Okay, this is technically straight out of a video game, but who cares, it’s such a fun song. PaRappa The Rapper was such a fun game to play, and to this day, I feel like anyone can bust out Chop Chop Master Onion’s rap at the drop of a hat. My favorite track is from the road test stage, and the song is usually playing in my head whenever I’m driving. That concludes my week of video game music nerding out, hope you enjoyed it somewhat.
-Adam
Enjoy this song - Instructor Mooselini’s Rap
*Here are some of my other favorite video game tunes:
- The main theme from T&C Surf Designs for the NES, still can’t beat the surfing stage…
- The main theme from A Boy and His Blob for the NES, one of my favorite games of all time.
- Basically all the music from Cobra Command for the NES.
- The theme for the first boss battle from G.I. Joe for the NES.
- Sandopolis Zone theme from Sonic & Knuckles for the Genesis.
Actually, you know what? I’m just gonna stop, because this list could go on forever.
Mega Man 2 may be one of the greatest games ever, if not one of the hardest. As a kid, I remember getting super frustrated trying to figure out the best way to go about beating the game (Metal Man, Flash Man, Quick Man, Wood Man, Air Man, Crash Man, Bubble Man, and finally Heat Man just in case you were wondering). To this day, I find that sometimes my timing is just slightly off, which can be disastrous with such an unforgiving game.
So someone (cough “letter26” cough) totally saw where I was going with my underlying Mega Man theme and recommended The Megas, a band from L.A. that I had been planning to showcase today… could be a psychic, who knows?. I first heard about these guys when they did a track with Random a.k.a. Mega Ran (from Tuesday’s Post), and instantly dug it. So what these guys do is basically add their own narrative to the series while sometimes tweaking the original music, but never in a way that makes you want to hurt them. The awesome part is that each track on their album Get Equipped is told from the perspective of a different Robot Master from Mega Man 2. (side note, I was looking for a good link to their album and came across this shirt in their store, and now I think I need it, maybe someone will hook me up for my birthday ha.)
Now the hard part for this post was trying to figure out which song to post, Air Man, Wood Man, and Bubble Man are represented best on the album. In the end it was some of the lyrics from Air Man’s song that made the decision for me:
No one in this world can understand
Who I am
That is why I’m my own biggest fan.
Do you know what it’s like to be built this way?
With only the power to push others away?
So awesome!!! I mean… if you’re familiar with Mega Man 2 and Air Man…
Now the obvious band for me to rant about tomorrow would be The Protomen but honestly I’m pretty late in joining the party, so I still need to listen to all their stuff and get a feel for it. I actually think today was the end of my underlying Mega Man theme, tomorrow I might just toss in a fun video game song or something to signal the end of the work week for myself ha. Okay that’s it for me today, sorry it was late, I work for a magazine and today has been pretty hectic, please forgive me?
-Adam
Enjoy this song - The Annihilation of Monsteropolis/Air Man
P.S. Bubble Man and Wood Man are pretty awesome tracks too.
My last words on Mega Man, if you ever hear the Robot Masters intro music from Mega Man 2 coming from a phone, might be me… if the guy is pumping his arms like a Robot Master along with the music, it’s definitely me.
Who owned (or still owns) an 8-bit NES (Nintendo Entertainment System)? What accessories did you have? The Zapper? Advantage Joystick? Power Pad (the only one I never had…)? Power Glove? Good times, right? Now did you ever think of using any of those as musical instruments?
Turns out that a lot of people did, as there are a ton of chiptune bands out there. I’ve been into this stuff for a while, as it combines a lot of stuff that I love and can be incredibly creative. I Fight Dragons is a band from Chicago that I’ve been nerding out on for the past week or so. I had first heard of them when they did a cover of Weezer’s “Why Bother” for an 8-bit Weezer tribute album that I had picked up a while ago. Their cover was one of the better tracks (along with Anamanaguchi’s “Holiday”, Bit Shifter’s “The World Has Turned And Left Me Here”, and :(’s “You Gave Your Love To Me Softly”), but after that, for some reason, I didn’t look any further into their music. Flash to a week ago, and a friend mentions a band that she thinks I’d like (she has a good idea as to what things will float my nerd boat), and boom, I am now hooked. Such a great mix of traditional instruments, Nintendo soundchips (check out their arsenal in this video), and really catchy lyrics. I decided to save these guys for the video post as opposed to an audio post because I wanted people to be able to see their rig during a live show (a show which I hope to attend one day), it’s pretty cool… and I’m a big nerd. I’m just gonna stop typing now, sorry for all the rambling. Oh yea, you can stream their two e.p.’s here.
-Adam
Enjoy this song - Money (with a little bit of Kool Moe Dee’s “I Go To Work”)
*One last nerdy bit, don’t know if anyone noticed the underlying Mega Man theme in the previous two posts? How about we continue that with one last video courtesy of I Fight Dragons?
Final Fantasy VII is generally considered to be one of the greatest video games ever made (I actually have a really long list, that I won’t get into, but two quickies: Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Mega Man 2), and to this day has a really dedicated fan base, that’s all you really have to know I guess.
Enter Random a.k.a Mega Ran, a schoolteacher and underground (am I labeling him correctly?) rapper currently based in Phoenix best known for his albums Mega Ran, and it’s follow-up, Mega Ran 9. Both those albums basically add a really good narrative to the Mega Man series, which he provides by rapping over classic tunes from the series (there’s also some other good groups that do similar with the Mega Man series but those shall have to wait for another day.) Well anyway, like most people, Random happens to be a fan of the Final Fantasy series, and decided to make an album in the vein of his Mega Ran series for Final Fantasy VII, and the end result? Pretty awesome.
