Apocalyptic Music?

July 24, 2008 11:50 PM

Fallout 3 (trailers) and BioShock both have a strangely appealing music they play for mood in places. I'd like to hear more of it. Any idea what I'd call it, or how I'd find more of it?

Sample of the music style Here.

posted by frwagon to media & arts (15 comments total)

Fallout is The Ink Spots.
posted by juv3nal at 11:57 PM on July 24, 2008

The Ink Spots' Maybe was the theme to Fallout 1. In a similar vein, the iconic Vera Lynn We'll Meet Again from Strangelove and Louis Armstrong's A Kiss to Build a Dream On (used for fallout 2).
posted by juv3nal at 12:01 AM on July 25, 2008 [1 favorite]

"If I Didn't Care" (used in Bioshock and, incidentally, in the beginning of the Shawshank Redemption) is The Ink Spots. See last.fm for a list of similar artists.
posted by disorder at 12:05 AM on July 25, 2008

I'd say it's "Traditional Pop", with an emphasis on the depression-era. The Mills Brothers have some music that you may enjoy.
posted by spiderskull at 1:15 AM on July 25, 2008

Its operetta.

It predates the Depression somewhat, and was especially popular during the First World War, before it morphed into more jazzy swing flavours and caberet during the 1920s and 30s.

In that regard, to me, it looks a little mismatched to the art-deco stylings of Bioschock. But.. it works well :)
posted by TheOtherGuy at 1:53 AM on July 25, 2008

Its operetta.

It predates the Depression somewhat, and was especially popular during the First World War, before it morphed into more jazzy swing flavours and caberet during the 1920s and 30s.

I don't agree with either of these sentences. It's not music from an operetta; it's not even a style of music normally associated with operetta, which is mostly a 1850-1900 thing. Nor does this music predate the depression. The poster is looking for pop music from the late 1930s and 1940s, especially stuff from the big musicals, e.g. Cheek to Cheek by Irving Berlin.
posted by caek at 3:33 AM on July 25, 2008

When I was a kid, I e-mailed the Fallout developers asking about the music. They burned the soundtracks of each game to CD and mailed them to me. So, if you like that music specifically, you may be able to get it from them. This was, of course, before everyone got slap-happy about copyright infringement.
posted by backseatpilot at 3:59 AM on July 25, 2008

Assuming you are not talking about the old music used in the game opening (unlike what everyone else is assuming) , the mood music in game is probably best described as ambient. Something very, very good along those lines is the music of Dick Richards which is free, of course.
posted by JJ86 at 6:19 AM on July 25, 2008

I heart old pop music., there are numerous collections out there, a cheap and excellent set is "A history of American Pop"

Also I love the "Nipper's Greatest Hits" series and have used it to get a number of people excited about 20's and 30's pop.
posted by Ponderance at 6:32 AM on July 25, 2008 [1 favorite]

Some of the game's original soundtrack music, by Garry Schyman, is available as a free download. Link is in my review on SciFi.com, here. Short, only 18 minutes, but I thought it was damn good.
posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit at 6:37 AM on July 25, 2008

Oh, shoot -- that's Bioshock I'm talking about. Sorry.
posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit at 6:38 AM on July 25, 2008

I've been enjoying an Ink Spots station on Pandora for a few hours now... lots of good artists.
posted by scose at 7:03 AM on July 25, 2008

You need an Edith Piaf best-of disc.
posted by jbickers at 7:40 AM on July 25, 2008

Somewhat unrelated but might be of interest:

Though it unfortunately doesn't include the licensed tracks you are looking for, you can download the Bioshock score here (23 meg .zip file).

Same goes for Fallout and Fallout 2, though these do include the Inkspots and Armstrong songs mentioned above and you can download individual tracks.
posted by slimepuppy at 10:38 AM on July 25, 2008

Here's a fun Fallout 3 song

Seems like a soundtrack EP is floating around somewhere (see for example this review)
posted by naju at 2:21 PM on July 25, 2008