Killing cops and reading Kerouac listening to Madball: punk rock video game soundtracks.

August, 1999. Moviegoers were abuzz about the shocking twist at the end of M. Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense, where you find out that the whole thing took place in the mind of an autistic child (played by Bruce Willis). Who Wants To Be a Millionaire? was a TV sensation, Madball was hard at work on their opus Hold It Down—and a young cyclist and cancer survivor named Lance Armstrong had just won a glorious victory in the Tour de France, inspiring viewers around the world.

"How is it possible for your body to be stronger now, than it was before the disease?"
"I have no idea. I can't answer that."

But the US Postal team capturing the maillot jaune (French for "victory blouse") wasn't the only sensational story happening in the world of wheel-based athletic pursuits (which at the time were called "Xtreme Sportz"). At the end of August, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater was released.

There had been skateboarding video games before THPS (most notably the Skate or Die games on NES, the second of which actually features the guy from from Leviathan on the cover), but THPS rendered them all obsolete. It was a perfect example of "easy to learn, difficult to master": just about anyone could pick it up and start kickflipping, but scoring million point combos took real (by which I mean fake) skill.

Rip, skate, never hesitate.

While THPS' infectious gameplay soon embedded itself in the muscle memory of a generation, one of the best things about it was the soundtrack. Instead of the generic rock and sampled grunting of earlier skateboarding games, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater featured a soundtrack full of licensed songs from real bands—and most shocking of all, some of them were actually, you know, good.

Let's take a closer look.

It's hard to imagine now, but it really was pretty shocking to start playing THPS and hear the echoing chords of the Dead Kennedys' "Police Truck". Not only was this a totally legit punk rock anthem, but it also had some seriously biting lyrics that were just filled with swears.

You can just imagine some unsuspecting mom buying THPS for little Jimmy, thinking "oh, this looks so much more wholesome than that dreadful Mortal Kombat." Little did she know that little Jimmy would soon be bombarded with lyrics about KICKIN' ASS and SUCKIN' DICKS.

With "Police Truck", the message was clear: THPS wasn't kidding around.

Unfortunately the game also sent some mixed messages; "Police Truck" could easily be followed by something like The Ernies' "Here and Now", which seemed to suggest that it was totally fucking kidding around. And then there were the unforgettable stylings of REO Speedealer—who contribute a two-song suite that ends up actually sounding kind of like the New Bomb Turks or the Candy Snatchers, but unfortunately starts off sounding like somebody farting in your face.

"Fuck, I just couldn't concentrate with that stupid song playing!"

But as good as THPS was, it was the sequel where everything really came together. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 took the mechanics of the first one and refined them with tighter controls, better levels, and all the trimmings necessary to ensure countless productive hours lost. (Most notably, it added the ability to connect long strings of tricks with manuals, making you feel like Rodney Mullen on an ice skating rink.) The overhaul also included a much better soundtrack.

Millencollin. Lagwagon. Swingin' Utters. Bad Religion. It was like a symphony of '90s skate punk symphony. (Also, some hip-hop songs.) Best of all was a song from Consumed, a Fat Wreck Chords band from England. Just listen to this shit:

Don't be alarmed if you look down and discover you're now wearing a World Industries t-shirt.

The THPS soundtracks ignited a revolution, displacing whole cadres of Japanese men who'd made their bones composing MIDI symphonies for games like Castlevania and Final Fantasy. Tragically, their bleep opuses were no longer needed, and they were reduced to begging for change from drunk salarymen.

Video games would never be the same. The fondest dreams of children everywhere were finally fulfilled with the release of Grand Theft Auto III, the long dreamed of game where you could "do anything"—which in practice meant blowing up cops and killing prostitutes. Most of the music in GTAIII and the earlier games in the series was produced in-house, and the licensed tracks were often by unknown artists. But all of that would change with the sequel, Vice City.

Vice City's soundtrack transformed the game from a run-of-the-mill murder simulator into a day-glo time machine so authentic it made your teeth numb. You couldn't hijack a car in Vice City without hearing some iconic signifier of the 1980s, whether it was "Love My Way", "Raining Blood", or "Clear".

The core game still revolved around murdering hookers, though.

The sequel, San Andreas, followed suit with a perfectly imagined suite of 1990s radio fodder. There was a dedicated new jack swing station, generous amounts of Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre, and rock jams ranging from "Mother" and "Unsung" to "Cult of Personality" (the radio edit version, for maximum immersion). And, naturally, Ice Cube's "It Was a Good Day" made an appearance—except in GTA, it's not a good day unless you use your AK to kill numerous people in south central L.A. (Sorry, "Los Santos.")

After that, curated video game soundtracks where everywhere, and they just got more and more detailed. Case in point: by the time GTAIV came out, there was a dedicated minimalist ambient station featuring Terry Riley, Philip Glass, and Steve Roach. I'm sure it was really popular with the game's fans.

This guy is into atheism, Game Of Thrones, and aleatoric minimalism.

But a crucial (in every sense of the word) development in the field of deep licensed soundtracks came with the True Crime series, and particularly the second installment, New York City. Just look at this lineup. If hearing "Police Truck" in THPS felt surreal, it was nothing compared to beating up old women to the strains of Youth of Today and fucking Madball.

This forced Rockstar to step up their game for GTAIV, and in response they included a ripping NYHC/metal station (in case you somehow got tired of listening to Aphex Twin and jazz fusion).

This flyer is actually a viral advertisement for the next GTA game. In one mission you have to dress up as a crusty and infiltrate ABC No Rio.

The surprisingly good licensed video game soundtrack is now a sort of fait accompli; we don't even really think about it anymore. They could come out with a hovercraft racing game featuring tunes from Infest, Nocturnus, and Masonna and I wouldn't even blink. What a time to be alive!

Can a Skate or Die reboot featuring music by Leviathan and Sockeye be far behind?