Music About Videogames

[norkusa]

A buddy of mine just emailed me the mp3 of this very cool song by Del The Funky Homosapien called Protoculture. Filled with tons of classic references (Colecovision, Sega, Nintendo Power, Neo Geo, etc.) that just about anyone here could appreciate. I highly recommend downloading it if you can find it (if not, PM my me with your email address and I'll send it to you).

Anyway, this got me thinking about what other game related music is out there. I'm not talking about soundtracks but songs with videogame references in them. Offhand I know of Pac-Man Fever. There is also Powerpill by Aphex Twin but that just uses samples from Pac-Man. Can you guys think of any others?

[Kroogah]

Rival Schools, Batsu/Purchase, you ought to
It came with a free CD, it's like I bought 2
I hope they make part 2 for Dreamcast
Cuz the pics I've seen in magazines, you won't believe what they have!
I remember my old homie Ed Coats had the most
A Colecovision, every week I'd visit
Playing Donkey Kong Jr., Venture, Roc & Rope
While my moms was watching soaps

Video Computer System by Golden Shower. A song constructed entirely of Atari 2600 noises. http://www.goldenshower.gs/

Konami's Bemani games contain many songs that refer to other Konami games:
Gradiusic Cyber (IIDX, DDR)
Gradius Full Speed (IIDX, Pop'n)
Burning Heat! (Salamander) (IIDX, DDR)
Twinbee Generation X (DDR, DMX, IIDX)
Goonies R Good Enough (Pop'n)
Bio Miracle Am I Upa (Pop'n)
Akumajo Dracula Medley (Keyboardmania)
Power Dunker (GF & DM)
Beyond the Bounds (Zone of the Enders) (Pop'n)
Timemachine Pilot (GF & DM)

The song "Sana Morette Ne Ente" from beatmania and DDR is a song about the singer's boyfriend, who plays beatmania all day long.

[nesman85]

there's a ludacris song where he says "lud'll take you back to duck hunt and double dribble". it's in the song Cry Babies (oh no) on the word of mouf cd. somebody else told me that he mentions some double dragon characters in some of his other songs too.

[sniperCCJVQ]

Here's the entire lyric :

Chorus: Let me tell you about the Proto Culture
If you don't know the culture, here's the whole structure
We've had enough of the lackluster-trust us
We get the kind of games you can't rent at Blockbuster
KU: Game related, raise it bit by bit
Yo D, link up the cable we'll go hit for hit
Phantasma plasma particle beam means I have ya
on the run-the rendered effects hot like magnas

Del: I play games by Capcom with a power glove strapped on O
n any platform, I don't spend my dough on Phat Farm
Video games, I got many to play
Before my life expires; fufill my desires

KU: Mastering your hardest boss
Shattering all stars across
Ain't hard to cross the finish line
Floatin' on Daytona
Wex, Gex or Kloana, we get ‘em all at cost
RPG, Platform we transform like Macross

Del: Rival schools, Batsu
Purchase you ought to
It came with one free CD, it's like I bought two
I hope they make part II for Dreamcast
‘Cause games I've seen in mags, you won't believe they have!

KU: Getting callouses turning over asteroids
Graviton bombs destroyed
Getting moms annoyed
Now I'm hacking Nightmare Creatures
Their features splattered across the screen
It gets more clean each year

Del: I remember my homie Ed Coats had the most
A Colecovision-every week I'd visit
Playing Donkey Kong Jr., Venture, Rock and Rope
Games I thought was dope
While my moms was watching soaps

KU: I'm on the next level
I got a double barrel shotgun in the Doomworld
Waiting on the next devil
Armor's low-check the arsenal
Rupture the main conductor playin Disruptor

Del: I remember Ninja Gaiden
Finished finally
With Ramone wouldn't answer the phone
This was before getting blown
I own the first Nintendo Power
With the maps of Zelda Help me conquer in an hour

Chorus: Let me tell you about the Proto Culture
If you don't know the culture, here's the whole structure
We've had enough of the lackluster-trust us
We get the kind of games you can't rent at Blockbuster
(2X)

Del: Hey KU you know my SEGA collection is massive
Got all the past hits and classics
Herzog Zwei now Panzer Zwei
Originality that made me a fan today

KU: It's Pandemonium-it's like Toys R Us
Flippin the next Saturn game brings out the boys in us
It's poisonous
Taking out the boys in blue in Grand Theft Auto,
Snatch a Rolls Royce to use

Del: Yeah, I'll admit Playstation improved
Come visit Feudal Japan with me and Tenchu
Bushido Blade 2 with sword play so accurate
Mega Man Legends but I had to buy a map for it.

