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Thread: Video Game Melodies That Rip Off Songs We Know - Coincidence Within Reason?

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    Cherry (Level 1)
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    Default Video Game Melodies That Rip Off Songs We Know - Coincidence Within Reason?

    When programmers of video games compose a melody and part of it sounds like a song we've all heard before, I'm wondering whether or not that is "coincidence within reason" which means did the programmers actually like the song(s) that the melody(ies) had allegedly ripped off?

    Example 1:
    The title screen music in (not Super) Mario Brothers (Nintendo NES, Atari 7800, Atari XE-GS) is a coincidental Jimmy Hart version of Petula Clark's 1964 #1 hit "Downtown" for the first two bars of the song. On the Game Boy Advance version packaged within Super Mario Advance: Super Mario Bros. 2, Super Mario Advance 2: Super Mario World, Super Mario Advance 3: Yoshi's Island, Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 and Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga, a different version of the NES version's title tune is heard, with extra notes preceding the main body of the song (all five titles have varying degrees of arrangement).

    "Downtown" is:


    Which got into this:


    Example 2:
    The U.K. race music in Road Rash 3: Tour de Force is snippets of several songs: Black Sabbath's "Paranoid," Pat Benatar's "Heartbreaker," Billy Joel's "Sometimes a Fantasy," and the title theme from the TV show Home Improvement.

    ~Ben
    Last edited by ColecoFan1981; 06-21-2013 at 03:31 AM.

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    Strawberry (Level 2) FrankSerpico's Avatar
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    I recall one of Yuzo Koshiro's tracks on Street of Rage 2 sounding a helluva lot like Rebel Without a Pause, which wouldn't be surprising since a ton of electronic musicians of the era were heavily influenced by Public Enemy's production.

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    Cherry (Level 1)
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    Quote Originally Posted by FrankSerpico View Post
    I recall one of Yuzo Koshiro's tracks on Street of Rage 2 sounding a helluva lot like Rebel Without a Pause, which wouldn't be surprising since a ton of electronic musicians of the era were heavily influenced by Public Enemy's production.
    Speaking of him, there are two different songs of his that are both influenced by the Full House theme in places: "Meyna's Theme" from Legacy of the Wizard, and "Bridge Zone" from Sonic the Hedgehog (Master System and Game Gear versions).

    ~Ben

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    I present Hydlide for the NES, showing us what the Indiana Jones theme would sound like from an ice cream truck.



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    Peach (Level 3)
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    The temple music from Battle of Olympus is Bach's Toccato and Fugue in D Minor.

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    Cherry (Level 1) CelticJobber's Avatar
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    One of the songs on Wave Race for N64 sounds like the theme song to "The Mary Tyler Moore Show".

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    Peach (Level 3) BricatSegaFan's Avatar
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    Thunder force IV title

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qz2k...e_gdata_player


    Sounds like

    Dokken
    When lighting strikes again

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcjH...e_gdata_player
    Last edited by BricatSegaFan; 05-12-2013 at 11:55 PM.

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    Cherry (Level 1)
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    The Supremes - You Keep Me Hangin' On:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3bjMtqpGBw#t=0m7s

    Arrow Flash - intro music/opening theme:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31HhJGD8xCM#t=0m6s

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    Strawberry (Level 2) ccovell's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ColecoFan1981 View Post
    The title screen music in (not Super) Mario Brothers
    Not to mention the stage start tune in Mario Bros. is classic Mozart.

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    Insert Coin (Level 0) Crocket's Avatar
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    Surprise You're Dead by Faith No More

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCdUfAE5Rz8

    The Brazil stage from King of Fighters 94

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOHrwcT-3Hs

    I actually wouldn't be surprised if that was intentional since the game also uses samples from Digital Underground in various places in the soundtrack.

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    Cherry (Level 1)
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    Quote Originally Posted by CelticJobber View Post
    One of the songs on Wave Race for N64 sounds like the theme song to "The Mary Tyler Moore Show".
    That also means it would sound like Electric Light Orchestra's "Last Train to London" (if you're talking about the chorus: "And I really want tonight to last forever...")

    ~Ben
    Last edited by ColecoFan1981; 05-13-2013 at 09:48 AM.

