Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
It is true that the only constant in this world is change, and so it goes that our interest in gadgets changes so rapidly we forget the machines that entertained us so much a few years back.
Over here I’m using a Blackberry, and surprisingly, mainly using it as a phone – not as an MP3 player, not as a games machine and certainly not as a remote control for my TV.
But back in Spain I had an iPhone 4 – which to be honest is very average as a mobile phone but as soon as you wander into the entertainment applications you get hooked, and that was so true for the game Angry Birds.
Apple users worldwide will know of this addictive phenomenon, with 250 million downloads of the game in its various guises and now there is a dance tune based on the music and sounds of the game.
For those curious people out there search for Angry Birds - Angry Birds (Ido Shoam Remix) and crank up your YouTube speakers and enjoy the sounds.
However, music produced on best-selling computer games isn’t a new thing – back in 1992 we had a whole host of songs released, which nearly topped the UK charts (just goes to show what rubbish was about at that time), and these included:
HWA feat Sonic the Hedgehog – Supersonic
Ambassadors of Funk feat MC Mario – Supermarioland (which featured heavily in Simon Mayo’s Radio 1 daytime show at the time)
Doctor Spin – Tetris got to number 6 in the charts and was instantly forgettable.
But my point is that I remember playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City on the Playstation 2 (yep, remember them?) back in 2002 and was blown away by the attention to detail put into the radio stations every time you got into a car.
I know that newer versions of the game have done a similar thing, but in Vice City it was ground-breakingly good, so much so that SONY released a 7CD box set split into each genre of radio station including V-Rock, Wave 103, Emotion 98.3, etc.
The song list is far too long to repeat here, so do yourselves a favour and search Grand Theft Auto: Vice City soundtrack, click on the Wikipedia link and pay homage to the genius of the game’s developers, ROCKSTAR.
Afterwards, I’ll guarantee you’ll be digging out the old CDs later!
Until another time my easily pleased friends, take a little time to think about this: When everything’s coming your way, you’re in the wrong lane and going the wrong way!
