teenie tiny role in breaking any of the bands in the past.
Beyond that, this track listing is not that bad. i mean jesus, what do you hipsters expect them to select as background music to a tough sport like football, bright eyes? CYHSY? Of Montreal? i mean really.
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worth it just for 3's and 7's alone. But I'd rather just play the Era Vulgaris album while playing this and put the game on mute.
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i discovered stellastarr from playing mvp baseball '04 for ps2 so...theres that
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"the hives - tick tick boom"
pump it up, prince...???
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the hives! lol. yellowcard and the used and sum 41? ahahahahhahahahaha. i beleive the word we're all looking for is "reallyreallyreallyawful".
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Yeah, The Hives are the only ones that seem worthwhile on that whole list.
As for my favorite video-game soundtrack... Stubbs the Zombie, hands down. Most indie-tastic soundtrack ever.
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Yeah, that sucks. But it's a football game, so whatever. Does anyone who goes to this site seriously also into sports? The Tony Hawk games have had a pretty consistantly decent soundtrack, though. The new one's not great, though, save for a heavily edited "Your Little Hoodrat Friend."
I heard, though, that Matador sold the rights to their songs to some recent baseball game, and it had like "Serpantine Pad" and Belle & Sebastian on it. Anyone know anything about that?
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