Just wondering how many people actually use it and what kind. My group uses non-lyrical (very important) music as quiet background noise, and just about anything to begin the night/scene and build mood. Lyrical or loud music damn near kills the game for us.

Songs I use:

Street / Ganger games: The Transplants, Rage Against the Machine
Other stuff: Fast and the Furious soundtrack, Ennio Morricone stuff (cowboy, baby!), Metal Gear, all sorts of techno and to a lesser extent hip-hop and rock. VNV nation too!

So how's about it, what do you all (not) use?

I'd love to have some stuff playing through the game, but...

I tried it in two live games, and it resulted in the mage and street sam spending an hour talking about Linkin Park instead of listening to the game, until I yelled at them and turned off the music.

However, I do always have some SR-themed music playing on my computer when running online games. If I feel like it, I make background music suggestions to the other players OOC, too. I know at least three of my players have pretty much the same things I do.

Some suggestions for game music...

(soundtracks)
Timesplitters 2 (game)
The Matrix
Read or Die (anime)
Cowboy Bebop (anime)
Perfect Dark (game)
Final Fantasy 7 (game)

(other stuff)
The Alex Cremers / Christoph Sachal SR music
Golden Earring - Twilight Zone
The Offspring - LAPD
Papa Roach - Blood Brothers

Personally I find it distracting - if I can't, as GM, generate the atmosphere enough for the relatively low standards of my retard players, then I don't deserve the job (although I admit that music is a good aid, it's just never come up, really) - but then I grew up on a strict diet of Traveller and D&D - not much scope there for atmospherics.

On that note, however, I am one for other sorts of aids - I take B&W pictures of interesting looking people on the streets and use them as "targets" or stills from sec. cams. I tend to set things up and capture them for the players' use. That's fun. Also lots of maps, blueprints and schematics, laminated and textured for fun effect. When we play fantasy settings I always colour paper to look like parchment with the old "tea-baking" method... good for a giggle...

I almost always do, though it's wide and varied and depends entirely on the scene. GENERALLY, though, it's industrial or noise - or certain soundtracks, like Blade Runner or Ghost in the Shell.

Here's my most recent compilation for Shadowrun, dubbed "Shadowlands Confessional" (or, alternately, 'Ventilation by 50 Calibre.')

1. Skinny Puppy - Optimissed
2. Clock DVA - Soundmirror
3. Gridlock - Halo
4. Informatik - Entropy
5. Das Ich - Destillat (VNV Nation Remix)
6. VNV Nation - Saviour (Vox)
7. Jurassic 5 - Acetate Prophets
8. God Module - Companion
9. God Module - Interference
10. God Module - Resurrection
(I hadda keep all the God Module in a block, for some reason.)
11. Skinny Puppy - Inquisition (Single Mix)
12. Deine Lakaien - Where You Are (VNV Nation Remix)
13. Silent Hill 3 - Flow Crown of Poppy
14. Gridlock - Ash [KSP Remix]
15. La Floa Maldita - La Cite
16 Suicide Commando - Hellraiser (VNV Nation remix)

Good mood music bands for Shadowrun.
Industrial or Noise (that you probably haven't heard of): Gridlock, SPK, Alien Faktor, Decoded Feedback, God Module, Neutronic (Specifically the song "Laughing Academy"), Void Construct. I also recommend VNV Nation fans find the 'Vox' remix of the song Saviour, because the lyrics they added actually kick a whole lotta ass ass. I bolded Void Construct, because they're a little in-house british industrial band that rocks an incredible amount of ass, and they're very nice people. The song "Anodyne Impulse" is probably my favorite. Check 'em out at www.voidconstruct.com
Others: La Floa Maldita, The Future Sound of London, Massive Attack, The Buena Vista Social Club (specifically for sections happening in the Carribean League), The Faint.
Soundtracks: Aside from Blade Runner and other staples, check out the Solaris Soundtrack (for the George Clooney version, not the Andrey Tarkovsky version - though it's good too), Silent Hill 2 and 3, Myst 3: Exile (for Metaplanar stuff).

