It's not a very diverse soundtrack. It's actually very characteristic of pretty much every EA TRAX offering of the last few years. Kind of weird, how "EA Game Soundtrack" became its own genre of music. I know there have been plenty of bands I've heard and thought, that sounds like some crap I'd hear on an EA game. EA don't make bad games, but the music is awfully meh. Game soundtracks are dead, long live custom soundtracks.

2K Sports, though-- their soundtracks aren't necessarily always better, but they're a lot more eclectic.

wild homes gets retconned!

Nothing says "football" like Mindless Self Indulgence.

I hope Jimmy Page isn't on that list...

jackburnt

Since they aren't making any upgrades to the game anymore, might as well promote the music licensed deals. And of course, it's crap. They should look at someone like Michael bay that at least gets music for everyone and from the past 40 years, not the 2008 TRL must-have singles.

VakeroRokero

@ZeeBeeEss: Every heartbeat has your name, doo doo doo now play this game yeah

sherv

I'm putting my money on "The Fashion" as being the next "Madden Break-out act" award winner....... There is such an award, right?

EndwaterAngry

Ah, looks like another year of popping in the external harddrive and listening to my own music.

actorpull

@PsycheE: This man knows what he's talking about.
But seriously, this soundtrack isn't even all that impressive and not nearly as diverse as they're pretending it to be.

Sinfwho

I'm a little perplexed that MSI is considered to be an 'emerging' artist that Madden is 'introducing'.

Granted, many people have never heard of them due to their abrasive sound, but that doesn't discard the fact that they've been around for more than a decade.

I don't play Madden games, or really even sports games for that matter, but the first time I saw a track tag pop up on an EA game, I knew that any artistic musical direction had been blatantly tossed aside for the sake of commercialism.

LettuceD

that picture makes me want to run to my mommy crying.

DigiMish

I don't see how Madden was "revolutionary" at all. Putting Busta Rhymes in your game does not make you a visionary.

BluFire

Thats shit. Fifa soundtrack is much better (probably cos the Brits replace all the crap-rap)

Communist_Gamer

I'd just like to state that the first thing I do every year in Madden is turn off all the music listed above, and turn on all of the classic NFL Films music.

mva5580

@Nobuyuki: @Snake726:

Spoken for truth right there, gents.

hammerhand

So, they're hyping another mediocre selection of EA TRAX?

Amazon_Chris

"Madden NFL will always be recognized as the game that made the music matter in videogames"

BAWHAHAHAHAHAHA!

HAHA!

...

I don't even...It's...

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Coquiton

Wow... That's almost as good as the line up for Guitar Hero DS. Hey John, where's the Maroon 5?

cio

@Nobuyuki: Well to be sterotypical the same way EA is being..

I don't think too many people that actively 'PLAY' madden will be playing games those composers work on. i dabble in madden but i play those games =p and yes their work is awesome.

Zaos

"In Flames - The Mirror's Truth"

gunsuicide.jpg

They haven't made a good album since 2000.

Stefanten

Mindless Self Indulgence is unheard of...there is a lot of other artists on that list that I've never heard of, but I guess that would be a case of what each person listens to.

I don't play madden games and this soundtrack won't entice me to pick this up when it drops.

TragicsNFG

Hmm, looks like we have a new Franz Ferdinand single? Awesome.

MarquisMark

Fuck yeah! In Flames and Trivium! \ m /

DontTouchMyDaughterYouFilthyGaijin

I remember quite fondly playing Tiger Woods 04 on my Xbox while listening to anything I wanted. It lengthened the replayability of that game by leaps and bounds. Sometimes I just played it to listen to something new. Of course this could be done by just listening to music from a different source, but it's just not the same. I liked the sound effects and the music together. The announcers, of course, were turned off.

chuffhoncho

"Madden NFL revolutionized the industry by making music of multiple genres - from both established acts and brand-new artists - an essential emotional component of the videogame experience and the NFL season itself... Not only have we changed the gaming culture forever"

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA....AAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Snake726

Forget Nobuo Uematsu. Forget Koji Kondo. Forget Koichi Sugiyama, Yasunori Mitsuda, and Hitoshi Sakimoto. Madden is the game that makes game music really matter.

Nobuyuki

C'mon EA, you're just encouraging The Offspring to make more music.

For the record, I think Busta Rhymes is looking a little strung out in that picture. I've met some fellas that doubled over like that on the streets of Atlanta around the Bum-tasia district (North Avenue between Georgia Tech and West Peachtree)

Sentientv2

In Flames and Mindless Self Indulgence are cool, Trivium is OK, everything else is pretty damn terrible.

Gray665

Say what you want, but I'd rather have licensed real music than horrible fake tracks during the menu screens (like PES 2008).

As per Madden being "the game that made the music matter in videogames," I would say GTA 3 has that title. Madden (and the Tony Hawk series) were big in pushing it though. GH and Rock Band are different monsters altogether and weren't around when the others were jamming music into games.

Nik in NOLA

If you ask me, they need more Pigskin Power

Lyrai

hmmm, this is a pretty terrible list of "Let's get something for everyone" music. Crap.@ninja_warrior:
Agreed.

