#TBT: FIFA and Music
A small musical window into one of video games biggest franchises.
In video games the soundtrack/score is one of the most important contributions to enjoyment, whether the player notices or not. Sports games are the main games that have fully licensed soundtracks while others prefer a more theatrical score. Out of all sports games the FIFA series has a reputation for having the best and most diverse soundtracks of any game and with the 2016 UEFA Euros currently taking place, it’s the perfect time to look back at the music from the series.
From as early as 1994, before streaming music was a common practice in the medium (name drop alert) the Sensible World of Soccer had an intro song that used digitized instrument samples and even vocals, a big deal at the time. Considering the large role that music plays in sports in general it wasn’t surprising that they became an integral part of sports games too. When FIFA: Road to World Cup 98 was released in 1997 (this whole date thing is quite annoying, no?) it was the first of the series to have a full licensed soundtrack including songs from Blur, The Crystal Method and Electric Skychurch. This also happened to be the game that innovated beyond what people expected and thrust FIFA into the international mainstream.
With each new installment of the franchise, more and more large mainstream artists were joining the roster. Some standouts from the following years were Fatboy Slim in FIFA 99, Reel Big Fish in FIFA 2000 and Moby in FIFA 2001. Compared to the expansive soundtracks seen in the series nowadays a list of 6 songs seems limited. Purely due to technological reasons this was the pinnacle of what could be done at the time. By FIFA 2002, well after the release of the second generation Playstation (PS2) technology had gotten to the point where more than a dozen songs could be featured in each game.
What made FIFA’s soundtrack so unique was how wide the variety of music on display was. Because football has such a universal reach, the music needs to appeal to people from all around the world. Because of this a truly eclectic mix of music was created, you would often see artists like the Gorillaz next to artists like Terpsichord.
FIFA has had a direct result in the popularity of bands as well. Bands like the Kings of Leon would never have had the success they so clearly deserved were it not for their inclusion in FIFA 2004. FIFA seems to have a third eye in order to see what band is going to be the next big thing, similarly to KOL you likely wouldn’t have heard of Bloc Party before FIFA. There is a lot of care and craft that goes into these soundtracks and credit needs to be given where credit is due. Steve Schnur (head of the EA Music Group), we salute you.
If you enjoyed this article please you’ll likely enjoy this playlist. This was created on our new application Mixably, if you would like to listen to the full tracks, give it a go here. Thank you very much for reading and if you want more, have a gander at our other articles right over here.