My two nuyen on the subject.
Can you tell who wears a lot of black IRL? I bet you can. <G>

We usually don't do music during game, but we have been known to listen to Celtic, Rock, and Techno beforehand. ;p

The last table top playing I did, I was GMing a Shadowrun tourney. Sorry, no can do music then.

Online, though, you bet there is or would be music playing. Bush (especially from "Deconstructed"), The Dust Brothers (Fight Club soundtrack), haujobb, Triprocket, Curve, Garbage, Massive Attack, :wumpscut:, things like that. I want to get some Cruciform Injection cds, among a few others, and I'll be set for Shadowrun music.

Woo! Garbage works wonders. My personal favourite, probably, is the Serial Experiments Lain OST, though. The Quake II soundtrack is good as well.

~J

Generally as a rule there is music but it's barley audable.

Though i remember once when running the arcology for my players, cyprus hill was playing in the background. Just as they were about to enter on comes cock the hammer, and 1 or 2 other tracks that fitted. (Keep remembering the lines of When the shit goes down, you better be ready)

It depends on the players I play with. Generally though we just play music that fits the scene, but then again it comes as an accident. I remember Slipknot came on in a fight scene and right as the players attacked the line here come's the pain! was said. We all had a good laugh.

General sound is easy enough... I've been working on putting together a CD with lyrics that fit, and come up with some weird ideas.

Don Henley - "In a New York Minute" (about all those runners, SINned and SINless, who run afoul of forces larger than they are)
Ronny Jordan - "The Jackal" (concerning that ever-so-smooth cybered runner with the Braggart flaw)
Black Eyed Peas - "Anxiety" (the song for chip addicts everywhere)
Disturbed - "Down with the Sickness" (goblinization, anyone?)

It's still in the making. Any song suggestions, lyrics-wise?

Completely unrelated, but my gaming crew took a dinner break from Shadowrun and on the way back, the radio started playing "Another one bites the dust."

-Siege

Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner and Jungle Work, both by Warren Zevon.
Actually, a lot of Warren Zevon's stuff.

~J

Everytime I try to play or run in a game with music playing, it always ends up competing with the GM and becoming noise pollution. With Star Wars, VtM, D+D, I and my GMs have tried it, and it was always too distracting. Though I haven't done it for SR, I doubt it would be any different. To have RATM or SOTD roaring while trying negotiate the cost of a human life may be thematic, it is essentially a big distraction.

There's the problem: "roaring." It doesn't matter if you like your music loud enough to wake the neighbors, for RPGs it should be kept very quiet; loud enough to hear, but quiet enough that a stage whisper can be heard without any effort.

~J

I like to play terror or speedcore when in a particular edgy or violent scene. Then for most of the other edgy and violent scenes we tend to put on hard trance, or some type of hard rock. Then the background music for most situations varies a lot.

Adarael: Good stuff, that Skinny Puppy.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Moby - Southside! Whenever I hear that song I imagine runners jumping in a car about to face off against some vicious corporate run.

No, lyrics are supposed to be problematic (at least intelligible ones). I would like to try some of the Cowboy Bebop soundtrack, and maybe some German grunge every once in a while. All said and done though, I've found music doesn't set the mood nearly as well as lighting.

Next run I attend with overhead lighting at full blast will result in several unidentifiable bodies and a considerable absence of myself from DSF due to incarceration.

I adjust lights, and provide music for my table top games. I normally have a few lists plugged into the computer. One play list for each type of scene. I also have theme music for certain NPC's. I play a snippet of the song everytime they come in to play.

Rigger/Decking scenes
Lunitic calm
Orbital
Chemical Bros
Paul Oakenfold
Fatboy slim

Fight scenes
Ramstien
RATM
Sevendust
Otep

Ambient music
Moby
Garbage
Stabbing Westward
Offspring
Likin Park

High magic
Delerium
Some Tool
APC
Love Fury Passion Energy - Boy hits car
The Rebirth - Boy hits car
Believe - Disturbed

Spook scenes
Dust Brothers
NIN
Filter

I'm pretty sure you get the idea.

