Dumpshock Forums > Shadowrun Music

Dax

Apr 29 2004, 02:45 AM

One thing that's always bugged me about some of the music groups listed in SOTA:2063. What the hell do they sound like? I assumed that back in the 80's Shadowrun music was based off of the Heavy Metal bands that ruled the world at the time. But what is it today? More alternitive rock based? It's just something that's been annoying me.

Also, I know that its been covered in many threads about what kinda music you play during sessions, and in one of the old threads there was a discussion about theme music for certain archtypes (street sam, corp man, etc.). But my question is, does anyone have theme songs for specific characters? You know, the theme music that would play when your character has done something really kick ass or something? Just curious.

Dog

Apr 29 2004, 02:55 AM

Kraftwerk is great for deckers. Delerium for Shamans. Take look through some of the art in Aztlan, Threats one, and (remember?) the Neo-Anarchist's guide to North America and you'll see lots of references to Queensryche (A pre-grunge Seattle band that's still going strong), which is a staple for us, and a personal favorite of mine. Skunk Anansie is good street punk stuff. I remember using SMAP and Luna-Sea as music for a Mitsuhama-funded 'corp rave' (don't ask).

Ancient History

Apr 29 2004, 02:58 AM

I suggest Ayumi Hamasaki for your average Idoru-type Japanese pop singer sensation. <Damnation, those words flow together far too easily.>

Kakkaraun

Apr 29 2004, 03:04 AM

You know...if my GM whipped out Japanapop during a game session, first I'd ask him if he was about to introduce Giant Robots and Schoolgirls with Super Magic Adept Powers into the game, then I'd punch him and walk out.

Techno. Metal. The former really sucks, the latter is mediocre, but it's good for the SR setting. Techno. Metal.

Jason Farlander

Apr 29 2004, 03:05 AM

QUOTE (Ancient History)

I suggest Ayumi Hamasaki for your average Idoru-type Japanese pop singer sensation. <Damnation, those words flow together far too easily.>

!!

(First time I've encountered anyone else referencing her music. The first song by her I heard was "Appears", and it totally got me hooked. Do you *really* like her music, or do you just appreciate her initials?)

Dax

Apr 29 2004, 03:12 AM

Hmmm...good suggestions. But I'm still curious as to if anyone has theme songs for character's they've played. For example, here are some from my game.

Tiffany Naich- "Fuck You I'm Drunk" Irish Drinking Song
Dax- "Silver and Cold" by AFI
Durriel- "Teenaged Frankenstien" by Alice Cooper

Stuff like that kinda.

Kakkaraun

Apr 29 2004, 03:19 AM

Speaking of Alice, right now I'm working on an 18-year old amnesiac character...

EIGHTEEN I GET CONFUSED EVERYDAY!

Heh heh.

And, of course, there's an enormous amount of material if your GM picks up on the "social commentary" aspect of Shadowrun...punk music, hippie music, probably something from Rent, if you're weird (I dunno, I've never heard/seen it).

I should make a shaman based entirely on Cream's Disraeli Gears. Heh heh.

I've never really thought of making a music-inspired character, but that would really be right up my alley...an ally spirit with mouse form named Gerald...yes...it's all taking shape, now...

Dog

Apr 29 2004, 03:34 AM

Music for:

An orc merc: "blood red sky" judas priest

An elven samurai: "hell bent for leather" I don't remember the artist (also JP?)

A troll sammie: "Better off dumb." by Garbage.

Dante's Inferno: Prodigy or NIN

Cyberzombies: Tool

Your ex D&D player who can't give up old habits: Man o' War

Burned out mages: early Headstones

Evil mages: "Night on Bald Mountain."

I still think that movie soundtracks are the best-bet for background music.

Kakkaraun

Apr 29 2004, 03:42 AM

Tool for CZs, that's great

. They could also be used for Metaplanar weirdness and such.

How about Bob Dylan? A cookie to the first to find a really good SR game use for Bob Dylan. If anybody insults Bob Dylan, I will kill them. Or at least bitch at them or something.

Ancient History

Apr 29 2004, 04:00 AM

QUOTE (Jason Farlander)

QUOTE (Ancient History @ Apr 28 2004, 09:58 PM)

I suggest Ayumi Hamasaki for your average Idoru-type Japanese pop singer sensation. <Damnation, those words flow together far too easily.>

!!

(First time I've encountered anyone else referencing her music. The first song by her I heard was "Appears", and it totally got me hooked. Do you *really* like her music, or do you just appreciate her initials?)

I like her stuff. I think some of it sounds better remixed, but I enjoy it. Have a CD around her somewhere.

