Maybe a little OT.....Session "opening theme"

[stg58fal]

It's looking like I may be getting a group together to play pretty soon. Yay me! I'm thinking of doing something a little different from how I've typically operated in the past. I've been reading all kinds of tips, tricks, etc., lately, and one of them was something like "How to make your game more cinematic". One of the ideas was an opening theme.

I'm not really going for a total movie or TV show feel, but I DO want to put a different kind of feel into this campaign.

I haven't really gone looking through the music on my computer or CDs yet to see if I have anything appropriate, and truth be told, I may not. Even playing 2013 instead of the standard 2000, I'm not sure that electronica/dubstep, punk, or the like are really the thing I want.

I like both "Paint It Black" and "Gimme Shelter" by the Rolling Stones (especially "Gimme Shelter") for this idea, and I know Credence Clearwater Revival has at least a couple songs that fit the bill, but they're a little more Vietnam-era. I personally think Johnny Cash would be another good fit, but again, IDK about whether it's era appropriate. Player-wise, IF all the *potential* players join in, about half are within a few years of my age (so, 30-35), a couple are in their 20's, one is 17, and one I have no idea about. It would suck to pick a Cash or Stones song that's basically perfect, and have half my players scratching their heads asking "Who the hell is this"

And yes, I do sometimes get a little carried away with details. You should have seen me when I used to GM a LOT. Haha

So I'm open to suggestions here.

And thanks in advance.

[Rainbow Six]

How about something by Steve Earle "Copperhead Road" or "The Devil's Right Hand" both spring to mind, but there are others..."Ben McCulloch" for example...love the chorus of that song -

Goddamn you Ben McCulloch
I hate you more than any other man alive
And when you die you'll be a foot soldier just like me
In the devil's infantry

Maybe Bruce Springsteen as well I'm not as up to date on his newer stuff, but there are acoustic versions of both "Born to Run" and "Born In The USA" out there, or there's "My City In Ruins".

Going back to the Stones, how about "Sympathy For The Devil" It was covered by Guns n Roses, so you could always use their version. For that matter they covered "Live And Let Die" as well.

[simonmark6]

Ride of the Valkyrie.

Pretty much everyone should have heard that.

Also, a good general background would be the music off the Paradox game: Hearts of Iron 2. Nice military-themed muzak.

[James Langham]

A few random ones I've used:

Chris de Burgh - The Sound of a Gun - if nothing else the line "mother! mother! mother! hush child go to sleep, it's only the sound of a gun." There are quite a few nice tracks of his that work well, "Up Here in Heaven" "Say Goodbye to it All" "Borderline" "The Revolution" "Oh My Brave Hearts" is good for resistance characters and for spy games "Moonlight and Vodka"

Andy Parker - "Soldier, Soldier2 - if players have seen this TV series the music is fantastic to use

Magnum - "Need a Lot of Love"

Blind Guardian - "And Then There Was Silence" - an epic song about the Trojan War

Basil Poledouris - "The Hunt for Red October" - whole album is ideal although you could use something by the Red Army Choir as an alternative. His Starship Troopers album is also a possibility

British Regimental marches work well as my players at least half know them

Dire Straits - "Brothers in Arms"

Some games have decent soundtracks - MoA and CoD for example plus the 40k games have great soundtracks

Mary Fahl - "Going Home" from Gods and Generals

[Tegyrius]

How about something by Steve Earle "Copperhead Road" or "The Devil's Right Hand" both spring to mind, but there are others..."Ben McCulloch" for example...love the chorus of that song -

Also, Home to Houston and Warrior. I'd use The Gringo's Tale for a specific story involving PCs who can't go home because of politics or personal misdeeds. Johnny Come Lately needs an added verse for the Twilight War.

Maybe Bruce Springsteen as well I'm not as up to date on his newer stuff, but there are acoustic versions of both "Born to Run" and "Born In The USA" out there, or there's "My City In Ruins".

Devils & Dust and Further On (Up the Road) both work.