KU: I fence Hyo to get a Neo-Geo
For Samurai 64 in full rendered splendor
Rival counter and enter my sword in his innards
My joint was being Leonardo wuppin' on Splinter

Del: I gotta get Xenogears-that's the type of game that relieves my fears
Get it from overseas to here
I gotta get Psychic Force
Authentic arcade that I can endorse
They got me liking imports

KU: I'll need to be at the next E3,
What's the next CD I need to see
Me and D signing checks
Let's float overseas, mingle with game companies
Giving tips to Capcom and Sega-you can't front on these

Del: To anyone who knew me better
Know I chose Saturn first Cause it's 2-D heaven
Bernie Stolar dropped the ball with the RAM cartridge
X-men Vs. Streetfighter could've expanded the market

KU: Marvel Vs. Capcom-beyond fathom
Tell the truth, Playstation ain't ready to have ‘em
Come on I'll bring the onslaught
Alpha and Omega
Khaos Unique brought to you by SEGA.

Chorus: Let me tell you about the Proto culture
If you don't know the culture, here's the whole structure
We've had enough of the lackluster-trust us
We get the kind of games you can't rent at Blockbuster
(2X)

[Half Japanese]

I think somewhere buried deep is a many-page long thread about this. Del has been brought up several times and he was even interviewed in EGM a couple years ago (around the same time the DC was just coming out I believe). Any moment now someone's gonna give that old topic a well-deserved rocket from the crypt....

[Cmosfm]

Back during my Hip Hop phase I remember this song by Beanie Sigel called "Mac Man"...the sheer amount of classic game referances and wording is amazing. Still a fun song, here's the lyrics (highlighted the times actual games were named)...


This shit is not a fuckin game

Chorus 2X
Pac Man, y'all niggas know my name
It'll take a quarter key to survive in my game
They call me Pac Man, and ain't a damn thing change
Even though I got signed I'ma still slang thangs

Verse 1
Ay yo I cop power pellets (and y'all call 'em bricks)
I make little dots (and y'all chop rocks to flip)
Before junior, they had me out on a chase
Running from these ghost monsters y'all calling the jakes
All I do is stack loot
Run around and eat fruit
And harass these lady cops named Pinky and Sue
My whole life been a maze in a chase
Can't keep still without these monsters on my back invadin my space
I got two hitmen that'll bury U brothers
They rule the underworld
U know'em as the Mario Brothers
Straight cannons
And won't hesitate to shoot U
And they stay goin to war wit that latin King Koopa
I got a worker named Frogger
When I say jump he leap
A highway boy who be runin the streets
Wit that package
Dodgin through traffic that's narrow
And my nigga Donkey Kong bringin weed in by the barrels

Chorus 2X

Verse 2

I take over blocks section by section
Shake under cover cops and make 'em change direction
They best bet is to relax and chill
Sonic couldn't catch me I'm good at Track and Field
I might run up in your spot
When I'm runnin' from the cops
Sling work a Dime a dot
A hundred a rock
I give out cooked
Yeah But I only get raw
And I keep a nice stash in case I have a Pitfall
I got a worker named turtle that be movin my snow
He bring strait dough
He just move it too slow
I don't fuck with them crabs I had to blast those boys
I caught them breakin down my rocks like Asteroids
Met Ms. Pac Man told her she could go on a mission
But first she got to let me put in Pole Position
I wish I woulda knew then what I now know sooner
Cause 10 towns later here come Pac Jr.

Chorus 2X

Verse 3

I got drugs for every race, color, and creed
I sling mushrooms to white boys in club Centipede
Donkey Kong was gettin money from slinging weed
I don't know why he wanna start a pie factory
We can be partners
That's murda, us connecting
Wit the right blow
And Burger Time doing the cheffin
We can get doe
Can't let the cops catch us
And if it move slow (still stack blocks like Tetris)
Whoever don't wanna get down, they stupid
Not the one to jump around these blocks like Q-bert
Ain't nobody out there making no noise
Wit they own route but that nigga Paper Boy
We can take his stuff
He ain't tough he a nut
He always letting Dig Dug pump em up
I pull a plug on 'em niggas if they don't wanna set it
Game over niggas, I'll see you next credit

Chorus 2X

I like it how he calls Donkey Kong his "nigga". LOL But I don't see how Paper Boy is a "nigga" though. O_O

[kainemaxwell]

I forget which one it is, but there's an Effiel 65 song about video games too.

[Trellisaze]

There's a couple mentions in The Streets' "The Irony of It All" single.

"Hello, my names tim and i'm a criminal.
in the eyes society i need to be in jail,
for the choice of herbs i inhale.
This aint no wholesale operation.
Just a few eighths and some playstations my vocation."

"No. I don't see why i should be the criminal.
How could something with no recorded fatalities be illegal?
And how many deaths are there per year from alcohol?
I just completed gran turismo on the hardest setting.
we pose no threat on my settee"

"64s and Playstations" are mentioned on at least one other track on his Original Pirate Material album. Highly recommended stuff (not just for the references.)

[Arcturius]

Jellyfish - Ignorance is Bliss
An entire song sung from the point of view of Bowser from Mario Bros (I believe this was on a Complimation CD that had something to do with Nintendo but it's the only song on it that referances games in anyway)

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

I believe the album in question was called "Nintendo White Knuckle Scorin'" - rather incredulously, this was also the debut of Roy Orbison's posthumous cover of Cyndi Lauper's "I Drove All Night" (??!!).