Kagetenshi

Apr 29 2004, 04:10 AM

QUOTE (Kakkaraun)

How about Bob Dylan? A cookie to the first to find a really good SR game use for Bob Dylan.

Bob Dylan's 115th Dream, for a Coyote shaman who does a tad too much peyote.

~J

Kakkaraun

Apr 29 2004, 04:12 AM

Mmm...that's good Mescalito!

Actually, basically all of my music collection works for that purpose. Oi.

Pistons

Apr 29 2004, 01:32 PM

QUOTE (Dax)

One thing that's always bugged me about some of the music groups listed in SOTA:2063. What the hell do they sound like?

(snip)

But my question is, does anyone have theme songs for specific characters? You know, the theme music that would play when your character has done something really kick ass or something? Just curious.

1. IIRC, Michelle gave some idea about how some of the bands sounded with at least generic terms like "salsa-influenced" or "guitar rock" and such. Other than that, I'd say you were pretty free to imagine them however you liked. It's what I do.

(I like to imagine Concrete Dreams, for example, as a slightly technified and more atmospheric version of Concrete Blonde.)

2. Yup. I've sometimes created "soundtracks" (mixed cds) for a few characters. I tend to pick music that fits his or her personality both in sound and in the lyrics (if the music has any).

LaughingTiger

Apr 29 2004, 08:14 PM

QUOTE (Kakkaraun @ Apr 28 2004, 10:42 PM)

How about Bob Dylan? A cookie to the first to find a really good SR game use for Bob Dylan. .

My characters will soon be running into a situation where they drive through an area they once knew, now under control of bad influences. Burned out houses, prositutes, drugs. They get to make a choice: This is the way this is, and I have no problem doing this kind of work that leads to these consequences. Or, This is not ok, this is very bad, and I need to do something to fix this.

The music playing softly in the background? Desolation Row.

EDIT!

The only character I have a specific song for right now is an NPC bad guy named The Preacher. His theme is Dusty Baker's "son of a Preacher man".

Lilt

Apr 29 2004, 08:59 PM

I would assume some electronica, cybergoth-style techno, dirty-techno, or some of the industrial stuff from germany would be in order. If you want a sample you could look on music grabber proggys for some stuff from the following.

Heretic II by Stromkern is a really good track

There is an ambient techno group called Astral Projection oddly enough.

I have an interesting cybergoth-style track called hackerstate-dos-attack mix by sitd-amok

You should be able to find some music by Project Pitchfork which may be appropriate.

Osiris - Destroy all humans is a cybergoth techno classic

Ultraviolence - hardcore motherfucker is a similarly classic dirty-techno track

SITD (Sometimes S.I.T.D.) are a german group.

[edit] BTW: I don't know the technical classifications of these music types. Destroy all humans may also be dirty techno [/edit]

A Clockwork Lime

Apr 29 2004, 09:39 PM

Whenever I'm designing a character, I usually go through my list of MP3s and enqueue a bunch that put me in the mood. It really depends on the character at hand (I think I may go a little more indepth during character creation than others), so I can't really just give some examples.

But if you're just going to pick a theme song or two for some of the common archetypes, here's a few inspirational songs I'd probably use.

Adept: Drowning Pool - Bodies
Covert Ops Specialist: Green Day - Espionage
Decker: Afroman - Because I [Jacked In]
Face: Butthole Surfers - The Shame of Life
Investigator: Peter Gunn Theme
Mercenary: Pro-Pain - One Man Army
Street Mage: Type O Negative - Black No. 1
Street Samurai: Tomoyasu Hotei - Battle Without Honor or Humanity
Street Shaman: Loreena McKennitt - The Mystic's Dream
Tribal Shaman: Dead Can Dance - The Snake and the Moon
Vehicle Rigger: Fear Factory - Cars
Weapons Specialist: Marilyn Manson - The Fight Song

Any Charismatic Runner: Fun Lovin' Criminals - Scooby Snacks
CAS Rigger: Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble - Willie the Wimp & His Cadillac Coffin

Again, these are just songs that inspire the mood I'd want to focus on while designing such a character. I dunno what they'd actually like to listen to. Music trends are doubtlessly going to change in 60 years. Just look back 60 years for a comparison.

Kagetenshi

Apr 29 2004, 10:05 PM

Any combat character: Operation Overlord, from the Quake II soundtrack.

