Music that triggers fond memories

[Rik]

In my 80's gaming peak, when driving to summer school, every morning and afternoon this Elton John tune "I'm Still Standing" would come on the radio.That summer was the most memorable for me classic gaming wise as i traded or bought games off this kid i made friends with at school.That really made me look forward to going to "SUMMER" school Anyway, whenever i hear that song, it really takes me back to very fond memories of that time.I remember coming home at lunch time when i didn't have any more classes and playing Ms.Pacman, Phoenix, Robot Tank, and all these other great games i bought off my friend at school.In the morning he'd bring in another bunch of like new boxed games for me to buy for like $10-15 bucks each!, god that was fantastic.Anyone else hear this 1 song that's enough to trigger an avalanche of great memories from your gaming experiences from the 80's?Other eras as well is fine!

Edited October 19, 2010 by Rik

[Armonigann]

Every time I hear "eye of the tiger" it reminds me not just Rocky for the sms but also Mike Tysons Punchout.

[godslabrat]

Pretty much anything by Journey, or from the Transformers soundtrack, will bring me right back into my mindset when I first discovered video games.

 

Actually, all the music I listen to brings back memories, but those are the most relevant to this forum

[Koopa64]

Why only 80s era music? This is Classic Gaming General, that could apply to the 90s as well.

[Rik]

Why only 80s era music? This is Classic Gaming General, that could apply to the 90s as well.

Yeah that's true!I was thinking specifically in my case, but yeah any era really.I changed the thread title a bit, thanks.

Edited October 19, 2010 by Rik

[Gregory DG]

Abracadabra by the Steve Miller Band always seemed to be on when I was playing Atari 2600 Defender. So now I always hear it when I'm playing the game no matter if the song is on or not...

[Rik]

Abracadabra by the Steve Miller Band always seemed to be on when I was playing Atari 2600 Defender. So now I always hear it when I'm playing the game no matter if the song is on or not...

Good one!

[tz101]

Music really went with the whole 80s arcade experience. Kinda weird, but I remember Culture Club singing karma Chameleon and I'll Tumble 4 Ya at the arcade I frequented. Not that I was a fan of Boy George or anything, but I still associate those songs with Berzerk, Galaga, Black Widow, and Phoenix arcade versions.

 

Some others that bring back the 80s arcade (and home) gaming experience: Journey Escape, Don't Stop Believin'. Those were awesome tunes and an equally awesome arcade machine.

 

Modern English, I'll Melt With You. Wow.

 

For real gaming flashbacks, get one of the Atari/Activision anthology or Williams/Namco compilation discs for PS2 or Gamecube. I think even Intellivision Lives has some nice 80s tunes on it.

[the-topdog]

Christmas of 1993, sitting at the computer with my 2 year old son on my lap with Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust" cranked to the max as I played Doom Serial MultiPlayer for the very first time! My son giggling as I tore through the creatures and took on my brother... my son giggling "Where are you unka? We gots pwize for you!"

[cimerians]

Centerfold and Freeze frame from the J Geils Band while playing Mega Force on the 2600 or any other game. Sometimes Kiss.

 

Laugh at me, I dont care but I would put on Pac-Man Fever and then play Pac-Man on the 2600.

 

Saturday morning cartoons were a blast too.

[the.golden.ax]

For some reason October makes me want to listen to some Queen every year. Not sure why. Times, places, memories, when the leaves fall and the sky turns it's time for some Queen.

 

AX

[Taskmaster99]

Flock of Seagulls "I ran". Every arcade growing up had this playing and then they used it in the GTA:Vice City commercial back in the day.

[JamesD]

I've always been a bit of a music fanatic so I tend to remember where I was when about any song I liked came out.

 

Centerfold and Freeze frame from the J Geils Band while playing Mega Force on the 2600 or any other game. Sometimes Kiss.

I remember decorating for prom to that tape and a friend playing Freeze Frame over and over again. I liked the Love Stinks album better though with Come Back, Love Stinks and No Anchovies Please... which we could recite word for word. The same dude that played Freeze Frame also played After the Fire - Der Kommisar over and over.