Now, for more music about video games, I have only five words for you: Mr. Do, We Love You (http://www.mrdo.com/mrdo/Mr_Do-We_Love_You.mp3).

:band:

[Cmosfm]

I forget which one it is, but there's an Effiel 65 song about video games too.

Yep.

It's about Playstation.

It sucks...just like all there other songs.

[geelw]

CLEARLY, the best video game song ever: "whatever happened to pong" by frank black, from his teenager of the year CD. it's short, sweet, and any disc that has songs about the three stooges and alien conspiracies on it is a boon to mankind. go track it down if you haven't heard it (and check out the lyrics)...

[scooterb23]

http://www.johnnysocko.com/listen.html

At this site, download their song "Old School Master" the lyrics are a bit hard to discern, but there is a bunch of VG goodness in this song :)

@ PDF - Thanks for that info...I've been wanting that CD, couldn't remember the official title...and that Orbison song rules!

[cratermaze]

Buckner and Garcia (Pac Man Fever) put out a whole album of video game songs back in the early eighties. In fact a few weeks ago I heard "Do the Donkey Kong" (I think that was the name) on the 80's on 8 on my XM radio. I thought that was pretty cool. I actually have the 45 with pac man fever on it (B side is pac man fever-instrumental :roll: )

But for all time best video game reference in a song has to be Notorious BIG:

"Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, when I was flat broke I couldn't picture this" :D

[Half Japanese]

Wow, I liked old Johnny Socko, but "Old School Master" is just....well I couldn't even get to the halfway point. Give me their old shit anyday.


For a more tolerable song by a ska band that has game references check out Attaboy Skip's "Oceanside Putt-Putt" from Liberation Records "Ska Sucks" compilation.

[djbeatmongrel]

oddly enough as soon as i saw the topic title i thought of Protoculture and Powerpill Pacman

[scooterb23]

Well, I didn't say the song was good Dr. just that the song had VG goodness in it :) I actually do like that song, although I can only handle it in small doses.

And you can't forget the classic Pac-Man freebase sketch in the Bloodhound Gang's song "Mope" :)

WHo's the rapper right now with the song called "Game Over" that's not too bad of a song...I want to say it's Li'l Flip, but I'm probably wrong.

[Half Japanese]

No, you're quite right there scooter. It is in fact Lil' Flip, whose goddamn video for that song has been on the promo dvd we have to play in the store for 2 months straight now. That's a backing chorus of "flip flip flip flip flip flip" and Pac Man noises (which, now that I think about it, don't seem to be on the video) I have to hear at hour-and-a-half intervals. Huzzah.

[DDCecil]

Don't forget about my 2 video game inspired song parodies:

Doom II: Hell on Earth
Quadrun for a Buck

I'll be making MP3's of them one of these days, though I'm certainly no choir boy...

EDIT: I tried making one tonight (D2:HoE), but I found out my voice is a mix between a drunk and someone hitting puberty, so I'll try again some other time...

[nintendorocker]

yea del uses a bunch of video game referneces in alot of hes songs. I dont remember witch ones but i rember the line of " put a scar on your chest like sagat" or something and there was another line about kid icarus. and i have a whole 12 inch of pacman songs/stories on it.

[charitycasegreg]

is anybody non lasy enough to post a bunch of links to the mp3s of thse songs?

[Arqueologia_Digital]

is anybody non lasy enough to post a bunch of links to the mp3s of thse songs?
Yeah, please...

[Half Japanese]

Just for you fine folks, I've uploaded Attaboy Skip's "Oceanside Putt-Putt" to my Yahoo Briefcase. It's a VBR rip done by myself so it lost very little in the conversion to mp3. Without further adieu:

http://briefcase.yahoo.com/drjustinramone

It's under "my documents," the only file there actually. Enjoy!



edit: well fuckbeans. I can only share it publicly with a premium account. If anyone wants to host it I can send it over tomorrow night sometime...

[Cmosfm]

But for all time best video game reference in a song has to be Notorious BIG:

"Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, when I was flat broke I couldn't picture this" :D

That one's great! Oh man, It's funny cause I think all the poor people I know own Super Nintendo's and Genesis's. LOL

Makes me feel rich (looks at stack of 7 Sega Genesis's and 5 Super NES's) OHHHH BOY! I'm a millionaire

[cratermaze]

Makes me feel rich (looks at stack of 7 Sega Genesis's and 5 Super NES's) OHHHH BOY! I'm a millionaire

Big Pimpin! heh

Thats kinda funny because I bought a reconditioned genesis3 at Value City a few years back and in Flint it's not in the best neighborhood (not in the worst though by far). They were selling them for $19.99 and I got the last one. I was getting asked by a bunch of customers on the way to the registers where I got it from, and where were they. Apparantly word got out and EVERYONE was looking for them for the value price of $19.99. Mind you this was in 1999 or 2000 and the Genesis's time in the sun was well over LOL

But back on topic I thought of another two video game references in songs lets not forget:

"I'm the J-O-E to the C ho, call me Joe C got more game than Coleco"

And don't forget the Bloodhound Gang song with Pac-Man freebasing LOL