Is video game music actually better than most music you hear today?

[Gold Vanguard]

I starting to think so now.i turn on the radio and all I here is people raping about money,gold,cars,and bitches. MTV isn't showing anymore of the good songs, instead they just some more songs with great beats with awful lyrics. Video game music express a feel that most song nowadys don't From sad to happy to epic and to even down right badass, video game music does it all. Am I the only one that thinks this way?

Edited July 8, 2012 by Defender of the light

[Naglfar]

aside from the inherent problem with separating video game music from all other music rather than including it as a genre with its own unique traits like everything else, just radically different application, what the fuck is "real life" music

no

don't be that way just because everything on the radio/MTV sucks

edit: I don't personally bother with "good" and "bad" and just listen to what I can get into emotionally, which is what everyone should do

Edited July 8, 2012 by Naglfar

[Shuuda]

I'd like to remind the pair of you that this forum has rules on proper grammar.

I don't think "video game" is an actual genre of music, since a game soundtrack could make use of almost any kind of style.

[Gold Vanguard]

I'd like to remind the pair of you that this forum has rules on proper grammar.

I don't think "video game" is an actual genre of music, since a game soundtrack could make use of almost any kind of style.

My apologies then for not knowing.

[Party Moth]

I wouldn't say so much that video game music is different from what you call "real music", more of that there are certain values, messages and styles you can implement based on things such as instrumentation and whether or not you add vocal elements. I've found that every genre and every medium has its ups and downs, as well as both good and bad music. Music is all up to interpretation, after all, just like all other arts.

If anything, it seems you are like me in the sense that we both prefer music that focuses less on lyrical emphasis and caters more to those who wish to immerse themselves in the atmosphere of the video games themselves.

[Gold Vanguard]

aside from the inherent problem with separating video game music from all other music rather than including it as a genre with its own unique traits like everything else, just radically different application, what the fuck is "real life" music

no

don't be that way just because everything on the radio/MTV sucks

edit: I don't personally bother with "good" and "bad" and just listen to what I can get into emotionally, which is what everyone should do

I said real music wrong didn't I? I meant to say better than most music you hear today?

Edited July 8, 2012 by Defender of the light

[Rehab]

Yeah, video game music is made to do a great job of investing you in the moment ingame, but it's less often intently made to be listenable on its own. When it is, it can be

, and that can easily be cause for somebody to prefer it personally, but that doesn't inherently make that track a better-made track better music than any other.

It's also understandable that one might find MTV lacking, but that's far from all the music currently being made. There's almost doubtless a bunch of groups out there you'd love, no matter what you're into, that you'd never find just watching MTV or listening to the radio. A bit of unearthing may be required.

Now excuse me while I listen to the Yakuza 4 soundtrack, followed by Moves Like Jagger

[Thor Odinson]

Video game music isn't exactly all the same quality either. You get some games with a great soundtrack, and you get some games with a lackluster soundtrack. It's the same with every genre, and much of what's most publicised happened to be the lackluster commercial crap, making people think that music is /all/ terrible these days if they don't go out and look for stuff they like for themselves. I'm pretty happy with the stuff I keep in my itunes, personally. Most of the stuff you'll never hear on a radio here, but they're stuff that I personally think are good and I enjoy greatly.

[CrashGordon94]

Music isn't even particularly worse these days, it's just that you hear lots of popular crap on the radio and such. That fact and the complaints spawned from it are true for every era, from what I've heard.

[Othin]

I often find myself listening to the best music from video games I play and from anime I watch, far more often than I listen to music with no association with either. Especially music from the past decade.

So I'd say yes, without a doubt.

[Rewjeo]

If you listen to the radio a lot, odds are the music you hear in video games is better than most of the other music you hear. If you go out and find your own music, video game music is generally worse for listening to since it wasn't designed to be listened to by itself.

[Excellen Browning]

no because it is the same kinda shit mostly except for a few

just like music

[Celice]

I'd like to remind the pair of you that this forum has rules on proper grammar.

I don't think "video game" is an actual genre of music, since a game soundtrack could make use of almost any kind of style.

Yellow Magic Orchestra was a big influence on this "style" of music you don't consider a genre

I listen to what I enjoy; most of the time, lyrics are annoying, bad, and ugly, and get in the way of the music, and I end up going for the more musical, tonal, melodic stuff. That doesn't mean I bang for chiptunes though (despite them being pretty awesome)--stereomood/melancholy is always running for me, with awesome musicians who mean to keep a song flowing. Not just get it stuck in your head for profits.

Edited July 8, 2012 by Celice

[Hero]

Sounds like you've been listening to a lot of hip-hop, or hip-hop influenced tracks and don't like the genre's conventions much so it's soured you on your local radio stations. But the thing about music is that there's just so much of it, especially if you don't limit yourself just to English lyrical music, that it's very difficult to make generalizations like the one you wrote in the topic title. Video game music can be great, but if you limit yourself to it you'll inevitably be missing out. It's all about broadening your horizons. I encourage you to check out the chillout section on jamendo.com to find some great free, downloadable non-lyrical and eclectic tracks. The "Putumayo Presents" albums are also a great way to introduce yourself to some of the best of new genres, check them out too.

My apologies then for not knowing.