Music is an integral part of all 4 of the games we play (SR, D&D, Star Wars and Deadlands)

For the latter 3 we use pretty much spot on stuff (Both Lord of the Rings soundtracks, all five Star Wars soundtracks plus the Shadows of the Empire OST, and Ennio Morricone, respectively), but Shadowrun is the game with the REALLY varied musical stuff.

Almost everything is techno/industrial or ambient, though classical, metal and even U2 have made appearances (Great for those runs set in Ireland). As far as bands go, KMFDM definately tops the list. KMFDM, aside from being just amazingly driven and emotional industrial, is also the only band as far as I remember with an actual canon reference in the game (A t-shirt on an ork in the ooooooold Germany Sourcebook). Up there with KMFDM is Front Line Assembly, who have done some of the most amazingly SResque stuff I've ever heard. There music gives voice to everything from the street to magic.

Other artists which have made numerous appearances on our soundtracks: Front 242, Haujob, Moby, Propellerheads, David Bowie, NiN, Bob Marley and the Wailers (essential for those Carib League runs), Black Flag, Bush, Danzig, Frank Sinatra, Johnny Cash, David Brubeck (Corp executives looooove jazz), Rush, Led Zepplin, Pink Floyd, U2, Alex Cremers (natch), Moby, Wu-Tang Clan, NWA, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, DJ Shadow, DJ Krush (Absolutely essential for anything having to do with the Yakuza or Japan), and more that I can't even think of.

If I had to reccomend any three of these to other players it'd be (In no particular order), KMFDM, Front Line Assembly, and DJ Krush.... and I'll cheat and throw in DJ Shadow as a fourth.

Well, if I were to introduce only one artist into my playing, I'd say Juno Reactor.

For rigging/car chases, the Mona Lisa Overdrive (The car chase scene from Matrix 2, nonetheless.) is a must. Fight scenes would definately be Burly Brawl (Fight scene between Neo and the too-many-Smiths CGI scene). Teahouse might be a good fight/escape from death scene.

God, can't believe I forgot Juno Reactor. Yes. Most of their Matrix stuff is really good, but some of their other stuff is amazing.

Massive Attack is another great one.

Combat / action :
Rammstein (all) / RATM (sleep now in the fire, vietnow , bulls on parade) / Pantera (cowboys from hell for rigger )
Mood:
Dead can dance / NOFX / Offspring
Magical:
Metaplane: New age / Metal (maybe black , depends)

Guess Im in the minority. I only used music once, and so I was told it was to good effect. However it was for a halloween run, so its kind of a wash. Recorded a lot of little strange things, like what a car sounds like driving down a backroad from the inside. In fact now that I think of it, Im pretty sure I used more random sound then I did actual music...

I always use music, always always. I won't post a full list here but:

the very first SR soundtrack I made up started with the Ghost In The Shell theme, with its very distinctive chimes. Now every time anyone hears the chimes, bam!, they're in character and ready to play. It rules.

Yesterday's run ended up with everyone except the speed-sammy swordsman going down before the sammy jumped out of a stairwell with his katana and started going wicked mad ninja on the opposition. I put on the swordfight themes from Kill Bill as he waded through the opposition, and it was a beautiful thing.

For the record, those would be Battle Without Honor Or Humanity by Tomoyasu Hotai, and Santa Esmeralda's Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood.

Hm. Y'know, a lot of these are nifty -- but certain qualify as music more than ambient noise. Anyone know any good source of ambient noise? Industrial sounds, the occasional background of sirens, et cet? The sort of stuff you leave -very- low -- just enough to get into the mind of the players.

Sound effects CDs are good, as are certain songs; Alphaville's more ambient stuff, like Imperial Youth (Instrumental) is good, though the bit at the end where they play a recording of Neville Chamberlain's speech about the Anglo-German Naval Agreement does tend to put a momentary pause to the game.

~J

edit: Forgot to say why I mention the song. It has a lot of sirens and such in it, and tends to sound more like a collection of sound effects than music.