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    Cherry (Level 1)
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    I'm wondering: are there any video game melodies out there that sound like the classic 1980s Wrigley's Juicy Fruit jingle ("The Taste Is Gonna Move You!")?
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivFNO...hn9lwPLbD9nYbA

    ~Ben

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    The stage 4 music in Whip Rush for the Megadrive sounds like it was inspired by "Go West" by The Village People.
    Oh, and if we're counting PC games, well Doom & Doom 2 had no shame in ripping off a bunch of songs to the legal limit. I can't listen to "Them Bones" by Alice in Chains without thinking about Doom 2 level 23!

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    Cherry (Level 1)
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    I'm 99% sure there's an NES/Famicom game that shares a melody with this song from Toto le Héros (starting at about 0:09). The main melody of the movie song is the end of the NES game's tune -- C Bb Ab G F Bb. I've been trying to remember which one it is for years, but...

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    Cherry (Level 1)
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    Quote Originally Posted by Thrillo View Post
    The stage 4 music in Whip Rush for the Megadrive sounds like it was inspired by "Go West" by The Village People.
    Oh, and if we're counting PC games, well Doom & Doom 2 had no shame in ripping off a bunch of songs to the legal limit. I can't listen to "Them Bones" by Alice in Chains without thinking about Doom 2 level 23!
    I think the same might be said with EarthBound, since the Japanese version (called Mother there) was heavily reliant on Beatles songs.

    More examples:
    Journey's "Faithfully" provides the opening strains for Elec Man's stage in Mega Man (1987).

    On another Mega Man-related note, in Mega Man II (1989), part of Flash Man's melody sounds like "I'm a Man" by Spencer Davis Group.

    In Double Dragon II: The Revenge the Mission 2 theme (NES version; it's Mission 1 if you play the arcade version) sounds like snippets of both "Easy Lover" by Philip Bailey and Phil Collins, and "Money for Nothing" by Dire Straits. Elsewhere in the same game, Collins' "Sussudio" provides some inspiration to the Mission 5 theme (NES version; Mission 3 in the arcade version).

    Another snippet of "Easy Lover" was heard during the Rainbow Road stage in Super Mario Kart for the Super NES.

    Part of the melody for the final boss theme in McDonald's Treasure Land Adventure (1993) sounds like the opening strains of Styx's "Blue Collar Man (Long Nights)."

    Here's more tough questions: which video game melodies resembled the melodies from the following songs?
    1. Alberto Ginastera's "Toccata: Piano Concerto #1" (which was famously re-recorded by Emerson, Lake & Palmer in 1973)
    2. "Bittersweet Symphony" by The Verve (which itself took the melody from the Andrew Oldham Orchestra version of The Rolling Stones' "The Last Time")
    3. "You're No Good" as recorded in 1974 by Linda Ronstadt

    ~Ben
    Last edited by ColecoFan1981; 05-13-2013 at 08:26 PM.

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    Strawberry (Level 2) ccovell's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ColecoFan1981 View Post
    Here's more tough questions: which video game melodies resembled the melodies from the following songs?
    1. Alberto Ginastera's "Toccata: Piano Concerto #1"
    Closest I can think of are the various tunes played during Contra III's final stage.

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    Cherry (Level 1)
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    I wonder too if the Mario Bros. title screen music vs. Petula Clark's "Downtown" is really a case of "Ice Ice Baby" vs. "Under Pressure"? Same melody but with some notes in different places.

    ~Ben
    Last edited by ColecoFan1981; 05-14-2013 at 03:07 PM.

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    No one mentioned Sonic 3 having Michael Jackson songs?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F706lyoo_f0

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    Cherry (Level 1)
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    Quote Originally Posted by JSoup View Post
    No one mentioned Sonic 3 having Michael Jackson songs?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F706lyoo_f0
    That's been talked about to death I think...

    ~Ben

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    loves the Game Gear too much. recorderdude's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JSoup View Post
    No one mentioned Sonic 3 having Michael Jackson songs?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F706lyoo_f0
    Probably because Jacko himself worked on it. One of the most valid comparisons (sonic 3 ending credits and stranger in moscow) had the game version out FIRST.

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