Otaku: Serial Experiments Lain OST- Family Portrait

Female Face: Alphaville- Shadows She Said

Corporate Raider: Warren Zevon- Sacrificial Lambs

Freedom Fighter/Merc with a Good Cause™: Bruce Cockburn- If I Had A Rocket Launcher (I'd Make Somebody Pay)

Rigger or Mechanic: The Breeders- Metal Man

Any properly fatalistic runner: Warren Zevon- Life'll Kill Ya

"Fallen"-type runner: Submarine- Sunbeam

Druggie or otherwise burned-out runner (not necessarily magically burned-out, just burned-out) in the midst of self-immolation: Monster Magnet- Baby Gotterdamerung

Rigger or Decker: Sharon Apple/Yoko Kanno- Information High

Rigger: Mechwarrior II soundtrack. The whole thing. Especially Track 09, though.

Any properly fatalistic runner: Warren Zevon- The Indifference of Heaven

Any team on the run through the former central US: Kristin Hersh- Uncle June and Aunt Kiyoti

Mercenaries: Warren Zevon- Jungle Work

Dramatic, climactic scene: Akira Symphonic Suite- Requiem

Deranged, psychopathic murderer: Sweeney Todd Soundtrack- The Ballad of Sweeney Todd

~J

BGMFH

Apr 29 2004, 10:09 PM

Bob Dylan - John Brown

[ Spoiler ]

Cyberzombie - Pink Floyd "Comfortably Numb"
Female Social Adept - Jack off Jill "Devil with the black dress on"
Ex-Corp Runner - Marilyn Manson "Use Your Fist And Not Your Mouth"

[ Spoiler ]

Ghouls - Manson "redeemer"

[ Spoiler ]

Corp Secretary/Exec - Manson "New Model No. 15"

[ Spoiler ]

Maybe more later

Lilt

Apr 29 2004, 10:36 PM

Ack. Forgot to class by characters:

Adversary Shaman: Heretic II - Stromkern

Insect Shaman/Cyberzombie/Dalek: Osiris - Destroy all humans

Any badass character: Ultraviolence - hardcore motherfucker

Decker: sitd-amok - hackerstate-dos-attack

Female Face: Avenue D - Do I Look Like a Slut
Male Face (Yeah, Right): Hed PE- Bartender

Sam: iron maiden - 2 minutes to midnight

Bubbah the love troll: Thundercats Outtake #8

Rigger: Metallica - Fuel, Iron Maiden - Aces High

Pissed-off NAN Tribal Shaman: Sepultura - Roots Bloody Roots

Weapons Expert/Merc/Sam: Nine inch nails - big man with a gun

Ghostwalker: Metallica - Master of puppets

LaughingTiger

Apr 29 2004, 11:40 PM

QUOTE (Dog)

Burned out mages: early Headstones

I officialy love you for introducing me to this band.

Kakkaraun

Apr 30 2004, 12:00 AM

I officially love Kage for being the first person other than me I've ever heard mention Warren Zevon. The man was--sadly, was--a God. I once started making a character based on Roland the Thompson Gunner (which, incidentally, is a very interesting song for SR...we have mercenaries AND magical weirdness).

Kagetenshi

Apr 30 2004, 02:10 AM

I have absolutely no idea who to credit for this piece of filk, so here it is unattributed.

"Roland was a Samurai from the land of the Redmond slum
With his smartlinked guns and cyber, fighting to be done
The deal was made in Renraku on a dark and stormy day
So he set out for the Yucatan to join the bloody fray

Through '56 and 7, they fought the Mayan war
With the mages and the riggers, knee deep in gore
For days and nights they battled the Azzies to their knees
They killed to earn their living and to help set the Mayans free

Roland the Shadowrunner
Roland the Shadowrunner

His comrades fought beside him, Van Owen and the rest
But of all the Shadowrunners, Roland was the best
So the Johnsons all decided they wanted Roland dead
That son of a bitch Van Owen did a called shot to his head

Roland the headless Shadowrunner
Time, time, time, for another hidden war
Redmond's bravest son
But time stands still for Roland, 'til he evens up the score
They can still see the cyberzombie
Stalking through the night
In the muzzle flash of Roland's smartlinked guns
In the muzzle flash of Roland's smartlinked guns

Roland searched the continent for the man who'd done him in
He found him up in Denver, in a bar-room drinking gin
Roland aimed his two smartguns, he didn't say a word
But he blew Van Owen's body from there to ol' Gettysburg

Roland the headless Shadowrunner
Roland the headless Shadowrunner
Roland the headless Shadowrunner, talking about the man
Roland the headless Shadowrunner

The eternal Shadowrunner
Still stalking through the night
Now it's five years later, but he still keeps up the fight
In Tir na nOg, in Tsimshian, in the Philippines and DC
Dunklezahn heard the alarm
On Roland's explosives and bought it"

~J

Kakkaraun

Apr 30 2004, 04:04 AM

Gapes.