 

Foreigner - Juke Box Hero... holy crap that got played to death along with Journey, 38 Special, Loverboy, and the Police.

Duran Duran - Hungry Like the Wolf, Saga - Wind Him Up, Rick Springfield - Jesse's Girl, Reflex - The Politics of Dancing (saw them in concert with the Thompson Twins... who I didn't know), The Eurythmics, Robby Dupre - Hot Rod Hearts (I think that's his name), Billy Joel - It's Still Rock n Roll to Me... which my friend was singing CONSTANTLY!

John Cougar - Hurt So Good & Jack n Diane, Eddie Money - Shakin & Two Tickets To Paradise, anything by Styx, Asia which was always playing on buss trips along with Van Halen - Pretty Woman... and I shouldn't forget Def Leppard - Hello America (did anyone actually know the rest of the lyrics?), Bringin on the Heartbreak, Rock of Ages, Pyromania, and Photograph.

 

I remember Madonna - Borderline & Lucky Star. We saw some girls walking along with the dorky Madonna wannabe cloths and asked what was up with that. Someone said "they are new wavers" and my friend said he wasn't done old waving it yet.

Which reminds me... preppie shirts with turned up collars. I couldn't stand the turned up collars. The same friend was always trying to turn up my collar because it was "cool" and I'd put it back WHERE IT BELONGED!

 

Styx, come sail away was the theme song for prom but the idiot DJ played Sailing by Christopher Cross instead. And we had to threaten not to pay him to get him to play Doug & Bob McEnzie - Take Off which we loved for some strange reason.

While I'm at it, I remember Max Headroom T-Shirts (horrible show but we watched anyway), Buck Rodgers, Battlestar Galactica, and 'You Look Marvelous'.

 

I don't remember playing music while playing video games at home but staying up for Friday Night Videos was the thing if you didn't have anything better to do.

 

Anyone remember the K-Tel mix tapes? I can't remember the title but there was one with Rick James - Superfreak, and The Moody Blues - The Voice. It played in the weight room after school all football/basketball season while we were training. One tape had 867-5309 (Jenny). The volleyball team listened to Survivor and Queen a lot, and a friend listened to the Rocky soundtrack while training for track.

 

My first two years of college, the juke box in the student center game room was ALWAYS playing Van Halen - 1984, Scandal - The Warrior, and Rock Me Tonight by Billy Squire. Hardly anything else... maybe Rick Springfield - Human Touch. I didn't play the video games so much as pool or pinball. I could make a quarter last the hour between Calculus and Psychology on a pinball machine. That machine got some serious abuse... I hated the math professor. Ratt - Round And Round was suddenly cool and Night Ranger - Don't Tell Me You Love Me was my roommate's favorite song. Billy Idol - Rebel Yell, Money Money... I shouldn't forget the Scorpions - Rock You Like a Hurricane. I traded the kid upstairs a well used Scorpions Tape for a new Billy Idol tape... the guy couldn't find the Scorpions anywhere... and I bought a new Scorpions tape two days later. I remember playing Time Pilot and Track n Field at the bowling alley to Van Halen and the Scorpions. Asia broke up and Styx committed that atrocity Mr. Roboto in concert in Laramie, WY... which was the end of them as well though I think they actually made it a couple more stops on the tour. The music wasn't an atrocity, the "concert" was. But that led to Tommy Shaw - Girls With Guns (great album).

I also remember an awesome group on the radio (the top of the rock baby! KBPI??) called Van Zant who nobody else seems to have heard of along with John Polumbo - Blowin Up Detroit.

 

I could list songs on and on... Tarzan Boy, Voices Carry, All You Zombies, We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off, Human League - Don't You Want Me, Animotion - Obsession, Brian Adams, and Rod Stewart.

 

I don't think I've mentioned a single song that doesn't have a memory tied to it.

