Retro game music has long influenced pop culture, even before today’s modern online gambling scene. The gaming industry began with arcades, and this is where characters like Pac-Man and hits such as Tetris became among the first retro-gaming characters to influence pop culture. Since that US hit, we’ve seen multiple soundtracks shape tracks across genres, including hip-hop, electronic house and pop.
It is fair to say that in the era of AI and social media, where just about any topic has global reach, video game music is everywhere online, played in concerts, remixed by popular artists and regularly heard at many global EDM festivals.
However, we’re not going to look at modern examples as you’ve probably already heard them. Instead, our goal is to find direct examples of retro game music that influenced pop culture.
Pac-Man and the First Video Game Music Hit in Pop Culture
The first example of retro game music influencing pop culture dates back to 1982, and it’s that famous chomping character we all know and love, Pac-Man. The track is called Pac-Man Fever created by Buckner & Garcia.
It didn’t quite reach number one on the music charts, but it did peak at number 9 on the US Billboard Hot 100. It is the first and earliest example of not just a retro game influencing pop culture, but of any video game influencing music.
We think you can all agree it’s a pretty amazing feat for our yellow friend. Not only did Pac-Man cross over into other industries, but it also showed that the retro bean-eater can generate revenue outside of gaming.
How Tetris Music Became a Global Pop Culture Anthem
Fast forward six years, and Tetris, a game most remembered from Nintendo consoles, joined Pac-Man and etched its place in global pop culture. It originated in 1984, but for those from the retro-gaming era, you may still recall the pixelated handheld game console, the Nintendo Game Boy.
Tetris was one of its first games, and when Nintendo released it on the Game Boy in 1989, it used Korobeiniki, a 19th-century Russian folk song, as its main theme tune. That same melody has been rehashed into ringtones, radio and TV ads, where marketers have been looking for retro game music to connect with their audience.
Although we’ve cheated a bit here, mainly because we have to admit that Russian folk music isn’t strictly pop culture, Tetris still makes a good example of how retro game music influenced music and sound culture by turning a traditional Russian folk song into a global digital anthem.
Who knows, there might be some Russians out there who class Korobeiniki as pop!
How Arcade Game Music Influenced Electronic and Hip-Hop Music
Retro game music influenced pop culture through electronic sounds, which were adopted by electronic and hip-hop production. Arcade sound effects and simple melodies were used directly in early music experiments.
Yellow Magic Orchestra used video game-inspired sounds in tracks like Computer Game, which is one of the influences that have defined early synth-driven music. Also, Afrika Bambaataa used electronic and arcade-style sounds in the early days of hip-hop.
It makes perfect sense, too. Before pop culture moved into house music, techno and hip hop, video game music was already being played on game consoles and, even earlier, on Atari, Commodore 64 and Commodore Amiga computers. If we go back further, the Spectrum.
With those retro gaming sounds etched into the young minds of the early hip-hop, house and techno generation of music artists, retro games have influenced the sound design and production style of entire music genres.
What Is Chiptune Music and How It Influenced Pop Culture
Chiptune is an interesting concept as it uses retro game consoles to create music. The NES, Game Boy and the Commodore 64 were all used to create early electronic music using original sound chips, hence the name Chiptune.
As you can imagine, most gamers using these consoles would create music for the games they designed, including soundtracks, which is a classic example of early retro game music within its own standalone genre. The evolution of Ciptune soon influenced pop culture, moving from niche gamer communities and crossing over into the wider music culture.
Take, for example, artists like Anamanaguchi, who were one of the first to bring chiptune into the mainstream music charts. When pop artists heard the melodies from the Ciptune genre, they adopted similar sounds in their commercial tracks.
As a result, we have another great example of how retro video game music influenced pop culture and became a direct source of modern music production.
Michael Jackson’s Contribute to the Sonic Hedgehog 3 Soundtrack
Pop culture has also influenced retro gaming. A perfect example of this happening is when Michael Jackson reportedly contributed to the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 soundtrack. Although we have to admit that this is just a rumor.
After the pop singer’s involvement was circulated on the pop and gaming grapevines, everyone rushed to check the official credits on the game itself, but they neither confirmed nor denied Michael Jackson’s involvement.
