The All-Time Best Uses of Licensed Music in Games

The best licensed music in games

While vinyl and silicon may not have much in common, when paired together, they can do wonderful things.

Today, plenty of games take advantage of already-existing music to help craft their desired experiences in games, though things weren’t always so simple.

The King of Pop’s very own game, Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker, did its best to adapt the singer’s hits onto the Sega Genesis’ rudimentary sound chip, but as charming as they were, even they themselves were limited by the technology of the time. It wouldn’t be until the advent of CD-quality sound on home consoles and PCs that the potential for licensed music would be fully realised and, thankfully, the industry was quick to learn.

While gaming has countless examples of originally composed music that’s just as good as any top-100 billboard charting tune, there’s something licensed music can bring to an experience that you can’t get any other way. Hearing a song you already know well enough in a game brings with it its own memories that are unique to the player, helping shape the moment in the game beyond what the game can do on its own.

So, with that in mind, we decided to take a look at some of the best uses of licensed music in video games. Enjoy!

Superman by Goldfinger in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater

Of all the licensed songs in gaming, what could be more iconic or impactful than Goldfinger’s Superman in the original Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater? While the game, and the franchise itself to a greater degree, was known as a curator of skate culture with other classic tracks like the Dead Kennedys Police Truck or Rage Against the Machine’s Guerilla Radio, it would be Goldfinger’s third-wave ska hit that would be seared into the minds of adolescent children the world over.

More a nostalgic throwback than a certifiable classic, Goldfinger’s Superman is mostly remembered by 90’s ska diehards and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater fans alone. It trades in all the standards of the genre – a commercially successful version of what had grown out of Jamaica in the 1950s, Superman mixed punk rock sensibilities with ska’s unique walking bass line and off-beat rhythm, becoming the anthem for virtual kickflips everywhere.

The Man Who Sold the World by Midge Ure in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

By the time Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain released in 2015, as with every Metal Gear Solid release, fans’ anticipation were at an all-time high. Though, I doubt anything could prepare you for the game’s high-octane, surrealistic opening hour. Even still, Midge Ure’s rendition of the David Bowie classic The Man Who Sold the World does an admirable job at setting the stage.

Picking up right after the events of Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes, we find Snake waking from a coma in a hospital room, nine years later. The song, playing just off screen from a radio, diegetically grounds us in the new reality of the game. Entering a new decade for the franchise, the 1980s, it’s just one of the many songs you’ll hear throughout your adventure, though its lyrics reflect the game’s story and Snake’s own mental state by the end of the game more than we might expect.

https://youtu.be/cLoytewvn0g

Power by Kanye West in Saints Row The Third

There are nothing games try to do more than fulfil the fantasy of being a superhero, though rarely do they ever come as close as Saints Row The Third does. That’s not to say the third Saints Row game is the most over-the-top of the bunch, it just happens to have one of the most badass moments in the entire series: an assault on a penthouse party, all set to Kanye West’s Power.

Diving out of a helicopter and landing onto the penthouse party below, it’s hard to compare the experience to anything else. Ye’s trademark braggadocious lyrics and pumped up production on the song help amplify the rooftop raid, turning the moment into one of the most exhilarating experiences in gaming. Pro tip: adding Power to almost anything will have a similar effect.

It’s Tricky by Run-DMC in SSX Tricky

When the first SSX released on the PlayStation 2 in 2000, it caught plenty of people’s attention. So, when its sequel, SSX Tricky dropped the next year, the bar was high. Although SSX Tricky is undoubtedly more an expanded version of the original game rather than a fully fledged sequel in its own right, it’s thanks to Run DMC’s classic hit It’s Tricky that SSX Tricky was able to redefine itself as something entirely new.

Whether it be a stroke of genius or just good marketing, It’s Tricky became a defining factor of SSX Tricky, in the same way the Lil John and the Eastside Boyz’ Get Low did for Need For Speed Underground. It was something EA was particularly good at at the time, marrying classic songs to their new games, which ultimately helped give them all a much broader appeal. It helps that they’re just damn good songs, too.

