Associating music with games

[kyouki]

Hey guys, have any of you formed a connection between a game and unrelated music to the point where just listening to the song reminds you of the game?

A few years back I caught the Bioware bug and ended up playing through ME2/3 and DA1/2 (...on PS3) basically over the span of a few months. I enjoyed all those games, though each series has definitely declined in quality with each entry (with the possible exception of ME2 which is so different from ME1 you can barely compare them).

But I digress! The reason I bring this all up is I have very fond (?) memories of staying up late over New Years break back then, enjoying some nice drinks and forcing myself through DA2 once it got boring (last 25-50% of the game). In contrast with the first two ME games, I found the music in both DA games to be pretty dull cinematic fantasy stuff, so ended up muting the TV so as not to wake my poor wife up... and just listened to music on headphones.

This was 2013, and Welcome Oblivion (How to Destroy Angels) had just been released, so I had this album on repeat at this time, and now I cannot hear it without DA2 immediately coming to mind.

I really don't have any other examples, as I tend to want to listen to the game's audio for the complete experience... anyone else experience this?

[moran]

My older brother and I would play Metal Gear and Rygar while listening to Queen when we were kids. We Will Rock You/We are the Champions always reminds me of those games now 25 years later.

My only real experience with Sega Saturn was playing Tomb Raider at a friend's house while listening to the Nativity in Black tribute to Black Sabbath cd. Particularly Sepultura's cover of Symptom of the Universe. That song always reminds me of that system and game.

Tekken 3 and Soilent Green's Sewn Mouth Secrets go hand in hand for the same reason. Lots of hot summer afternoons at my buddy's with those two together.

Throughout middle school I always had the tv on mute with the stereo playing something else, but those three stand out over it all.

[hydlidian]

Yes! I had been thinking about a thread like this for a while.

If I feel a game's soundtrack is really worth my attention, then I listen to that, but often I have something else playing. As for these associations, one of the most clear is from a couple of years ago when I was playing Resident Evil on Saturn and had Koto's Masterpieces album album playing, Doesn't fit the game at all, but was fun times to drink beer, play a good game and listen to kick ass space cheese.

One another is from a year or a two ago (the flow of years is getting harder to follow) when I was playing Phantasy Star II. I had a 90% hate/10% love relationship with that game, but one greatest thing about that playthrough was discovering this song. I had been listening some space disco/space themed music while playing PSII and this came at the end of one sort-of space disco album and blew my mind while also fitting the game as well.

Also, on sort of related thing is that when I play my NHL All-Star Hockey 98, or something like that, on Saturn with the same friend with whom I played RE, we choose goal songs. Whenever you goal, you get to blast your goal song in its full length. This can really add salt to the wound. Modern Talking's Give Me Peace on Earth as the opponent's goal song can get under your skin if you really are taking a beating in the game.

EDIT: Oh yeah, and A Forest by the Cure brings Silent Hill 2 to my mind. Because of the lyrics and maybe also a little due to the ominous feeling of the song.

[strizzuth]

Hmmmmm... Bring Me To Life and Final Fantasy 8. I was playing it for the first time in 200... Whatever year it was that song came out. Since there's a lot of really grindy, mindless BS in the game I NEEDED to play some different music and put on a mix CD I made for a friend. That was the one song that seemed to fit both the feel and pacing of the gameplay so it got repeated a lot.

[akumajobelmont]

For my 15th Birthday I got abot 30 Sega Saturn games; they were on clearance at the time, so my parents got me a whole stack of them. I also got the Garbage CD Single for 'Push It'. I listened to that single on repeat whilst playing Alien Trilogy. So, to this day, as much as I adore the soundtrack to Alien Trilogy, I feel wrong if Push It isn't playing in the background, haha

Funnily enough, I also associate the OST to Symphony of the Night with Diablo. It was one of the first soundtracks I imported from Japan, so I'd listen to it everywhere. I found a no-CD patch for Diablo, so I'd pop in the SotN OST and listen to it on repeat while clocking Diablo. It fit really, really well.

I used to listen to Initial D Eurobeat when playing any Tokyo Xtreme Racer/Highway Challenge games. Well, not used to, I still have to make a playlist of Eurobeat music if I play them now too. I've got a Eurobeat playlist on my Xbox 360 for Import Tuner Challenge, though that playlist also featured Eurobeat from Namie Amuro, Ayumi Hamasaki and some tracks from SEGA Touring Car Challenge, Bust A Groove and DDR.

[Deleted]

Great thread! Like hydlidian, I've often thought about starting something similar over the years. The first example of this sort of thing that comes to mind would be Wizardry V on the SNES. The music is alright in that game, but you end up grinding so much in it (and the series as a whole), that I ended up listening to CDs throughout most of it. For that reason, 311's self-titled album and Nirvana's Muddy Banks will always be associated with that game for me.

7th Saga, likewise, has a ton of grinding in it. Maybe the most in any game I've ever encountered. For some reason, I listened to DMB's Crash album all the time while playing that game.

The original release of Final Fantasy Tactics also has a ton of grinding (beginning to see a pattern here). I ended up listening to Nirvana's Unplugged album, Led Zeppelin IV, and Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon to get me through that one.

Sort of related, but not exactly the same thing, I'll always associate Haunting Ground with the song Face Down by Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. I was playing that game in the fall of 2007, and ended up running across a video on Youtube that someone had put together with footage of the game with that song. It made absolutely sure to always time it so the main character was falling to the ground when the lyrics got to the part about "pushing around" or "face down". Really cheesy stuff, but it made a lasting impression.

I know there are more recent examples of this sort of thing, but they're escaping me for the moment. Still, really glad to hear others have had this sort of thing happen with them.

[JDarkside]

I normally connect different music with certain characters or shows, not games, but I have a few examples.

Always felt that some of Andrew W.K's work would be right at home in a Dead Rising game. Primus would feel at home in some of the later Silent Hill games. Also, I always felt that Symphony X would be great for a Drakengard game, especially Serpent's Kiss.