Although official credits remain unclear, the influence of pop, funk, and dance music is evident throughout early Sonic soundtracks and remains a great example of how retro game music aligned closely with mainstream pop production styles during the 1990s.
How the Pokémon Theme Song Became a Pop Culture Hit
Gotta Catch ‘Em All from Pokémon has reached global audiences. It’s yet another situation where video music has influenced pop culture.
Not only has the song been played on the radio, in movies and in other mainstream entertainment, but singers have also often sung their own versions of the song, and it’s become popular in karaoke.
It comes as no surprise that the theme song reached such dizzy heights of popularity due to the game’s popularity, and it is perhaps one of the clearest examples of how retro game music influenced pop culture.
How Video Games Became Music Discovery Platforms
Some people first heard songs they later bought while playing video games. The era of game designers striking deals with music artists to include their music during gameplay on game consoles and PCs literally made them a music advertising zone.
Take Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, for example. You could adjust the in-game radio station, which played pop tracks like Billie Jean by Michael Jackson, Out of Touch by Hall & Oates as well as Africa by Toto.
Just that radio channel alone exposed Grand Theft Auto players to artists and genres they may not have discovered otherwise. Ultimately, this was the beginning of video games becoming a distribution channel for music.
Video Game Music At Live Concerts
There are concerts where orchestras literally perform musicals based on video games. For the purpose of this article, it’s fair to say they are, by and large, pop concerts.
Video Games Live and Distant Worlds Music from Final Fantasy are two great examples of events that have influenced pop culture. Both take place across the globe, hosted by well-known venues.
It just goes to show how far retro game music has come, crossing over from background audio to recognized musical work.
Fortnite Hosts Live Music Events
The popular battle royale shooter Fortnite hosts live music events in-game. It’s not exactly retro game music influencing pop culture, per se. However, it is an example of how music and video games once again become intertwined.
Performers like Travis Scott and Ariana Grande have been guests of these Fortnite live music events, which if you add the example of Grand Theft Auto becoming almost a promotional mechanism for music, it just goes to show how video gaming and music go hand in hand.
Why Retro Game Music Still Influences Pop Culture Today
Retro game music influenced pop culture by proving that simple audio design could scale into global entertainment. From Pac-Man to modern live events, video game music is now a firm fixture not just in mainstream culture but particularly in pop culture.
The influence continues, as retro gaming remains a popular niche, which is why we will continue to see retro game music and sounds on streaming channels, at concerts, in remixes and adopted by new game releases.
As a result, something that began as basic soundtracks in arcades and moved to early home game consoles now influences how some music is created, shared, and experienced worldwide, even in today’s tech era.
FAQs
What was the first video game to influence mainstream music?
The 1982 pop song Pac-Man Fever is the earliest example of a video game influencing mainstream music.
Did video game music actually influence real artists?
Yes, there are a few examples of this happening. The Japanese band Yellow Magic Orchestra created an electronic synth-pop track in 1978/1979 using video game music. Also, Afrika Bambaataa incorporated retro video game sounds into his hip-hop tracks.
Why is the Tetris theme so well-known worldwide?
Tetris was one of the most popular early retro games released on the Nintendo Game Boy. The game used a 19th-century Russian folk song, Korobeiniki, which became world-famous and was even adopted by media agencies for advertising.
Is chiptune considered a real music genre today?
Yes, chiptune is a real music genre that uses retro game sound hardware. Artists like Anamanaguchi have released albums in which the music is produced using modified game consoles.
Did Michael Jackson really work on Sonic the Hedgehog 3?
Although Michael Jackson’s contribution to the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 soundtrack is not exactly known due to his involvement not being fully credited at the time, if you’ve played the game or watched YouTube videos and listened to the soundtrack, you can hear his influence on several of the tracks from the game.
How did video games help people discover new music?
The best example is Grand Theft Auto. Starting with the release of its Vice City game, the in-game radio station would play out songs created by real-world music artists. Some were up-and-coming, and others were well-known. Due to the game’s immense popularity, people heard the songs featured in it and discovered new artists and genres.
