Music Trivia #01

I like music.
In fact, it's always been a big part of my life. Always having music in the background or spending time listening to music...

I'm not just a "dude who draws stuff" or "who plays games". I'm also a "dude who plays music" since I was ten!~

That's why Music in games or movies is a big part of my appreciation and something I won't ignore or turn off.

Today, on this very hot saturday of almost-summer (how is it on your side? very sunny as well?) I wanted to have a little post on music inspirations & references. Little hommage in compositions, if you will.

First of all, a little fact (this post is all about trivia anyway, didn't you read the title??).
Everybody knows the music from Indiana Jones, right?
The way John Williams wrote and imposed Indiana Jones music as the modern typical adventure epic music.

Here's a little piece, funnier than what the rest of the 3rd movie offers:


Always loved the way this one's composed. If you're a fan of the movie, it's a pretty funny odd moment with Indy & his dad and some Nazi guy.

Now, here's a cutscene music by Teruhiko Nakagawa for  Sonic Rush Adventure:


See the little inspiration?
It's most definitively voluntary done. See Sonic Rush Adventure did had the Adventure part added to this sequel to Sonic Rush, both on the Nintendo DS. The music in cutscenes is a bit more adventure-y to reflect this added epic story mode. In game levels didn't change much from the last game.

Sonic games always had this occidental influence, that's probably way I always liked them over Mario. In fact the whole Sega always had this part-oriental part-occidental influence in both game design and music.
Back to Sonic, it wasn't the first time music was influenced by american movies. Here's a more well known little piece from the Megadrive era:


Does it remind you of anything? If you're a scifi fan such as I and were born before the 2000s you've probably recognised the iconic Blade Runner ending theme:

Sorry for the random video, but it was the only one MGM didn't cut the sound or that I could export!

Non-Sonic music now. Big modern blockbuster gaming series Mass Effect for example is very much influenced music-wise, not by scifi movies but by the very first Action/Shooter/RPG that was Deus Ex.
Since Mass Effect is a big nerd fanfic drawing inspiration by all our cult SciFi icons in games, movies and tv shows, it was only natural to use the musical aspect of Deus Ex which is forever an iconic score for Scifi/RPG/action games. Both uses the same kind of electronic orchestral score but the main similarity is in the main themes.

Here's Deus Ex:

Orchestral version, better for the comparison.

And Mass:


The influence is much more in style and composition than in the melody itself.
Sure, Bioware could have gone orchestral à la Star Wars. But I really like that they went in a Deus Ex musical way much better.

And finally, Prince of Persia (2008).
My favorite PoP alongside the original game by Jordan Mechner.
My first system wasn't a PS2, like most Sands of time fans probably had. I grew up on the original one. Only the 2008 game lived up to my PoP expectactions (but that would be the subject of a future review).
Anyway, the music in this modern Prince of Persia wasn't influenced by the Arabian Nights (through its imaginative universe was) but by Lawrence of Arabia.
Inon Zur & Stuart Chatwood composed an epic score, an amazing orchestral universe pretty dense and rich.
I'm glad the music in this one didn't went typical blockbuster (like Sands of Time or Two Thrones) nor cool for the kids (like Warrior Within).

All the music in this one is very muchinspired by this movie. Here's the main theme of Lawrence of Arabia:



And PoP:



Anyway, that's all for this time!


I don't like when kids diss this kinda stuff on the internet nowadays. Calling it "ripping off" other stuff.
Don't the understand the meaning of the words "influence", "references" or "tributes"?
The new composer grew up on the classical epic music, like us. It's only supposed to hommage to the cult classic music.
When the new PoP has a score very much Lawrence of Arabia-like it's only well deserving and done with a good attention.


Back on topic!
I really like those little tribute here and there.
That contributes to the whole experience of those games.


That's all for now, see you around ;)