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How Rockstar changed the tune of video game soundtracks
From DJ games to DJs in games, we look at how Rockstar changed the way we think about video game soundtracks.
No matter how ambitious and outsized video games become, there will always be a push for "more" – more speed, better graphics, increased customisation, and sprawling size.
Rockstar Games has a self-enforced, ambitious approach to game development: "To create the most innovative and progressive interactive entertainment." The developers have taken the "most" part of that mission statement to heart; nearly every major Rockstar Games release since 2001 has been heralded as a key advancement in the game industry's development. But it doesn't take long for innovation to be accepted as a given.
The irony, of course, is that innovation often presents itself in seamless, mundane ways, so players don't appreciate it. It's a sort of Turing test that if a feature stands out, it can also signify a break in its immersion.
Take, for example, Grand Theft Auto V's use of music. The car radio is a fully formed feature of the game, with DJs, commercials, in-between-song banter, and close to 250 licensed songs – everything from Creedence Clearwater Revival and Johnny Cash to 2Pac and Dr. Dre. Listening to the in-game radio approximates the experience of listening on the radio in real life; there are so many songs that if you mix up your stations, you can play the radio for hours without hearing the same song twice.
It would be easy, particularly for younger gamers, to experience this and not blink twice; it's so well-integrated as to be unremarkable. But the steps to get to this point, where the in-game radio is a near-perfect recreation of terrestrial radio, was a long road. And that road begins, and ends, with brothers Dan and Sam Houser, the founders of Rockstar Games.
Musical beginnings
Growing up, Dan and Sam both aspired to work in the music industry. Their father co-owned a jazz club, and the brothers became enamored by the 1980's New York hip-hop scene. They identified with hip-hop producer and Def Jam founder Rick Rubin, a suburban-raised NYU student who subsumed himself in street culture, producing hit records for artists like LL Cool J, Geto Boys, Public Enemy, Run-D.M.C. and The Beastie Boys. He helped bring hip-hop to a mainstream audience. The English prep school-educated Housers, who would one day create a video game empire populated by street hustlers and gangsters, derived inspiration from Rubin's hip-hop, DIY cachet.
The brothers began their careers at BMG Music, directing in-house concert videos before transitioning to game publishing wing BMG Interactive. It was there that the Housers met the developers at DMA Design (which would later become Rockstar North), who pitched them an idea for a driving game called Race and Chase. BMG agreed to publish it, and it would be released under a new title: Grand Theft Auto (1997).
The game was a bestseller, and after Take-Two acquired the rights to the franchise, the Housers founded Rockstar Games as a subsidiary game label under the Take-Two banner in 1998. Rockstar Games published Grand Theft Auto 2 in 1999.
The first two main games in the franchise had car radios, but the songs were written and recorded in-house. The second game, however, had dedicated disc jockeys on all stations (which each had its own logo), plus satirical commercial breaks. These would become precedents for the franchise.
Licensing breakthrough
In 2001, Rockstar released Grand Theft Auto III. Unlike prior entries in the series, the radio songs were predominantly composed by outside artists; the hip-hop station, for example, includes tracks by Black Rob and Royce Da 5'9". The songs in Grand Theft Auto III were not Top 40 hits; the most "popular" songs, such as Amy Holland’s She’s on Fire and Paul Engemann’s Push It to the Limit, were cuts from the Scarface soundtrack.
This was the first time that Rockstar used music as a major part of a marketing campaign. One of the first trailers featured Italian opera aria O mio babbino caro, juxtaposed with scenes of Italian mob violence.
In-game, Rockstar took its first steps towards auditory storytelling; the gangsters had differing musical taste. Hijack an Uptown Yardie vehicle, and the radio would be tuned to reggae station K-JAH. It alluded to a larger world beyond the game – that these nameless NPC's had tribal allegiances and preferences beyond what Claude, your player avatar, could see. And when you completed missions for these rival gangs using their cars (provided you didn't change the radio dial), their favorite music became an immersive part of your experience.
Rockstar released Grand Theft Auto III at the beginning of the file sharing era; Napster had fallen, but BearShare, Kazaa and IMesh had taken its place. And in a nod to that, the PC edition of the game allowed you to create your own mixtape and play it in the game's cars. All you had to do was transfer your mp3s into the correct folder.