Awes.

WOW! That's STYLISH!

Wow...

Connor

Apr 30 2004, 05:40 AM

Yes, Warren Zevon was quite the god.

Kage, that's an amazing piece of work. Too bad you don't have an attribution.

KillaJ

Apr 30 2004, 06:01 AM

For my nuyen it doesn't get any better than Darkest Hour. It's great to put everyone into an angry, fight the power kind of a mood. Any album will do nicely but I am partial to The Mark of the Judas.

John Campbell

Apr 30 2004, 07:29 AM

Zevon produced an amazing amount of genre-appropriate music. It's especially surprising to people who know him only through songs like Werewolves Of London (theme for a certain shapeshifter in my game, actually) and Mr. Bad Example and the handful of others that actually get occasional radio play. Most of Zevon's work is dark, cynical, and ironic, and the really dark and cynical stuff you will never hear on the radio. There's a lot of good Shadowrun music in the darker stuff, though, and even some of the lighter stuff, like Werewolves Of London and Lawyers, Guns, And Money. And for SR music, it just doesn't get better than Transverse City.

And I'm willing to bet that Warren Zevon is the only person ever to use the word "2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzoparadioxin" in a song.

simonw2000

Apr 30 2004, 09:48 AM

What about Rage Against The Machine?

Kagetenshi

Apr 30 2004, 11:45 AM

And, of course, The Long Arm of the Law for when the Star gets involved.

~J

Abstruse

Apr 30 2004, 11:47 AM

I'm big on punk music, so there's a lot of Pennywise, Bad Relgion, No Use For a Name, and Millencolin during my combat. The Exploited and other old UK punk bands are good for that Ork/Troll thrash band if you can't find any actual noise punk. And of course Maria Mercurial is represented by Tilt...Cinder Block has a fucking beautiful voice that just seeps with barely-contaned rage and passion, and their lyrics are very poetic yet political at the same time.

I try to stick to bands that my players wouldn't have heard before as it can take them out of the game. I mean unless they're listening to the oldies station, Drowning Pool is NOT going to be playing in a club. Try to find local/indie musicians of whatever genre you prefer that your players wouldn't have heard of before. Plus, you just might find some new bands you'll like.

Oh, and Megumi Hayashibara was, is, and always will be the Queen of J-Pop.

The Abstruse One

Bull

Apr 30 2004, 01:05 PM

QUOTE (Kakkaraun)

How about Bob Dylan? A cookie to the first to find a really good SR game use for Bob Dylan. If anybody insults Bob Dylan, I will kill them. Or at least bitch at them or something.

The band "Psychedelic Phlegmm" that's mentiond in Perianwyr's section of Dragons of the 6th world is from an old, short lived SR game I was in where all the PC's were band-mates as well as runners (Think Buckaroo Banzai

). My charcater was the lead singer and guitarist who was the great-great gandson of Bob Dylan and played what we called "Neo Classic Rock". Basically classic rock style music with lots of synth mixed in.

Bull

Bull

Apr 30 2004, 01:12 PM

QUOTE (Dax)

One thing that's always bugged me about some of the music groups listed in SOTA:2063. What the hell do they sound like? I assumed that back in the 80's Shadowrun music was based off of the Heavy Metal bands that ruled the world at the time. But what is it today? More alternitive rock based? It's just something that's been annoying me.

There's a problem with trying to describe musical styles in Shadowrun, and it's the same problem that plagues electronics in SR: Current trends. Music changes, and changes relatvely radical every 10 years or so.

Think back 60 years to the music that was popular in the 1940's. Then think about the 50's, then the 60's, then the 70's, and so on. Every "era" has some very distinctive sounds to it, and with the exception of the occasional "retro" fad that pops up briefly (Swing music a few years ago, for example), the sound is something that cou;dn't even be imagined 10 years ago, let alone 60. So often in SHadowrun there isn't much attempt to really describe the music. It either comes off sounding silly (Think about the fact that most music in the early SR books were usually considered synth based, since Synthesizer based music was so big in the 80's), or becomes dated really fast. ANd either way, it can only be compared to what we know.

Generally, I leave it to my own personal tastes and the tastes of my players to decide what the music they hear sounds like. For all we know, the predominant music of the 2060's will be a mix of Rap and Country, with a little bit of Flute and Recorder mixed in. Wrap your brain around THAT

Bull

Kakkaraun

Apr 30 2004, 06:22 PM

QUOTE (Bull)

QUOTE (Kakkaraun)

How about Bob Dylan? A cookie to the first to find a really good SR game use for Bob Dylan. If anybody insults Bob Dylan, I will kill them. Or at least bitch at them or something.

