Inspiration is vital for the creative process. If an artist says they have no source of inspiration, they’re probably lying. Now that can be as complex as “the fluttering of a hummingbird on a wonderful spring morning” or as simple as “well I dunno I saw this and I thought it was funny”. In this series of posts I’d like to share a couple of songs that inspired me in some of my music.
A couple of months ago I was playing Fallout: New Vegas, a post-apocalyptic first-person RPG set in the Mojave Desert. While exploring the Mojave, you might hear some of the ambient music from the first two Fallout games by Mark Morgan, or the brand new songs made for the game by Inon Zur, alongside a couple of tracks borrowed from Fallout 3. While this score is packed with tracks that nail the atmosphere of the different locations you might visit, there are alternatives that the game offers.
You can tune into different radio stations, some are story-specific like the Sierra Madre Broadcast, which leads into the Dead Money DLC. But some others play licensed music. For example Mojave Music Radio offers country music. Mysterious Broadcast offers instrumental jazz. And my favorite of the bunch, Radio New Vegas, hosted by the charismatic Mr. New Vegas, played by Wayne Newton.
Between songs, Mr. New Vegas will give news and commentary about events happening in the Mojave wasteland, one half is new events that could be of interest to the player, and the other half is the aftermath of those events based on your involvement and actions. I think that this is a clever way of leading the player into quests (which New Vegas isn’t short of), and also makes the player feel special and powerful when the results of their decisions are spoken about on live radio. It’s entirely optional and it is only one of many ways the game leads you into quests, but it certainly is one that captivates me
As for the music itself, game director Joshua Sawyer described in an interview with engadget: “The music of the late '50s, which is when Vegas started to really become a place that anyone cared about -- that era was a little bit different in terms of the Rat Pack vibe, and so I think we said in the interview session we are going for something that is a later shift.” For me, the early progression from the small town of Goodsprings with Mojave Music Radio, then moving into the luxurious New Vegas strip with Radio New Vegas, really helped with the atmosphere, probably as good as the regular ambient music.
New Vegas is not the only game that does this. For the Fallout series, it began with Fallout 3, and music has been an iconic element that is present even in the TV adaptation. Fallout is not even the only series that does this, and it’s also present in other franchises like GTA or Fortnite. But I mention New Vegas because it’s the first time I encountered a radio mechanic with such detail. It also translates really well into other Fallout games, with Fallout 4 and Fallout 76 being pretty much mechanically similar, but they feel different because of their unique locations and music and hosts that accompany them.
I’d like to do the same for my game. An aesthetic element that could both expand on the setting and serve as a mechanic that could aid the player, showing them more about the world they inhabit. Now the issue is that I don’t have the budget of studios like Bethesda or Obsidian. Even they had a hard time licensing Elvis Presley’s music despite the numerous references to The King. You think I, a mostly solitary indie dev making a game with practically no budget, would be able to license Oingo Boingo music for a secret boss fight if I felt like it? Of course not. But good news, I happen to be a musician and I can practically write music fit for the setting of the game. I could even take into account each region’s technological advancements and that could shape the music! Sure, it’s a daunting task, but I feel confident enough.
At least it sounds cool right?
I made these playlists to have a basic idea of what I want in my game. Basically if I had an infinite budget, I’d get the licenses of these. But I don’t, so these serve just as well to have inspiration for my own tracks and have them as background music while I work on specific regions.
Now they’re not chosen at random. I could slap in Tame Impala music, but it doesn’t quite feel right. That’s why for each I have a set of rules for including them, and I also keep a storyline with a chronological order of the songs and in-between playlists, so it has coherence. I’m not being strict with the rules though, and I might break them constantly. But these have to apply to the music I end up making regardless, like regional technological status.
Each playlist represents a different radio station, each with a different location and social context, so the music naturally reflects that. That is why they’re segmented into different radios instead of just one, much like how the Mojave Radio and Radio New Vegas play different music.
You can listen to them in order like a mixtape (I try to keep it in order like a story at times), or you can listen to it at random like an actual radio station, or maybe you can make your own with a couple of these songs. It’s up to you!
Now, forgive me if I’m a bit vague here, but I haven’t fully figured out this area. I just have the basics. Okay, let’s begin.
After the great collapse many people dispersed from their original towns and created small communities. One of them, composed mostly of former scientists, made a provisional town which flourished after some time. Eventually, other people would join this prosperous village, but it also took the attention of a larger government entity that would later absorb them into their territory as one of their colonies. Ever since, they’ve undergone an industrialization phase, where this government manufactures new tools and items that either improves their capital, or aids in the expansion of their domain, in exchange for better infrastructure in the town. And sure, they have “better security”, they have “healthcare”, and they have a “government”. But at what cost?