A heck of a lot of Warren Zevon's work has imagery or themes applicable to post-apoc. Just off the top of my head: Jungle Work, Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner, Transverse City (admittedly verging on cyberpunk), Quite Ugly One Morning, Searching for a Heart, Renegade...

- C.

[B.T.]

I don't work with much music. One of my players is a musician himself - he tends to listen to the music, not to the GM.

A nice openig track is good. It helps, to settle the mood. But during play, I would use music sparingly. And if you use it as background, you should chose slow and more instrumental tracks. If the tracks have to much rhythm - lots of drumbeats - this can distract the attention. Soundtracks are ideally suited.

On the other hand: Some of the "louder" tracks, thrown in on occasions, might do it, from tome to time:
Iron Maiden - The Trooper
Motrhead - Overkill (An edit, song's too long)
System of a Down has same real loud ones, that could be played as an opener to a scene.

There is an album of Apocalyptica with cover songs from Metallica ("Apocalyptica plays Metallica"). Some were really scary.

Pomp and Circumstance might work, too. (You know, when the job is done and the players can feel like real heroes)

I once played with a guy, who must have had literally hundreds of soundtracks. He used several tracks as musical themes for certain NPCs. This was fun - every player instantly knew, what was happening.

[Legbreaker]

Given the game's set in the second half of the 90's, perhaps leave the 1960's and 70's sound tracks alone and go with more contemporary music and bands

[copeab]

There is an album of Apocalyptica with cover songs from Metallica ("Apocalyptica plays Metallica"). Some were really scary.

Four Cellos Play Metallica

I found their cover of "Hall Of The Mountain King" kinda scary

Their more recent instrumentals, with drums and distortion effects, also work well as background music.

[copeab]

I always thought "Re-Jigue" by Alan Parsons was a good theme song waiting for a series. "Lucifer" by the Alan Parsons Project is also a good choice.

[WallShadow]

How about the "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" riff from the end of "Dr. Strangelove" It has a brittle, despondent, desperate, fatalistic, militaristic feel to it. And the source material is _so_ relevant.

"Black Friday" by Steely Dan--after all IIRC the TDM actually took place the day after Thanksgiving, when all the capitalistic materialistic bourgoisie were out shopping for Christmas.

[stg58fal]

A nice openig track is good. It helps, to settle the mood.

That's the idea. JUST an opening theme. Like how "Paint It Black" was used as the opening theme for the TV series "Tour of Duty". Other than that, I prefer for music to stay OFF during a game session, to help reduce distractions.

Thank you all for the suggestions. I'll check them out. I may also change the opening every so often, for the sake of variety and so people don't get too burned out on one song.

I also like, and may use, the Five Finger Death Punch version of "Bad Company". Funny, cuz that's the ONLY song I've heard them do that I can actually stand.

[Raellus]

I started a thread on war-related pop music a few years back but I can't find it in the archive. A lot of folks pitched in and it was pretty exhaustive. Here's a more recent thread about mood music for T2K-

http://forum.juhlin.com/showthread.phpt=3058&highlight=music

I'll keep hunting for the other one.

[stg58fal]

Given the game's set in the second half of the 90's, perhaps leave the 1960's and 70's sound tracks alone and go with more contemporary music and bands

2012, actually, since we'll be playing T:2013, but your point remains valid, and that's why I said that even though "Gimme Shelter" would be great, it's probably not appropriate.

I'm looking up the suggestions that have been made thus far on YouTube.

[stg58fal]

I started a thread on war-related pop music a few years back but I can't find it in the archive. A lot of folks pitched in and it was pretty exhaustive. Here's a more recent thread about mood music for T2K-

http://forum.juhlin.com/showthread.phpt=3058&highlight=music

I'll keep hunting for the other one.

Thanks. Checking the thread right now.

[Legbreaker]

2012, actually, since we'll be playing T:2013, but your point remains valid, and that's why I said that even though "Gimme Shelter" would be great, it's probably not appropriate.

Ah, good point. Makes selecting music even easier for you though - don't have to think back a decade and a half!