African Americans created a pillar of videogame music: Techno

[videogamestashbox.com]

This is going to be a fun post for me.....


I see at la least 3 pillars of videogame music.

• Orchestral
• "Chip tune"
• Techno

Orchestral - This would be your standard fare RPG, Adventure game, music. Typically very similar to a movie score. A popular version would be something like "one winged angel"

Example: "One winged angel"
​

"Chip tune" - Music made for/on a sound board native to the videogame systems hardware. Think 8-bit 16-bit music. It's easy to call this a genre of techno but I wouldn't go that far. This tends to feel like whatever type of music you'd here out in the world, especially movies and tv shows but filtered through the stock sounds available on whatever board used. (I borrowed this term because I had no other means of describing it.)

Example: "One winged angel" originally was Orchestral music rendered through synthetic instruments
​

Techno - Music generated from a sound board without a preceding filtered genre wholly present. While the dance variant is essentially "electric disco music" (very loose definition)

​

Historical Context:
Just as blues & rock eventually went "electric" in there instrumentation so did R&B, funk, punk, new wave, pop, metal and even jazz(heralded by people such as Miles Davis & Herbie Hancock). By the 70's -80's Damn near everything was "synthetic music" or had some combination

GTA vice city actually had a joke about this on their radio station



So What's the Key difference between techno and everything else?​

The key difference between techno and other genres of music is that while others essentially took whatever genre they were currently in and played the same music but with electric instruments; techno simply started with electric instruments and a love of music then just started experimenting, eventually making their own sound.

To be clear elements from prior genres made there way into Techno music.(we all have influences) but Techno isn't comprised wholly or mostly of any specific prior genre as other "synthetic music" being made at the time.

​

Spoiler: A little extra something

 

[Doomsday]

Anything where bass is the main component is black. Blacks invited bass as main instrumentation, which is why we include it in every genre we created and influenced.

 

[GoldTeef]

Pretty interesting

 

[Camile.Bidan]

Most new world genres were invented by those of African descent

 

[Maschine_Man]

Anything where bass is the main component is black. Blacks invited bass as main instrumentation, which is why we include it in every genre we created and influenced.

its not just bass. Its basically all rhythm/drum components are of african descent in music.

Melodies/harmonies and theory are typically known to be european originated.



I love music, and I love music history and learning where everything developed.

Thats why Jazz (traditional Jazz not the new stuff out now) is such an amazing artform. It was really the first to combine both elements and do it masterfully.

 

[Maschine_Man]

Most new world genres were invented by those of African descent

While there is alot of truth to this, it is not entirely true.

 

[TransJenner]

THE BLACK GUY MAKES THE MUSIC , SUPPORT BUY NOW

 

[daze23]

Most new world genres were invented by those of African descent

all humans are of African decent

 

[↓R↑LYB]

all humans are of African decent

Those with Neanderthal DNA aren't truly human

 

[videogamestashbox.com]

its not just bass. Its basically all rhythm/drum components are of african descent in music.

Melodies/harmonies and theory are typically known to be european originated.



I love music, and I love music history and learning where everything developed.

Thats why Jazz (traditional Jazz not the new stuff out now) is such an amazing artform. It was really the first to combine both elements and do it masterfully.

I know why you say that and I'll give you harmonies but melody i can't, if by melody you mean repetition of a given set of notes/beats. All music has a melody ...heck even if there is no repetition then it's just one long melody that never repeated. The only harmony I ever hear emphasized in African music is vocal harmony especially Zulu singing. When it comes to drumming you have a set of drummers all hitting the same beats/notes but overall across instruments I agree there seems to be no heavy emphasis.

It seems to be everybody doing their own thing wrapped around a central rhythm which is heavily emphasis in jazz improvisations where one person keeps the rhythm while each musician then wraps their play around that rhythm. While with Orchestral music they need a music conductor to keep time or rhythm. improvisations aren't heavy in european music either.

Interesting Note:
This has been theorized to play out in African American society / politics as well. You have African Americans who don't want to harmonize with anyone I.E. everyone wants to do there own thing. When events happen they spontaneously & improvisationaly ride the rhythm of that event without being directed to do so ...if that event moves them. The key problem being that this works fine when you make the key rhythm but in america the key rhythm is not made by African Americans. This is further problematized when you realize that you need to get the people to harmonize as a group to change the old rhythm system and install a new rhythm but everybody wants to do their own thing. Further more you may still have people who refuse to stop riding the old rhythm even though you are trying to install a new one.

 

[videogamestashbox.com]

To further talk about the "chip tune" distinction.
With "chip tune" a lot of it's variations were dependent on the genre of game. The music would be the same genre as movies and tv shows of that type/genre. But it would be rendered on whatever chip they had to synthesize that type of music.

Example: A song taken straight from a tv show of the same genre/type.





Example: Soundtrack inspired by tv/movies of the same genre/type (not lifted from, but bears the type of music used in that genre)





Point being that techno doesn't mean any music made with "synthetic instruments"

 

[KravenMorehead™]

 

[videogamestashbox.com]

Yeah, I actually listened to that on youtube before. It still holds up pretty good.

 

[rapbeats]

its not just bass. Its basically all rhythm/drum components are of african descent in music.

Melodies/harmonies and theory are typically known to be european originated.



I love music, and I love music history and learning where everything developed.

Thats why Jazz (traditional Jazz not the new stuff out now) is such an amazing artform. It was really the first to combine both elements and do it masterfully.

now aint that something. yet white folks just can't get his and understand. stop tripping so we can all live together as one people. The combo of all of us together is amazing.

 

[daze23]

Those with Neanderthal DNA aren't truly human

Neanderthal are a hominid species who's ancestors left Africa before Homo Sapiens