How shmups mold our tastes

Randorama · Post by **Randorama** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 9:02 am

A friend of mine has rightfully pointed out that i am listening to progressive music and, according to an earlier discussion we had some time ago, i officially dislike dance stuff. Problem is: it's Shikigami III's soundtrack.
I realized that no, i actually don't dislike anymore dance music and actually enjoy the progressive sub-genre (!).

Has anyone experienced a similar change of tastes induced by shmups? In this specific case, i blame our favourite genre because a good chunk of shmups from the early '90s onward has indeed trancey/electronic/progressive tunes. Other similar cases?

Twiddle · Post by **Twiddle** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 9:36 am

With me it's more like the other way around -- I enjoy the Battle Garegga and Raiden Fighters soundtracks because they're videogame implementations of genres I like.

Frederik · Post by **Frederik** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 10:32 am

I always thought that video game music is a genre in itself - if you take Garegga, Ketsui or DOJ, sure some of it can be called "dance music" (take Gareggas "stab and stomp" boss tune for example); but I like it in the context of the videogame and wouldn`t search for similar dance music in cd shops or something.

Actually, I listened to a lot of Eurodance when I was a kid, and sometimes shmups meet my love for rhythmic, melodic sythnesizer music. I still wouldn never again go to some electro club (I hate clubs anyway). I also like a lot of the Turrican music. The Radiant Silvergun OST on the other hand is very orchestral and I love it to death.

Seeing that many game OSTs are sold in Japan and the huge amount of video-based music artist, I would not think twice to say that there is a game music genre (with different subgenres; the Tetris tune can not be compared to Espgaluda which can`t be compared to Ikaruga again).

RoninBuddha · Post by **RoninBuddha** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 10:51 am

Rez (ok, not a shmup) totally changed by lifestyle... from musical taste to even personal beliefs

zinger · Post by **zinger** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 10:58 am

Well of course. We're being shaped, influenced and inspired all the time. No wonder VGM has impact on us when we keep playing the same stages over and over again.

Klatrymadon · Post by **Klatrymadon** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 12:37 pm

I'm an avid fan of video game music, but it doesn't really colour what I listen to outside this vast pseudo-genre. Like Frederick, there are many forms of music I find I can enjoy when the compositions are original and specifically written for a game, but not when I hear very similar stuff elsewhere. Perhaps in that sense my tastes are shaped a little more by knowing who's writing and playing this music, and what they're all about. I'm not sure I'd appreciate Bal-Sagoth's catalogue so much if it was written by a bunch of irremediable clean-cut ponces from middle-England, for example

I hope that doesn't sound at all shallow; I'm a little too tired to express myself more carefully.

R_Typist · Post by **R_Typist** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 3:43 pm

Video Game music is a buffet line of many forms of electronic music -- sometimes dipping into other forms like acid-jazz and classical.

What intrigues me about video game music is that it's not simply it's style, but music on a mission: a mission to enhance the mood just like movie soundtracks. It's designed to pump or flood the veins of the listener with ethereal drive. Video game music has shaped my interest in prescent electronic music, but it's still different in the way it tells it's story. Alot of dance-influenced music from video games ends up being more complicated musically than alot of commercial dance tunee (at least from my limited experiences).

A good video game soundtrack will not only stimulate your auditory-adrenaline, but be in the background of volume. All this at the same time, the music should engage your frontal lobes so the listener says: "Hey, that was cool, I'd like to recapture that experience later by simply listening to the song -- BUT WHERE can I friggen find an mp3?" So in a way, sometimes the video game itself is the inspiration behind such thinking, otherwise it's a secondary prod.

Alot of electronic music in Shmups is so very catchy. Heck... I was listening to some Gradius 3 .spc (SNES) tunes and remembering how much they got stuck in my head at work.

I think some poorly thought out music is in R-Type Final. Stage 1, I actually liked.... it was minimal and creepy. The other stages have slow chords from sci-fi movie scenes that play over and over and over and over again.

Heck... I was once playing a ROM of Last Resort and listening to the music on stage 1; thinking to myself: "Isn't that the same bassline from "Drifting Away - Lange." There are differences, but that's very dance music influenced.