[JamesD]

Music really went with the whole 80s arcade experience. Kinda weird, but I remember Culture Club singing karma Chameleon and I'll Tumble 4 Ya at the arcade I frequented. Not that I was a fan of Boy George or anything, but I still associate those songs with Berzerk, Galaga, Black Widow, and Phoenix arcade versions.

We couldn't stand Culture Club or Boy George. I remember "Do you really want to hurt me?" shortly followed by "Yes, we do."

[tz101]

Music really went with the whole 80s arcade experience. Kinda weird, but I remember Culture Club singing karma Chameleon and I'll Tumble 4 Ya at the arcade I frequented. Not that I was a fan of Boy George or anything, but I still associate those songs with Berzerk, Galaga, Black Widow, and Phoenix arcade versions.

We couldn't stand Culture Club or Boy George. I remember "Do you really want to hurt me?" shortly followed by "Yes, we do."

 

I think that arcade just piped in some pop station that was local. Evidently, that station played Culture Club along with everything else. Whether you admit it or not, many stations back then played homosexual music, Elton John and Wham! included. While not my choice, all I was saying is that those songs are associated with those games due to their heavy rotation on the local pop/rock station.

[JamesD]

I think that arcade just piped in some pop station that was local. Evidently, that station played Culture Club along with everything else. Whether you admit it or not, many stations back then played homosexual music, Elton John and Wham! included. While not my choice, all I was saying is that those songs are associated with those games due to their heavy rotation on the local pop/rock station.

It had nothing to with homosexuality. Elton John and George Micheal were ok... we just couldn't stand Boy George.

[marcfrick2112]

I think that arcade just piped in some pop station that was local. Evidently, that station played Culture Club along with everything else. Whether you admit it or not, many stations back then played homosexual music, Elton John and Wham! included. While not my choice, all I was saying is that those songs are associated with those games due to their heavy rotation on the local pop/rock station.

It had nothing to with homosexuality. Elton John and George Micheal were ok... we just couldn't stand Boy George.

 

Agreed, I couldn't stand Boy George either...

Well, glad someone mentioned 'Don't Stop Believin'

In 1987, I was finishing high school, and working part-time as a pharmacist's assistant. I had to deliver scripts to regular customers, it got very boring.. so I always had my Walkman on... LOL!

I remember:

T'Pau - Heart and Soul

Heart(the poppy version)- Never, Alone

Escape Club - Wild, wild west

Kim WIlde - Keep me Hangin' on, Kids in America

 

later, I would use some savings and my tax refund to buy my first Amiga....

Also, whenever I hear 'Depeche Mode's Music for the Masses' I immediately think of Shadow of the Beast III on the Amiga... I kinda got sick of SOTB3's music....

[Rik]

Great replies guys! :thumbsup:Indeed, this can be the other way around being "Does classic gaming make you think of music".Whenever i play classic games, the 1st thing i think about is 80's era music, New wave music especially for me.Whenever i played, there would be New Wave music playing on the radio or on the other TV in the house.New Wave was really at its peak in 84.I remember Duran Duran being played on TV and radio 24-7.Heavy Metal was at its peak at the same time.Groups like RATT, MOTLEY CRUE, and all the other "Hair" bands was really huge.But i really think NEW WAVE fit what we now call classic games a lot better, IMO anyway, as i don't think of Metal when i play my games.Metal though fits today's gaming because of the increased action and violence in today's popular gaming franchises.For instance, i love Quake 2, and all the other Quake sountracks!!!! , really suits the game.

Edited October 26, 2010 by Rik

[JamesD]

Beware, more rablings...

 

I didn't play as many games in the arcade by the time most hair bands were popular so games that make me think of music are stuff like Asteroids, Defender, etc... And a lot of games had so much noise and action you don't notice the music playing in the background anyway.

FWIW, I went through a hair band phase. Cinderella, Poison, Danger Danger, Great White, Y&T, Autograph, Slaughter... but I was working every spare minute and didn't go to arcades much. Paying the rent and for food took priority.

 

I watched 'Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins' on Netflix today. One of the songs 'What If' is by Tommy Shaw from the album I mentioned. I remember seeing it at the midnight movie in the student center in college. I loved the movie but most people didn't get the humor. But hey, I thought 'Hudson Hawk' was funny too so what do I know. And no, that doesn't make me think of any games.

