What Would Be In Your Arcade Soundtrack?

[skeezix]

I was at a Rush concert the other night (yay!), and they did a run through "Subdivisions" .. a relatively popular song, and outstanding live.. but always stuck in my head since the video has Tempest in it (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lu9Ycq64Gy4 at 4:39); I decided that in my head soundtrack while playing arcade games back in the day, that was one of the tracks. (Back in the day I'd have to say mostly Iron Maiden and later Skinny Puppy.. them were the days

Back looong ago early in the emulation days (early 90s probably) someone spent a pile of time recording arcade cabs from various angles and distances and then trying to merge them so he could get a relatively authentic 'arcade ambient' sound, to play in background for emus or if you had an arcade cab or two, to get the sound of having 30 other machines trying to vie for your attention. Attract screens, people hammering buttons, all that.

So it struck me I really need to find some good old arcade ambient recording like that, as my hard drive of the day long ago baked and I lost that giant wav file; thats one thing (Anyone know of such a project with various recordings? Could be way cool to play on your pandora background mp3 while playing MAME or whatever

But it occurred to me ... if you were to pick tracks to play as an arcade soundtrack, what would you pick?

Naturally this is highly subjective .. when I host arcade parties I tend to pay whatever the heck I want to, but I have on occasion done themed soundtracks; lots of 80s and stuff for instance, since most of my gang remember arcades from the 80s and early 90s...

But if you had 10+ arcade cabinets and had people over, what would you play in your arcade to stimulate the retro nerding atmosphere?

jeff

 

[Prometheus]

Sorry that I can't answer much here, skeezix - I unfortunately missed out on much of the arcade scene, as I very often wasn't allowed to play games in them when I was a young'un.

However, I did find this, which might be of interest to you.

 

[amishaziz]

For Defender, Lithium, by Nirvana. It adds to the mayhem.

 

[atomicthumbs]

outrun theme

Edit:

or something pounding. deadmau5 or 1200 micrograms, maybe

 

[Fzero]

My local arcade haunt was a shady place and the only sound I remember was the various games thumping away, I think that was the ambience
other local spots were inside a sport center so no music, and outside a supermarket were few cabinets updated with the current flavour, again no music just game audio and the sound of the Market

Wish I had 10 [or one even] cabinets and my party would be on
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Waqn0jBG58

or maybe Korobeiniki on loop

 

[fade]

80s 80s and more 80s, that's my memories of the classic arcade era! Madness, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Men At Work, Adam & The Ants, Spandau Ballet, Kim Wilde, Duran Duran, Wham, Culture Club, Soft Cell, Human League, Erasure, New Order, Men Without Hats, Ultravox etc!

 

[Gruntfuggly]

The first sound that goes through my head when somebody says 'arcade' is the start music from Moon Cresta. Takes me back to dodgy fairgrounds and amusement arcades in Brighton's West Street...

 

[iprice]

OutRun (all 3 main themes), Space Harrier and RoboCop. They are all class games too, coincidentally

 

[gaterooze]

I was at a Rush concert the other night (yay!)

How'd you like the two new songs?

Here's one for your soundtrack: Mi-Sex "Computer Games"

 

[Mjlink]

Violent Femmes, The Cure, Van Halen, Journey, ZZ Top, Aerosmith, Suicidal Tendencies, Black Flag, Soundgarden, Green River.

Just to name a few,

Peace & Pandora,

Link

EDIT: Quiet Riot, Def Leppard, Scorpions
Edit: 38Special, The Cars

 

[dnlgreenwood]

I'd probably be listening to Koolfox's bad cartridge remix of the avgn theme. Either in my head or on my mp3 player

I have been to arcades before, and I usually play fighting games. (sideview fighting games) and i'm pretty good.


ah, reminds me of this:

"Malcolm in the Middle: Francis Escapes (#1.7)" (2000)
Dewey: And then the monster started growling at me, so I threw rocks at him, and I killed him, and then he started flying around on rocket boost, and I got to ride inside his head, and now the monster's my friend, and we wen - and we went to get Slurpees.
Reese: You did not. You just lied.
Hal: Reese, if that's what Dewey says happened there's no reason to argue about it.
Reese: No one believes I beat the last level in Mortal Kombat.
Hal: Because that's just ridiculous. No one beats Sub-Zero.

 

[Jourdy288]

Hmm, that's a tough one... Probably George Clinton - Computer Games :lol:
Eternal Wind from FFIII seems like a good bet too.

 

[Nat495]

First one that popped into my head was this from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoQAUPUoq3Q&fmt=18

 

[Fzero]

And some old game samples used in tunes from my yoof

Project One with some Strider, jump to about 4:00
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W733Xd9jzts

Powerpill Pacman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjEDX-2M7Qk

Lemmings SFX, purchased on the strength of the cover
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVO2zbR_q00

And the classic SEGA MasterMix giveaway cassette on one Mean Machine Mag
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks0_3Xlr5y0

 

[Caine]

But if you had 10+ arcade cabinets and had people over, what would you play in your arcade to stimulate the retro nerding atmosphere?

http://ocremix.org/

 

[miseryguts1969]

Something a bit more contemporary (not usually an advocate of the genre or style) but has some nice samples etc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Plhgyp0KNQQ

 

[Prometheus]

Ooh, I forgot Retro Arcade Radio. That'd probably be a good fit.

 

[Fzero]

Retro arcade radio made me think of the GTA radio stations, you can get that on CD, I used to listen to the talk station, was it Laslo hosting I think

on a bit of a side note this link I just found might provide 2 mins of flashbacks to some of you arcade cabinet lovers, you may recal clocking them with your own keen eyes, it lists old films and what cabinets were spotted in them
http://users.rcn.com/jenison/mars/vidmovies.html

 

[Wolenber]

Man, I hate being 16, I'm the only person my age who even knows about Rush. On topic, I don't think I have a soundtrack for arcade, so it'd probably just be some of the techno music I like. Daft Punk, Justice, a bit of Deadmau5, etc.

 

[Gerix]

Does anyone else think trance music would work great for shmups?