Maybe it's time to read the rules. Not trying to be condescending, it just sucks to have your posts deleted or messed with because you didn't know what's up.

[Agile Tit-Tyrant]

HUH WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT MAN

I LISTEN TO ALL THE GOOD MUSIC LIKE ONE DIRECTION

ALL VIDEO GAME MUSIC IS SHIT

[1st Mate Bob]

It really depends. One of the big differences is that most AAA games get their soundtracks made by a composer with a lot of experience and education in creating music (for example, Mario and Zelda have Koji Kondo, and Final Fantasy has Nobuo Uematsu), whereas a lot of today's modern musicians don't have that sort of experience. I'm not saying that all modern music is bad or that musicians today aren't educated in what they do, or that some people don't have raw talent, but writing a song nowadays doesn't take as much effort as it used to.

[General Banzai]

I like any music as long as it sounds good.

Or if the lyrics are amazing, like a Kanye West song.

[Gold Vanguard]

1341768134[/url]' post='2052695']

Sounds like you've been listening to a lot of hip-hop, or hip-hop influenced tracks and don't like the genre's conventions much so it's soured you on your local radio stations. But the thing about music is that there's just so much of it, especially if you don't limit yourself just to English lyrical music, that it's very difficult to make generalizations like the one you wrote in the topic title. Video game music can be great, but if you limit yourself to it you'll inevitably be missing out. It's all about broadening your horizons. I encourage you to check out the chillout section on jamendo.com to find some great free, downloadable non-lyrical and eclectic tracks. The "Putumayo Presents" albums are also a great way to introduce yourself to some of the best of new genres, check them out too.

Maybe it's time to read the rules. Not trying to be condescending, it just sucks to have your posts deleted or messed with because you didn't know what's up.

I listen to a wide arrange of music from heavy metal to jazz and so on. But mostly on the radio and t.v you really have that much diversity. Also I didn' t mean to put video game music as a genre I meant as in music you hear from them. Also it's time for metro read the rules again just in case.

[Espinosa]

Video game music doesn't exist in a vacuum. For example, the influence of 70s symph-prog is evident on composers like Motoi Sakuraba or Nobuo Uematsu.

I guess distinguishing between video game music and "all other music" is only possible if you don't care about the latter at all, limiting it to Gagas and Biebers or whatever. VGM can also be grouped into different styles, and when you compare it to other artists in those styles you'll probably agree that those not involved in the production of video game OSTs (the vast majority) do a more serious, respectable job, since their music is something inseparable from their own identity.

Then again, certain pieces of music aren't exactly standalone either - operas, film scores for example, and in a broader way, you could say any piece of music is a soundtrack to a certain mood or manner of thinking or seeing the world.

[1st Mate Bob]

I listen to a wide arrange of music from heavy metal to jazz and so on. But mostly on the radio and t.v you really have that much diversity. Also I didn' t mean to put video game music as a genre I meant as in music you hear from them. Also it's time for metro read the rules again just in case.

That's because the music industry is like any other type of show business. As time goes on, music evolves, and it just so happens the "crap" that's on the radio and MTV is what makes the most money. That's why it's on the radio and TV to begin with.

[Loki Laufeyson]

LOL what?

I should say not. Video game music is basically the same in function as a film's score. Its literally there to fit the mood of a scene or situation. Video game levels are the equivalent of that as are cutscenes and character themes, etc. Video game music isnt a separate thing from say a composition or a movie score.

Also, in the earlier days of gaming, game music was...horribly limited. It wasnt until like, the last generation of gaming, that they started really using orchestrated stuff. There are some PSone era games that used actual instruments that werent a MIDI synth and junk, but yeah.

Really, just think of video game music as the same as a score.

If you are talking about songs in a pop music style used or written for video games, its the same as a song written by a performing artist written especially for a movie. Those kinds of songs are usually in a particular music genre like rock, pop, etc.

[eclipse]

Depends on the game and the genre. Musical games tend to have music that isn't a background track. Some of it is good, and some of it is bad.

What I don't like about a lot of modern music is the lyrics, most of which focus on things that I'd rather not listen to. Sappy is something I like to listen to occasionally, not all the time. The stuff I keep on my Clippy is stuff I don't mind listening to. Most of it is out of video games, and none of it is background tracks or stuff you'd hear on a radio (ever).

[Westbrick]

Video game music doesn't exist in a vacuum. For example, the influence of 70s symph-prog is evident on composers like Motoi Sakuraba or Nobuo Uematsu.

Since when is Uematsu inspired by "70s symph-prog"? He doesn't toy around with key signatures very often, he doesn't use uncommon time signatures, and his instrumentation is pretty standard. Sounds like you're just kinda throwing words around, honestly.

[1st Mate Bob]

Here's a bit about Nobuo Uematsu's influences.

It's Wikipedia. If you don't like it, too bad, it's all I could find that is somewhat credible.

[Westbrick]

Here's a bit about Nobuo Uematsu's influences.

It's Wikipedia. If you don't like it, too bad, it's all I could find that is somewhat credible.

Good link! Nothing wrong with Wikipedia.

As I suspected, Uematsu's influences are classical music, rock/metal, and some elements of techno; nothing progressive. He's more pop than Pink Floyd.