Suprised nobody has mentioned the theme from the original Deus Ex. Whenever I think of Cyberpunk, I think of that song.

If you can get it, Killer Instinct's soundtrack CD (the one that came with the SNES game) is great for Shadowrun.

I have a choice lists of Speed Core DJs that is use play the most often. If you have seen Death/Rebirth Evangelion, there are some real peaceful classical music that you can use in heavy duty conflicts. Can't remember the names of the songs though, have to get the DvD back so I can watch it again.

Speed/Terror Core
->Interrupt Vector
->Terroristkris
->DJ Plague
->BTC 107A
->NSC
->Lawrencuim

Techno
->MARS
->The Cynic Project
->Juno Reactor
->Haroon Piracha
->DJ Tiesto
->DJ Micro
->SuperGreenX

Rock/Metal
->Cradle of Filth
->Pantera
->Manowar
->NIN
->Iced Earth & Blind Guardian
->System Of A Down
->Tool
->Perfect Circle

Anima/Soundtracks
->Akira Soundtrack
->DOT Hack Sign

Maybe this is a silly question, but don't you get incredibly distracted when listening to fucking _Speed Core?_

I put "always", but the truth is that it depends entirely on the players. I've got friends who are music geeks and who will devote all of their attention on the music if any is playing; it's just the way they are, so I don't fault them for this. When they're playing, though, there can't be any music. Also, some players won't like music playing or won't like the particular music and, if I'm GMing or hosting, I'll stop the music to keep them comfortable. I'd rather have no music and everyone happy than music that makes some distracted, some happier, and some unhappy.

For you Haujobb fans, check out "Designed Memories" by Cleen. Cleen's Haujobb's little sideproject, which I believe is now called 'Cleaner'.

Designed Memories rocks my ass.

->DV8

There are select tracks that I tend to use, I mean yes most of the Speed/Terror Core that I have is very distracting, but there is also some tracks that give a very deep impression. I tend to use the tracks the have a deep impression then the more distracting ones, I hope that answers you question.

Let The Bodies Hit The Floor by Drowning Pool
Firestarter by Prodigy

There are too many groups to mention. Most of my music is compilations that I've made on my puter. KMFDM is uber-cool for Shadowrun however and finds its way into the shuffle quite often (Xtort and Nihil being the most commonly used albums). Movie soundtracks get used heavily, as does Prodigy, Dust Bros., Chemical Bros., Rage, Crystal Method, Urbal Beats (these are great store-bought compilations... think there's 3, possibly 4 compilations, out now), and tons of great stuff from MC 900 Foot Jesus. Enya and Enigma balance out the harsh sounds when there's Tir stuff going on. Carlos Nakai (native american wind instrument) for NAN stuff. "Global" music like Cusco works well for Jungle areas when there's no action and cultural music adds a nice flair when someone is in the presence of a daimyo, for example (authentic Japanese music playing softly in the background).

Music is a great mood-builder... I never run a game without it all planned out.

Front 242, Bjork, Queensryche, Rammstein...

and other stuff too, not all the time, but it's great for when they go to a meet at a club, sets the mood great, and turning it off then has a noticable effect too... being sneeky and all... and what helo rigger doesn't want Ride of the Valkyries....

-mike R.

ooh, i'll add two things....
Coolspot (the OLD genesis game) has some sweet tunes, no! really! the tune called "Rave" sounds cool...
and, for that Total party wipeout: the game over "music" from Aliens 3
both can be found for free and legally at vgmusic.com

Man, Juno Reactor is my new God. They were my old God too, just now they're both.

Diesel, that's because God is God. <G> Everyone knows that!

And DV8?
Hooray for checking out suggestions!
(Cruciform Injection is pretty interesting, and I can definitely see the correlation to Void Construct.)

Well, I don't know why...Maybe it's just because of the Minority Report Gamecube game, but..."Apossibly" by The Apex Theory seems Shadowrunny to yours truly, amongst other things. Besides that, I tend to listen to random game MIDIs, stuff from ocremix.org, random techno by Oakenfold and ComradeF, and generally whatever works.