 

I just had a serious flashback while writing this... I remembered entering the arcade and Joan Jet - Do Ya Wanna Touch was playing. I heard that stupid song playing in every car on the road the same night (crusin' main street) and someone kept playing it over and over at the arcade. I was ready to smack them upside the head. The second song that played that night was Jessie's Girl. Why I remember that I don't know.

 

Some more groups you would have heard in the arcade... Quarterflash, AC/DC, The Go Go's, The Motels (one of my favorites to this day), Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Yes, and Men at Work (another bus trip favorite). Has anyone mentioned Hall & Oats?

 

More songs that were always playing in the game room at college... Sunglasses at Night by Corey Hart, Stand Back - Stevie Nicks, and 99 Luftballons - Nena. The cowboys played George Strait a lot... I think the most popular song they played was You Look So Good In Love. Not your typical arcade music but then they were always playing pool.

 

One game does come to mind specifically for music. Not jukebox music but its music. Reactor. It was by the door of one arcade I visited in Colorado. I've never gotten the tune out of my head.

[JamesD]

I remember:

T'Pau - Heart and Soul

Heart(the poppy version)- Never, Alone

Escape Club - Wild, wild west

Kim WIlde - Keep me Hangin' on, Kids in America

LOL, I was one of the first people in the area to have a CD player.

CD players were $$$ back then. I paid $500 for mine.

I played that Heart CD for a high school classmate and she about jumped out of her skin when the music started with no hiss.

She wasn't ready for it to be that loud. It was one of a couple of digitally recorded disks I owned at the time.

[Gabriel]

There's an Alan Parsons Project song that always makes me remember reading my Atari Age club magazines. I think it's Eye in the Sky.

 

Whenever I hear Michael Jackson's Thriller, I remember how it came on the radio as I was playing my marathon session of Laser Blast to get 1 million. I had 800,000 points, and was in the home stretch. Then Thriller came on and the song completely screwed up my rhythm. My ships died one after another. After two hours of constant play, I was denied tantalizingly close to my goal. It pissed me off at the time, but it anchors that day's memories in my mind, and in the end it's a pretty happy memory of childhood.

 

Centerfold by the J. Giles Band was my favorite song during a good chunk of my early Atari 2600 gaming, so hearing it often brings back fond memories of Missile Command and such.

 

I bought a Lisa Keith's Walkin' in the Sun CD at the same time as I purchased Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom, and listened to it while playing. Therefore, as far as I'm concerned, it was the soundtrack for that game. To this day, whenever I hear anything from that CD, I remember wandering around and hacking monsters in Phantasy Star. When I played the game recently on the Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection, I didn't listen to the CD at the same time and it didn't even feel like I was playing the same game.

 

These aren't videogame related, but kinda funny. I had just bought the Mekton II rulebook (a roleplaying game) and was reading it. I was listening to a Samantha Fox tape. A song called "I'm All You Need" started up when I was on a certain page. Whenever I hear the song, I associate it with that book and page and vice versa. Another goofy one relates to Vansessa William's CD The Comfort Zone and the hyper-nerdy and rule intensive wargame known as Star Fleet Battles. I was lying on the floor of my room, just letting my disc changer play whatever it felt like. I was reading some Star Fleet Battles fiction and poring over the rulebooks for my next game session. Then Freedom Dance (Get Free) came on, and the rhythm seemed to fit perfectly with the pace of the story I was reading and fit the tempo of the game I was imagining in my head. So, Vanessa Williams became official Star Fleet Battles music for me.

[JamesD]

Huey Lewis and The News.

[Eltigro]

Not from the 80's, but I remember listening to the Singles Soundtrack a lot while playing TurboGrafx back in the early 90's. Some of the songs from that tape still remind me of playing Psychosis or Legendary Axe.

[innuendo]

Music from Golden Axe, especially Darth Adder's theme

[raskar42]

asia

 

i have a framed poster...