Frederik · Post by **Frederik** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 4:46 pm

Nice and fitting post, R-Typist. I guess the time I found the soundtrack the most fitting is in Darius Gaiden. I guess I wouldn`t like that game if it wasn`t for that excellent, trippy, twisted, surreal soundtrack. It made me listen to it in MAME via maintaineance mode.

segasonicfan · Post by **segasonicfan** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 5:04 pm

Like Frederik, I've always viewed game music as its own genre. I absolutely love some of the old shmup midi's on the Genesis and other older consoles. It may seem crazy, but composers really managed to put a hell of a lot of creativity into some of those early tunes. Sonic (of course), MUSHA, Gleylancer (my gawd that opening theme is phenominal), and Eliminate Down have some of my favorite game music ever....and they're all midi's

-Segasonicfan

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 5:49 pm

Offhand, I can't honestly say that VG music has really "changed" much about my tastes therein, or really that video games in general have changed me at all very much...then again, perhaps it's because I've been playing them for so long, despite my tastes in games having changed somewhat over time.

Granted, there's certainly VG music I like better than others, but I have to say there's very little VGM that I "hate"...at the same time, I pretty much never buy VG soundtracks, but that's likely because I rarely listen to music "on its own" (which isn't to say I don't like music, I actually sang in the choir in school and did musical productions for quite a few years, and wouldn't mind doing it again, if I ever have enough time for it).

So as far as changing my musical tastes, I can't say video games have done much on that front, at least that I'm aware of...my preferences therein have been the same about as far back as I can remember, even though I only got into shmups recently.

MovingTarget · Post by **MovingTarget** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 5:56 pm

I just wish more shmups had dnb soundtracks. Is there any? Part from the odd boss tune?

Even better would be some ragga jungle

Axon · Post by **Axon** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 7:04 pm

VGM made me more aware of music, so I always try to listen to a game/movie/tv show's music when I'm playing/watching one. Speaking of shmups music, Reflex and Kamui have amazing soundtracks, really good job for a doujin.

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 8:18 pm

Regarding the more dance-sounding stuff, I enjoy a good song while playing, but if I download the track later the elements of electronic music I really hate become much more pronounced. Like Gradius V stage 6 (green ooze stage). I loved it in game, out of game it sounds ruined by a crappy squelching dance beat. Maybe the sound effects or limited TV speakers dull that, which then becomes clear in an MP3/CD. Me =

Shikigami 2's is pretty cool though. I wouldn't ever listen to this type of music if not for the game.

Can't think of any non-music taste change at the moment...

maco · Post by **maco** » Tue Jul 18, 2006 6:51 pm

I’d say playing shmups has certainly broadened my musical taste or more correctly acceptance, the Shikigami 2 sound track being the main source of this.
Before Shikigami 2 I would have hated some of the tunes in this game, stage 1 especially, but I grew to like it.
EspGaluda too I thought had a horrible soundtrack when I first heard the game on some videos, but when I got the game it also kind of grew on me.

I’m pretty sure musical taste is influenced by musical prejudices developed from an earlier experience, and the more prejudices you have the narrower your taste in musical styles.
I reckon playing games and being exposed to music you normally wouldn’t like weakens these prejudices.
Of course, maybe taste is something all together different and prejudices have nothing to do with it.

MovingTarget wrote:I just wish more shmups had dnb soundtracks. Is there any? Part from the odd boss tune?

Ketsui stage 2, although it’s not particularly well done.

Kaiser · Post by **Kaiser** » Tue Jul 18, 2006 7:12 pm

The thunder force V last boss fight music "The justice ray pt.2" make me adrealined and desperate to fight last boss on one life (wtf?)
anyway out of shmup ost's If you played ace combat 5 you will notice that music and atmosphere is perfectly sucking in mission 27a (Aces) damn after i lose in tunnel section my heart has speeded up! that was emotion!

MOSQUITO FIGHTER · Post by **MOSQUITO FIGHTER** » Tue Jul 18, 2006 9:18 pm

As far as shooters getting me to like electronic music I liked that type of music before I knew about them. Played other types of games before though mostly Nintendo games. Some article in Rolling Stone about Roni Size winning the Mercury Prize is what made me interested in that type of music. Think I had the Bjork Post and Chemical Brothers albums even before that.

MovingTarget wrote:I just wish more shmups had dnb soundtracks. Is there any? Part from the odd boss tune?:

Raycrisis has dnb in the stages.

MovingTarget wrote:Even better would be some ragga jungle

BIG UPS TO DA RUDE BOY SHMUPS MASSIVE! GETTIN RUFF IN DIS HIGH SCORE BIZNESS!

