It’s September and the VGM Fest will be over soon, but we still have time to do some more interviews and celebratory functions before we put the video game music back on the shelf for a while.
Today we talk to Richard Stokes, the leader of We Love Game Music, which tells us all about your favorite topics, video game music on the radio and why watching live music is a whole new way to experience your most beloved soundtracks …
Nintendo Life: What first interested you in gaming music?
Richard Stokes: Growing up, he was very much a Nintendo guy. I loved playing the classic Super Mario games on NES and SNES (my favorite game today is still Super Mario Bros. 3), and then on the Zelda series once I got an N64 and Ocarina of Time, and one of the my favorite parts of these games. they were the themes of Koji Kondo, which I was always humming and whistling.
At the time I had no way of listening to music outside of games, but everything changed when Nintendo’s then-official magazine included promotional music CDs in 2 issues 2003 and 2004: The Legend Of Zelda: Melodies Of Time, which included songs from the console version of The Legend of Zelda to The Wind Waker and Super Smash Bros. Melee: Smashing … Live !, a live recording of a New Japan Philharmonic concert in August 2002 dedicated to SSBM.
Another huge inspiration for me was the concert of the Symphony of the 25th anniversary of The Legend of Zelda in October 2011. Fortunately, a friend and I managed to get tickets to see the concert at the Hammersmith Amollo, and we managed to get balcony, front row and center seats.
Watching and listening to the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra playing music from the entire series, including Skyward Sword’s then new track Ballad Of The Goddess, was amazing and I recognized that I was a little moved by my favorite track, Ocarina Of Time’s Hyrule Field .
It was an advantage not only to have Eiji Aonuma and Bill Trinen on stage talking to the audience about the series and the upcoming release of Skyward Sword, but also to have Zelda Williams as the presenter, explaining why the series meant so much to to her and her father, the late great Robin Williams.
But the icing on Zelda’s cake came during the second half. All the lights went out and you could only hear someone playing The Wind Waker’s grandmother’s piano on the piano. The lights grew soon after on the piano, and there sat Koji Kondo himself. The reaction from the crowd to this and the whole concert was amazing, and it will be a night I will never forget.
Tell us about your work with We Love Game Music: What is your goal and what have you achieved?
My goal with WeLoveGameMusic is to share anything about the amazing music created for video games, help promote VGM as a musical art for itself, and hopefully help game soundtrack composers get the recognition they deserve for their fantastic work.
In 2012, a friend of the industry, Mark Robins launched a campaign to get video game music voted on in the annual FM Classic Hall of Fame poll, and that campaign led to Nobuo Uematsu’s wonderful music for the Final Fantasy series reaching No. 3 on the Internet. 2013 survey ahead of many of the greats of classical music and film. music.
Final Fantasy has been on the list ever since, and in recent years has been joined by The Legend of Zelda, Kingdom Hearts and Grant Kirkhope’s soundtracks for Banjo-Kazooie and Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom. Battle, among others. This campaign, in addition to meeting Mark and many other video game music fans, inspired me to get involved in promoting video game music and a friend and I collaborated on WeLoveGameMusic in 2016.
You are involved in the campaign for greater recognition and appreciation of video game music. Why is it important?
The music we listen to in video games helps us connect emotionally with the adventures we experience and the memories we create while playing. Listening to music outside of games can also allow us to relive those experiences. That’s why it’s important to me that video game music is respected not only by gamers and the gaming industry, but also by those who appreciate other styles of music and new audiences who may never have played any games. nor has he listened to game music before. .
In addition to having amazing graphics, an engaging story or narrative, or fun gameplay elements, music and sound design also play an integral part in the overall experience of the players. In my opinion, the immersive gaming experience would not be complete without the influence of sound and (in most cases, but not all) of music, and sometimes I think this is overlooked when games are reviewed by the media. of communication and by some influential content creators / social networks.
In the eighties and nineties … the music files created had to be very compressed to fit
Why have people historically not considered VGM to be “real music” or worth taking seriously?
I think the video game medium itself is a prominent reason why certain parts of the music-listening audience have ignored and mocked VGM. In the 1980s and 1990s, when music in games was in its infancy, music composers were very limited by the technology they had available at the time.
When Kondo-san created the iconic Mario and Zelda world themes, the sound chip used in the Famicom / NES at the time was very limited in what it could do, and game cartridges had only a limited amount of memory, from so often the music files created had to be heavily compressed to fit.
As gaming technology has grown over the past 30 years, the technology available to game composers has also improved. Koji Kondo and its contemporaries have always been inspired by orchestras, jazz, rock and other musical styles, but only in the last 20-25 years have they had the means available to make the most of these influences.
Do you think the appreciation for VGM has improved over the years? If so, what are the reasons?
Absolutely! VGM has always had a big following in Japan, but before the Internet age it wasn’t really the case in North America, here in the UK or Europe. Video game fans and music creators can now connect much more easily, and the advent of YouTube, social networking sites, and music download and streaming services have made things even better.
The growth in the number and quality of VGM composers, remixes and cover artists / bands has been phenomenal, and we also have dedicated video game music orchestras forming around the world, including three in the UK: the London Video Game Orchestra, the Manchester Video Game Orchestra and the National Video Game Orchestra of Wales.
The campaign to bring video game music into the annual FM Classic Hall of Fame poll has been fantastic in showing wonderful VGM orchestras to a predominantly classical audience, and other UK national radio stations are already noticing this. . Classic FM began airing the occasional video game music special as part of its weekly Saturday Night At The Movies slot, and thanks to the popularity of these specials in 2017 they introduced High Score, VGM’s first dedicated series on UK radio.
High Score is currently at a standstill, but both the BBC and the new Scala Radio station also have their own music video game programs.
What work is left to do when it comes to advocating for video game music?
Many of those who listen almost purely to classical music and private stations dedicated to it, will still insult orchestral video game music and consider it inferior because it is not “classical,” and some still treat film music the same way. We don’t ask people to like video game music in any way, we just ask people to respect that music has an audience that enjoys it.
What is your custom video game soundtrack?
While the themes of the main Super Mario and Zelda games are my favorites to listen to, if I had to choose just one soundtrack it should be Koji Kondo’s masterpiece for The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I have so many wonderful memories playing OoT for the first time, and music was instrumental in creating those memories. My featured theme is for Hyrule Field; going out on the field for the first time and listening to these opening bars is an experience I hope will stay with me for a long time.
There are a lot of incredibly creative and inventive soundtracks for small, independent developer games, which I think deserve a lot more love than they currently get.
What is an underrated soundtrack that you think needs more love?
There are also a large number of incredibly creative and inventive soundtracks for small, independent developer games, which I think deserve a lot more love than they currently receive. My recent favorites (all available in the eShop) have been Forgotton Anne (Peter Due), the Ori soundtracks (Gareth Coker), Cuphead (Kristofer Maddigan) and A Monster’s Expedition (Eli Rainsberry).
WAre you more proud of WLGM?
Honestly, I couldn’t pinpoint anything specific. Campaigning and advocating for video game music is a team effort, and WeLoveGameMusic is just a small part of a global community of VGM fans and creators. Without the support of this impressive community, I would not do what I do today. This community has become an important part of my life and I will always be grateful.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Thanks to Richard Stokes for chatting with us about the importance of video game music follow him on Twitter, as well as the We Love Game Music account he directs.
Don’t forget to check out the other Nintendo Life VGM Fest articles from our season of music-focused interviews and features.