-Adam
Enjoy this song - Mako Reactor
*I may be alone here, but I really enjoyed Final Fantasy VIII as well… feel free to mock me.
Hiya, decided to hijack Jesse’s blog for a bit, hope nobody minds.
I like to play a lot of video games, and am a card-carrying nerd/geek (whatever), and one thing that can make a game even more memorable than its gameplay is its music. I’m gonna nerd out on some video game inspired music, so feel free to get nostalgic with me as I start off with a classic tune by an awesome band that does instrumental covers of old NES songs. The minibosses have been doing their thing for about twelve years or so now, and were the first band that did this type of music that I was really into. As for the song, do I really need to explain “Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!”? I’m gonna assume that I don’t and just leave you with this song here.
-Adam
Enjoy this song - Mike Tyson’s Punch Out
Rando iTunes shuffle begins. I press play and post about what iTunes picks. This week starts with Lily Allen. Not gonna lie… love this record sooooo much. Saw her play live in Japan with a full band and was totally blown away with the awesomeness. I saw her again touring on her next record and she dumped the live band. Playing to pre-recorded tracks never settles with me. Still love this record Alright, Still to this day.
Dear Children of the Revolution,
After a brief, but intense whirlwind-like love affair, Motion City Soundtrack and Columbia Records have parted ways. Even though America wanted it to work out, much like the marriage of Ryan Phillipe and Reese Witherspoon, it just was not in the stars. That being said, neither side holds any sort of ill will toward the other. We each gave it our best shot, but due to the ever changing musical climate, as well as other unforeseeable factors, we both felt that this would be in our best interests. So for now, we go it alone. We have been diligently working on Album #5, which we hope to have in your hands soon. What the future holds for us label-wise is anyone’s guess, but we can promise that there will be an onslaught of new material released and with ever increasing frequency. What we’re trying to say is: Hold on to your hats ladies and gents, for we have not even begun to unleash the true fury that is Motion City Soundtrack!
Thank you for listening and for being a part of our lives.
Justin, Josh, Jesse, Matt, and Tony
Sorry I haven’t been posting much. I have been in Minneapolis, busy recording our fifth record. I was gonna try something new this week where I hit random on my iTunes and post the songs it picks. Cool? We’ll see.
Clear eyes. Full hearts. MUSIC FOREVER!!
(Via www.pixelunion.net)
The Beastie Boys have always been one of those groups that I can go to for some good tunes. “License to Ill” is a classic, “Paul’s Boutique” is insane, “Hello Nasty” has one of my favorite lines ever (“Dogs love me because I’m crazy sniffable”), but “Ill Communication” has my favorite Beastie Boys track, Flute Loop. I remember in elementary school trying to join the school band on the flute after first hearing this song, but never even got to try out, what a rip off.
Want a fun (re: weird) album to check out? A few years ago, they released a country album called “Country Mike’s Greatest Hits” with Mike D taking the lead as Country Mike. It’s more in good fun, as opposed to the genuine feel of Mariachi El Bronx so don’t go expecting a masterpiece ha.
-Adam
Enjoy this song - Flute Loop
I’m a big fan of Joey Cape’s, and when I heard he had a side project called Bad Astronaut, I made sure to get the album as soon it hit the shelves. It’s some pretty solid stuff, much more serious than most of Lagwagon’s (don’t get me wrong, I love Lagwagon) stuff. They were around for a few years, put out three albums, and one split EP, but called it quits when their drummer Derrick Plourde committed suicide. I think they recently started playing shows again, need to look into that, because if possible, I would like to catch them live.
-Adam
Enjoy this song - Greg’s Estate
The Bronx, or rather Mariachi El Bronx happen to be the makers of my proofreading music (I work for a publication company, nerdy stuff). Once a month, when finishing up magazines to send to printers, I have to go through each page to make sure everything’s okay, and it can both be incredibly boring, and stressful. It would be incredibly easy for a band to announce that they were going to try something new, half-ass it, and still get a bunch of people to buy it… my ears are grateful that The Bronx aren’t ones to take the easy way out. Mariachi El Bronx is just a really fun album that helps me get a good rhythm going, and it keeps me calm, totally worth the laughs I sometimes get when co-workers walk by and catch me dancing by myself with giant headphones on my head.
-Adam
Enjoy this song - Quinceniera
*My apologies if that seemed like a long nonsensical ramble, just woke up from an unexpected nap next to my dinner.
The Beach Boys, Pet Sounds, need I say more? This is one of those albums that I feel like everyone should listen to at least once in their lives, or else risk missing out on pure genius. As a kid, I mainly knew of the Beach Boys from them showing up on Full House as buddies of Uncle Jesse, that due to the fact John Stamos actually drums for them from time to time. Also, the Muppets did a video for Kokomo that I was pretty fond of as well. Later on in my life, I came across Pet Sounds, and my brain melted, start to finish, it was just a perfect album.
It’s 1965, The Beatles have come out with Rubber Soul, and it is amazing! It’s not a couple of blah songs with one or two catchy singles, it’s a complete piece of work. Brian Wilson (not the Giants pitcher) hears it, gets inspired and as the story goes, rushed over to his wife and told her that he was going to make the greatest album ever. It’s kind of funny to think that another Beatles album, Sgt. Pepper, was partly inspired by Pet Sounds, which itself was inspired by a Rubber Soul, pretty cool cycle.
Usually when this album is brought up in conversation, one question comes up a lot, mono or stereo? It was originally recorded in mono, as Brian Wilson always recorded his final mixes, due to a few factors, one of them being the fact that he was deaf in one ear. If you ask me, I don’t mind either way, they both sound great.
-Adam
Enjoy this song – I’m waiting for the day (Stereo Mix)