DJ Incompetent · Post by **DJ Incompetent** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 1:23 am

They've done a pretty good job of steering me toward boss fight music. Game music in general has kept my regular music bias to instrumentals. I like overdramatic anything; especially songs that cast that image that everybody's dying around you or some guy is in some 'fight for his life' scene where everything is all super slow-mo and the music is basically foreshadowing that some significant character is going to die soon. Like the Trailer of Pearl Harbor, that one fight in the lab on Mission Impossible 2 that kinda sounds like Dave Matthews Band, or some boss fights in Chrono Cross, like when you first see Crono. I'll pay more attention to original movie scores, basically. Not the shitty commercial soundtracks. Oh, and solos. I like solos.

Anything with any kind of 'angry chanting' is the best music when combined with modern production. Like a Carmina remix for example. I don't remember which shmups actually use it, but I've heard it before, like in final battles.

Dynamically changing music in-game to the situation you're in is the best thing you can do to a game. Like Killer Instinct.
To summarize, I really really really love Rez.

Nemo · Post by **Nemo** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 1:40 am

I couldn't stand jazz before I started to listen to VGM (started with Brink of Time), and now I quite enjoy the genre in and out of the world of video games.

howmuchkeefe · Post by **howmuchkeefe** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 2:20 am

Before Shikigami 2 I would have hated some of the tunes in this game, stage 1 especially, but I grew to like it.

lol

Yeah, Shiki 2's first stage music is pretty brutal. Everyone I've played Shiki 2 in front of has commented on it.

FatCobra · Post by **FatCobra** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 5:02 am

Battle Garegga's "Stab and Stomp!" makes me want to go into a seizure, and in a good way.

I've been listening to more techno thanks to shmups.

EDIT: I don't know if it is okay to say this around here, but I'm looking for MP3 verisons of Stab and Stomp and the Gradius V Boss theme.

Arznei · Post by **Arznei** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 5:17 am

Ikaruga's got me into more classical music.

FatCobra · Post by **FatCobra** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 5:21 am

Arznei wrote:Ikaruga's got me into more classical music.

Ikaruga's music is a little too "epic" for my tastes, but its still good.

RoninBuddha · Post by **RoninBuddha** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 7:05 am

this is true:

DDP actually made me rent the Bill and Ted movies.

DJ Incompetent · Post by **DJ Incompetent** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 2:25 pm

FatCobra wrote:EDIT: I don't know if it is okay to say this around here, but I'm looking for MP3 verisons of Stab and Stomp and the Gradius V Boss theme.

Yeeeaaaah, um, you're gonna have to be more specific. There's like...4 of them.

MovingTarget · Post by **MovingTarget** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 7:32 pm

MOSQUITO FIGHTER wrote: Raycrisis has dnb in the stages.

Is that layer section or something different?

Ive had videos or ddp with some heavy renegade hardware tunes playing in the background, its very nice

Suits it very well

Dale · Post by **Dale** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 8:24 pm

I get into game music allot and end up getting song's from the games I play on MP3's. But I don't think they've changed my preferences at all.(Beside my new found intrest in instrimental Heavy Metal I didn't have before hearing the Guilty Gear sound track)

MOSQUITO FIGHTER · Post by **MOSQUITO FIGHTER** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 11:50 am

MovingTarget wrote:
MOSQUITO FIGHTER wrote: Raycrisis has dnb in the stages.
Is that layer section or something different?

Nah layer section is the first of the three part series. Raycrisis is the third one, Raystorm the second.

MovingTarget wrote:Ive had videos or ddp with some heavy renegade hardware tunes playing in the background, its very nice Suits it very well

Yeah, I remember quite a few tracks off renegade hardware. Messiah in particular. AHHHHHHHHHHH. Most of the time I do play shmups with the in-game sound on though. I've noticed the sound effects do tend to help me prepare for what's coming up next in the game.

And here's some video schooling on ragga jungle for those who don't know what MT is referring to: http://www.nkhstudio.com/pages/amen_mp4.html

Twiddle · Post by **Twiddle** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 6:36 pm

I've never played a shmup with country music.

Or one with good metal. (My definition of good metal runs counter to the vast majority of metal fans.)

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 7:09 pm

Twiddle wrote:(My definition of good metal runs counter to the vast majority of metal fans.)

What is that then? I really hate video game metal. It usually sounds too cheesy and synthetic.

Twiddle · Post by **Twiddle** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 7:11 pm

Rob wrote:
Twiddle wrote:(My definition of good metal runs counter to the vast majority of metal fans.)
What is that then? I really hate video game metal. It usually sounds too cheesy and synthetic.

Most metal fans I see on the internet prefer what amounts to noise and high-pitched screaming voices as opposed to actual melodies, lest they fall into the "wayside" of rock.

And video game metal really sucks.