Rockstar released two sequels to Grand Theft Auto III using the same RenderWare engine: GTA: Vice City (2002), and GTA: San Andreas (2004). The former was set in the '80s, and the latter was set in the '90s. Together, they represent the musical high point of the franchise, because of how they evoked their respective time periods. The Vice City soundtrack featured over 100 licensed songs, including iconic '80s hits like Billie Jean, Broken Wings, and I Ran.
The San Andreas soundtrack featured over 150 tracks and included '90s hits like Killing In The Name, Rebel Without A Pause, and Nuthin But A 'G' Thang. That's the benefit of scoring a game that's set in the past; Rockstar had the hindsight to know which songs stood the test of time.
San Andreas' radio distinguished itself by being randomised; up until that point, the radio stations were single sound files that played on a loop. Now the songs were shuffled, and it felt more organic and unpredictable. This shuffling continued in 2008's Grand Theft Auto IV, which featured over 200 songs. But unlike Vice City and San Andreas, it took place in the current day. The soundtrack while featuring a range of well-known artists like The Smashing Pumpkins, Kanye West, Aphex Twin, and R. Kelly, did not have the same evocative, nostalgic qualities.
A music mixer
In 2009, Rockstar released Beaterator for the PSP and iOS. It was a music mixer, expanded from an original Flash app on the Rockstar Games' website. It featured thousands of original beats, samples, and effects by Timbaland and Rockstar, which players could speed up, slow down, chop up, and arrange to make original music. The mixer was seen as a natural progression for Rockstar, given the emphasis they’d placed on music in their releases so far.
The game allowed players to share their musical creations with the Rockstar community. Unlike trendy music rhythm games at the time like Guitar Hero, Rock Band, and DJ Hero, Beaterator allowed for creation as opposed to rote imitation. It was, unsurprisingly, critically acclaimed.
Modern musical storytelling
In 2010, Rockstar Games released Red Dead Redemption, an open world game set in the early 1900's Western United States. The music was non-diegetic; composers Bill Elm and Woody Jackson tried to emulate the Spaghetti Western stylings of Ennio Morricone rather than music accurate to the time period. By doing so, the composers framed Red Dead Redemption as a Hollywood story instead of a simulator. The wall that existed between cinema and gameplay was slowly breaking down.
The most memorable moment of Red Dead Redemption was indelibly tied to music. It's when John Marston is crossing the border into Mexico on horseback. Usually, Marston rides in silence; you hear birds and natural sounds as you ride across the open plains. But this time, Jose Gonzales' Far Away plays over the scene, evoking a sense of loneliness as you head into the unknown.
Because it triggered at such a rare, isolated moment, it had a profoundly emotional effect on players. The song had lyrics, and it wasn't an ambient melody – another bold choice at the time.
Rockstar would orchestrate something similar in Grand Theft Auto V (2013), this time for comedic effect. When Trevor is driving Patricia Madrazo back to her husband at the end of the Monkey Business mission, Chicago's If You Leave Me Now comes on over the radio. Trevor breaks down and cries over the woman he had kidnapped, much to the player's discomfort.
Grand Theft Auto V actually features more musicians and music than ever before – everyone from Rick James to NWA to Bob Seger. But now that we're in this modern, more cinematic era of gaming, players demand more than sheer volume. They crave those well-placed and well-timed musical moments; they hold lofty expectations that Rockstar Games placed upon themselves.
Just recently, Rockstar released GTA Online expansion After Hours, which tasks players with managing a nightclub, with an emphasis on – you guessed it – music. Using original tracks from some of the most groundbreaking DJs around, from The Black Madonna to Solomun, it’s another step in the musical journey of Rockstar.
And in two months, the company will release Red Dead Redemption 2, their first full-length title in five years. No doubt, there will be a cinematic, musical moment or two, but what else? How can Rockstar continue to create the "most innovative" soundtrack interactivity to date? It will be difficult for developers to continually top themselves in the years ahead. But if the past is any indication, it'll be great fun to see them try.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is coming to PS4 and Xbox One on October 26.