Safari Song by Greta Van Fleet in Forza Horizon 4

The Horizon branch of the Forza Motorsport series offers plenty of great tracks, so long as you’re into EDM, modern rock, and hip-hop, exclusively. Though, for my money, no racing game has ever used music more efficiently than in Horizon’s most recent outing, Forza Horizon 4, with songs playing for the entirety of a race and the post-race scoreboards looping particular verses of each song. Never does this work more effectively than with Greta Van Fleet’s Safari Song.

Although the young band has been written off by music critics for their devotion towards Led Zeppelin, even I must admit, their particular brand of imitation works pretty damn well when you just need some background noise as you’re drifting around corners and speeding down straightaways. Thanks to the wailing vocals of Josh Kiszka, the song works just as well during a rally race as it does a cross-country marathon, never feeling too out of place.

Make It Bun Dem by Skrillex and Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley in Far Cry 3

While dubstep may have come and gone as a short-lived and mostly ignored fad in the EDM scene, Far Cry 3 was smart enough to take advantage of the fledgling subgenre while the getting was good with Skrillex and Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley’s pot-smoking epitaph, Make It Bun Dem.

Admittedly, the song itself is hard to recommend unless you’re already a big fan of Skrillex. Though, when it starts to play as you begin setting ablaze a marijuana farm in the middle of Far Cry 3, it’s hard not to smile as the game’s psychedelic visuals turn an average encounter into a bizarre, trippy shootout.

Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked by Cage the Elephant in Borderlands

Few songs could capture the aimless post-apocalyptic wasteland of the Borderlands series better than that of Cage the Elephant’s Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked. Playing over the game’s opening cinematic as a bus carrying the game’s four playable characters makes its way down the highway, it sets the table for the entire franchise.

The song’s distant twangy opening plays over the world of the game slowly fading in, the chorus kicking in once the aforementioned bus slams into a skag before introducing each of the vault hunters one-by-one. While both Cage the Elephant and the Borderlands franchise have gone on to do better work since their first convergence in 2009, it’s hard to argue that the series has ever used a song better since.

Through the Fire and the Flames by Dragonforce in Guitar Hero III

When it comes to the songs featured in rhythm and music games like Guitar Hero, Rock Band, DJ Hero, and Dance Dance Revolution, there are just too many great selections to count. Of course, not every song in these games are as fun to play as the rest, nor are they as memorable. So, with that in mind, the power metal group Dragonforce’s Through the Fire and the Flames is the perfect representation of what these types of games do best.

Sure, merely playing the song at all can be a feat in and of itself, the song being composed at a ludicrously fast 200+ bpm. Notoriously, Dragonforce’s guitarist Herman Lee broke a guitar string during the final recording of the song, which must give you some inclination as to how ridiculous it is to begin with. While it may not be the most technically complex track to ever hit the official song listing of the Guitar Hero franchises, it was unique in being one of the first profoundly difficult songs, becoming a benchmark for high-level players everywhere.

All I Want by The Offspring in Crazy Taxi

Any fan of the Sega classic Crazy Taxi will tell you that half of the game’s charm was in its soundtrack. Filled from end-to-end with classic punk rock jams, the franchise has developed its own unique style thanks in large part to its eccentric musical stylings. Yet, standing out above the rest is The Offspring’s All I Want in the original Crazy Taxi.

For a game that’s all about getting people from point A to point B in as little time and as much style as possible, The Offspring’s anthemic All I Want is the perfect accompaniment. Its fast-paced tempo helps drive home Crazy Taxi’s persistent sense of urgency while Dexter Holland’s iconic vocals frame the franchise as something rebellious and extreme, two qualities that defined most of Sega’s catalog of games in the 90’s and early 00’s.

Moon River by Andy Williams in Bayonetta 2

As does Fly Me to the Moon in the original Bayonetta, Bayonetta 2’s use of the classic song Moon River, which premiered in the Audrey Hepburn classic Breakfast at Tiffany’s, would be reworked as the game’s battle theme. While the version we hear most often in the game is a fast-paced jazz-infused twist on the original song, the game’s ending credits opt for a softer rendition, one done by the famous crooner Andy Williams himself.

It’s true that Bayonetta 2 is simply doing what the original game had done with Fly Me to the Moon, but with a different song, and yet even still, it’s how things end in Bayonetta 2 that give the sequel an edge up on its predecessor. The softer version of the song plays over Bayonetta’s expectedly sultry dance moves act as the period on a story that was more personal and revelatory than the one that had come before, making it a more poignant note to end on.