Before, they preferred being alive over… not being alive. But now the choice feels like choosing between living in the town of the filthy sinners, working under the control of people from far away, highly benefiting from you, while you rot in misery… or not being alive. So, how do we make a playlist for these people?
This is a song by Irish rock band the Cranberries, being the first song of their album Bury the Hatchet. You probably know them for songs such as Linger and Zombie. Heck, even my mother knows both songs. Something that you might notice is that I tend to avoid putting the more popular songs of some bands and musicians, and instead put some of their less known works in order to showcase them for their uniqueness, and not just because “they’re trendy”, at least with bands I know very well. That’s why I avoided Linger and Zombie (tbh I don’t really like Linger thaaat much anyway). I literally break that rule later but, this is my playlist so who cares!
Part of the uniqueness of the Cranberries is vocalist Dolores O’Riordan. Her voice is spectacular, and I’ve never seen anyone get close to it. Around that time, Dolores had her first child, which influenced the writing of some of the tracks from Bury the Hatchet (mainly this one). Lines such as “So take my hands and we will pray. They won't take you away.” evoke the motherly instinct, fighting to keep their children from being taken. It’s such a natural feeling that manifests across species. One of many that would manifest in Sprocket Lake. I think the music video showcases this very well, but I changed it to just music in the playlist because it has quicker load times in theory, without having to worry about multiple frames and just loading the cover art.
When making this playlist, I had barely heard any songs by The Smiths. After I heard this one, the band’s discography took multiple spots here like a virus. This is one of the last songs in the album “The Queen is Dead”. This is probably one of the more depressing songs even for The Smiths. When I saw this song in a friend’s Instagram notes, I messaged her “omg I also like this song!” followed by “are you alright though?”. No joke, I got an ad for a depression hotline while listening to this song while writing this.
I feel like there’s a common misconception that music (and media in general) only can exist for entertainment purposes, but I feel like it’s important to express our feelings through art, and this song is an example of that.
I’ve got a friend that sometimes listens to alt-rock, and when discussing this song, his commentary was, quote, “es bellisima, pinche rolla toda hermosa” which translated, means “this is one of the most beautiful songs ever” (I took some creative liberties with that translation). And I agree, the composition is beautiful in itself. In addition to the usual jangle pop instruments, there’s also E-mu Emulator samples of strings that enhance the feeling. The use of that library was made for needing to stay on budget, which is ironic because that’s why sometimes I use E-mu strings in my own music for the same reasons (though I’ve gotten more modern libraries since).
The song makes me feel pain, but in a good way? Like, it makes me feel alive. I’ll get to why I don’t like Morrissey as a person later, but as a songwriter, he did an amazing job here. “And if a double-decker bus crashes into us, to die by your side is such a heavenly way to die And if a ten ton truck kills the both of us, to die by your side, well, the pleasure, the privilege is mine” is such a beautiful line. It’s so heartbreaking and horrifying, yet somehow beautiful. It pulls my emotional strings so well. And if I showcased lines from this song, I’d just put the whole lyrics here. Nearly a 10/10 if they didn’t omit “There is a light in your eyes and it never goes out” by the end that is present in the demo. I swear that would’ve been perfect.
Chat, I’ve got something to confess. I'm a poser. I barely know anything about Bob Dylan or Jimi Hendrix. BUT that won’t stop me from liking at least this song.
Originally written by American singer Bob Dylan, All Along The Watchtower is a song more commonly associated with Jimi Hendrix’s energetic rendition. This is precisely why I chose this song. It has massive drums, massive and crisp guitars, all thanks to the intense echo that leaves Dylan’s version looking like an ant. It’s monumental, and I love that. I want that kind of mixing in my music. It’s the mixing that can make a song magnificent, and thanks to the engineers’ effort in this song, this song sounds like how it does: majestic.
According to Robert Smith, “The people who like 'Friday I'm in Love' aren't actually fans of the Cure. They're not the ones who buy my records”. Right on the money Robert, but I already told everyone I’m a poser, you don’t need to make fun of me any further.
In all seriousness though, he also mentioned that “Friday I'm in Love' is a dumb pop song, but it's quite excellent actually because it's so absurd. It's so out of character - very optimistic and really out there in happy land. It's nice to get that counterbalance.”. I guess that counterbalance also applies to this playlist.
I’ve noticed that when I’m really pissed, I joke as much as when I’m extremely happy. Only difference is that I don’t laugh when I’m pissed, but I spit out sarcastic jokes nonetheless. I guess that irony is not an uncommon feeling at Sprocket Lake. Hence why I added this song.
Plus it’s bloody catchy!
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