The band "Psychedelic Phlegmm" that's mentiond in Perianwyr's section of Dragons of the 6th world is from an old, short lived SR game I was in where all the PC's were band-mates as well as runners (Think Buckaroo Banzai

). My charcater was the lead singer and guitarist who was the great-great gandson of Bob Dylan and played what we called "Neo Classic Rock". Basically classic rock style music with lots of synth mixed in.

Bull

That's awesome on more levels than my primitive hive-mind can contemplate

.

John Campbell

Apr 30 2004, 07:52 PM

QUOTE (Kagatenshi)

And, of course, The Long Arm of the Law for when the Star gets involved.

Aye. I wasn't referring to just the title track when I said "Transverse City".

QUOTE (Bull)

Generally, I leave it to my own personal tastes and the tastes of my players to decide what the music they hear sounds like. For all we know, the predominant music of the 2060's will be a mix of Rap and Country, with a little bit of Flute and Recorder mixed in. Wrap your brain around THAT

Well, possibly, but... I suspect Ian Anderson will be dead by then.

Connor

Apr 30 2004, 08:49 PM

QUOTE (John Campbell)

QUOTE (Bull)

Generally, I leave it to my own personal tastes and the tastes of my players to decide what the music they hear sounds like. For all we know, the predominant music of the 2060's will be a mix of Rap and Country, with a little bit of Flute and Recorder mixed in. Wrap your brain around THAT

Well, possibly, but... I suspect Ian Anderson will be dead by then.

No! Ian Anderson is a Spike Baby! Jethro Tull will be around forever! He will see to it that the country/folk/rock/flute/irish genre of music becomes the dominate one in the Sixth World.

It's all part of The Plan ™

Abstruse

May 1 2004, 12:05 AM

Musical trends also seem to be cyclear (is that a word?), things that were passe or unlistenable in one decade becoming popular again in another. In the 90s, no one could stand ACDC or new wave, but today both are popular and the styles are being copied by current bands. In the mid-80s to the mid-90s, punk was out of style, but in the mid-90s, it became mainstream again. It tends to go on a 20 year total cycle, where something gets popular, then the people who listened to it as young teenagers hate it when they hit their late teens/early 20s, but people who were younger kids love it when they hit their late teens/early 20s as it brings back memories. Thus you have people today who hate Nirvana but love A-Ha. In about 7 years or so, you'll see Nirvana the hot band on the "classic alternative" stations. Then someone will "re-invent alternative music", making it almost into a new genre, and so on.

The Abstruse One

Kakkaraun

May 1 2004, 12:39 AM

Maybe they'll give it a better name this time.

Dax

May 1 2004, 02:16 AM

QUOTE (simonw2000)

What about Rage Against The Machine?

Funny you mentioned that. In my campaign, the music of Rage against the Machine has made one hell of a revival among the Runner community. Kinda what happens when everything that they sang about in their songs COMES TRUE.

Dr. Curiosity

Aug 17 2018, 08:17 AM

QUOTE (Kagetenshi @ Apr 30 2004, 02:10 PM)

I have absolutely no idea who to credit for this piece of filk, so here it is unattributed.

"Roland was a Samurai from the land of the Redmond slum..."

Oh hey, that's one of mine! According to local files, written on 2nd December 2000.

Thanks for posting it - turns out it's easier to find on the internet than my old backups...

Kagetenshi

May 18 2021, 03:47 PM

QUOTE (Dr. Curiosity @ Aug 17 2018, 03:17 AM)

Oh hey, that's one of mine! According to local files, written on 2nd December 2000.

Thanks for posting it - turns out it's easier to find on the internet than my old backups...

I was expecting some developments in the 6-7 years since I last visited, but I did not expect this to be one of them. The internet truly is a brave new world, glad I could help.

~J

pbangarth

May 18 2021, 04:37 PM

As I write this, the music from a nearby ice cream truck is drifting through the window. Surreal.

I agree there is no way to know what music will be like 60 years hence, but we are playing now. I'm putting together a playlist that would represent a run, from start to finish. Finding all of them on a music sharing site I suspect should not be named here.

Two of the pieces:

Intro to set the stage: Alert Level (Quarantined Mix) by Ministry. - includes a quote from Greta Thunberg!

Drek hits the fan and the sammies take over: Die MF Die by Dope.