Curated Playlist/Artistic Statement
Link to Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZi7usYx9ca90vzaa114eN-zEGTwhy_6C
Artist Statement:
The theme of this playlist was video game music covers. As we talked about in class with our discussion of Mariachi Entertainment System, video game music can be a way for artists to attract listeners to different genres of music (in MES' case mariachi). The idea is that people will be more likely to listen to songs in a genre they aren't used to if they recognize the song being covered. With that in mind, I searched for covers in different genres to demonstrate how video game music is used to introduce people to lots of different styles of music. I personally believe these covers serve another purpose as well. In my experience, many people tend to unfairly regard video game music as a lesser type of music because of the medium it is used in. When this music is covered in a genre that people more readily recognize as music, such as jazz or metal, they're more likely to consider video game music "real" music. Thus video game music covers serve a dual role; they draw in listeners to different genres and legitimize the original song.
I decided to use YouTube as the format for the playlist because many of the artists I found that covered video game music used YouTube as their main online platform. My playlist is divided up into four sections, one for each of the four video game songs I chose to represent. Each section starts out with the original song and is followed by two covers in two different genres. I considered for a while whether I should keep the original song in or remove it in favor of fitting in more covers, but I decided to leave it in because it provides context for those unfamiliar with the game or song being covered. I did my best not to use any musical genres twice so I could showcase as many styles as I could, but there were a couple repeats that I kept in. I'll go into more detail when it comes up.
I chose to start out my playlist with "Theme A" from Tetris, partially because Tetris predates all the other games I chose and partially because I found it funny that "Theme A" is itself a cover of the Russian folk song "Korobeiniki." Because of how well known Tetris is, there were a plethora of covers to choose from. As a result, I chose a bluegrass and a hip hop cover of the song because I found that these styles were utilized less often to cover video game music. The next section was dedicated to "Aquatic Ruin Zone" from Sonic the Hedgehog 2. For this song, I found a jazz and a salsa cover. My third section was on the song "Clash on the Big Bridge" from Final Fantasy V, for which I chose a rock/metal cover and another jazz cover. In general, jazz seemed to be a very popular style to cover video game music in, and I liked both of the covers, so I chose to leave both covers in to represent this popularity. Finally, I closed out with "Green Greens" from Kirby's Dream Land. I chose a metal and a symphony cover for this song.
Thank you all for reading/listening! This is my second to last graded post for World Music, but I will be putting up a link to my podcast along with a written project for the class soon, which is my final project in the class. See you then!
Artist Statement:
The theme of this playlist was video game music covers. As we talked about in class with our discussion of Mariachi Entertainment System, video game music can be a way for artists to attract listeners to different genres of music (in MES' case mariachi). The idea is that people will be more likely to listen to songs in a genre they aren't used to if they recognize the song being covered. With that in mind, I searched for covers in different genres to demonstrate how video game music is used to introduce people to lots of different styles of music. I personally believe these covers serve another purpose as well. In my experience, many people tend to unfairly regard video game music as a lesser type of music because of the medium it is used in. When this music is covered in a genre that people more readily recognize as music, such as jazz or metal, they're more likely to consider video game music "real" music. Thus video game music covers serve a dual role; they draw in listeners to different genres and legitimize the original song.
I decided to use YouTube as the format for the playlist because many of the artists I found that covered video game music used YouTube as their main online platform. My playlist is divided up into four sections, one for each of the four video game songs I chose to represent. Each section starts out with the original song and is followed by two covers in two different genres. I considered for a while whether I should keep the original song in or remove it in favor of fitting in more covers, but I decided to leave it in because it provides context for those unfamiliar with the game or song being covered. I did my best not to use any musical genres twice so I could showcase as many styles as I could, but there were a couple repeats that I kept in. I'll go into more detail when it comes up.
I chose to start out my playlist with "Theme A" from Tetris, partially because Tetris predates all the other games I chose and partially because I found it funny that "Theme A" is itself a cover of the Russian folk song "Korobeiniki." Because of how well known Tetris is, there were a plethora of covers to choose from. As a result, I chose a bluegrass and a hip hop cover of the song because I found that these styles were utilized less often to cover video game music. The next section was dedicated to "Aquatic Ruin Zone" from Sonic the Hedgehog 2. For this song, I found a jazz and a salsa cover. My third section was on the song "Clash on the Big Bridge" from Final Fantasy V, for which I chose a rock/metal cover and another jazz cover. In general, jazz seemed to be a very popular style to cover video game music in, and I liked both of the covers, so I chose to leave both covers in to represent this popularity. Finally, I closed out with "Green Greens" from Kirby's Dream Land. I chose a metal and a symphony cover for this song.
Thank you all for reading/listening! This is my second to last graded post for World Music, but I will be putting up a link to my podcast along with a written project for the class soon, which is my final project in the class. See you then!
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