Sammo21

@EndwaterAngry: Seconded.

PumpkinPieman

The only band/artist in there that is even remotely unheard of is Mindless Self Indulgence and they've taken the younger 'rocker' kids by storm...Silly EA, Trix are for kids!

demonspawn2578

Sometimes I miss the days of 8-bit MIDIs.

EndwaterAngry

So, the same mass market targeted shit as last year and the year before? Bleh. Busta Rhymes, Linkin Park, and Disturbed...I'd be surprised if there's a single song on that soundtrack I even remotely come close to enjoying. Maybe the Offspring song.

Then again, I don't really play Madden anyways, so I doubt that's a big deal.

Archaotic

@TakuFangirl: Busta bust is a legend. His last album "Big Bang Theory" was slept on by the hip hop community because of the bombardment of crank dat soulja garbagedom. It is just too sad that money making 21'st century music is run by Universal, Atlanta, and the rest of the crapola.

PsycheE

I guess I'll never get to play a football simulator while enjoying the righteous grooves of Amy Grant.

ZeeBeeEss

Not bad, but not influential I'd say

CHU BOI

Great, at least food is going to talented artists then most corporate musicians.

Somehow EA and Rockstar gets their soundtrack right. Picking up the right commissions.

PsycheE

Seriously...Madden has done more for Music in games than Guitar Hero or Rockband.

AEREC

Busta Ryhmes still makes music?
and ninja_warrior speaks the truth.

TakuFangirl

okay, I'm the first to admit it, i could careless about Madden or sports games in general, they just aren't my bag. But when you have to hype the new Madden by talking about it's soundtrack...then you need to stop the franchise.

ninja_warrior

Perhaps it's been too long since I've watched football, but, why is the black guy from Stargate: Atlantis in the game?

Terance!

@Khabi: First Person Football has been done already.

JesseLacey

@wild homes gets retconned!:

As in 2k=thought, focus, and vision
ea=commercial appeal, laziness and being vociferous

sounsd about right

LmaoTseTung

so revolutionary = picking the top few songs from each radio station genre in town?

If they want to 'revolutionize' a football game, why not try something like a first person football game with some kind of story behind it (think of your 80's / 90's football movies)?

No? How about stylizing the gameplay a little bit? Make them seem a bit more agile, context sensitive controls. Ya know, something that makes you go 'whoa I just did that'.

And last but not least, how about you don't pump out THE SAME DAMN GAME EVERY YEAR?

But if you have to show off the game music, get someone like John Williams to write background music for you. Frankly, that would be completely awesome.

Khabi

Disturbed = Good, everything else = bad.

Pata-pwn(TM?)

WTF this list?? I don't even know most of the songs or "artists"

ViciousViper

"Hey Yeah" by Rev Theory, huh? So is that censored, or a typo? Somehow I don't think "Gimme a HEY! Gimme a YEAH!" is gonna have quite the same weight behind it...

Talraen

@LmaoTseTung: I wouldn't entirely disagree, but I'm still a custom soundtrack kind of guy, myself. But I do agree that I generally find the diversity of 2K's soundtracks to be a lot more appealing than EA's typical assortment of screamo, alt-metal, rap, and rap-hybrids. I thought when 2K brought out the one MLB soundtrack with loads of Sub Pop artists on it, they'd pretty much encapsulated the fundamental differences between themselves and EA.

wild homes gets retconned!

@LmaoTseTung: I dunno, I came to enjoy that Bravery song.

But I also really appreciate Madden throwing NFL Films music in there; means a lot to a sports fan who watches ESPN Classic.

Also, Wale's one of the best rappers out there.

Rock You Like An Iracane

From the company that brought you Avril Lavigne in Burnout Paradise!

RageKage

I don't know about you guys, but I miss the days when music for games (and movies, for that matter) was written specifically for the game. I have never really sung along to mainstream music included in a game to make it more appealing, but when something like the Zelda or Katamari theme comes on, I crank my speakers and sing along like a drunk Irishman.

Doomaflatchi

If there is one game for the PS3 that needs in-game custom music, it is Madden 09.

bigdude209

I would like to be the first to say "Shut the F*** up EA!!!"

/counterproductive comment

SAKY

@the world:

Madden NFL 08 has the worst soundtrack of any video game ever.

LmaoTseTung

@wild homes gets retconned!:

NBA 2k8 has the best soundtrack of any video game ever.

LmaoTseTung

@Terance: All you have to First question.: That was also a bit of a sarcastic comment. Seems a little arrogant to claim that you "lauched" the career of a band - doesnt it?

EndwaterAngry

@Sentientv2: Actually, the new Offspring album is decent.

That said, like the music in every game since Guitar Hero 2, this is nothing short of a massive yawn-fest. We're treading the same old boring territory in games where music matters now: Madden is full of shitty "down south" rap to appeal to frat kids, and Guitar Hero and Rock Band now have the same bands on their lists, mostly. Call me when something interesting happens.

Gabexmosh

@Terance: All you have to First question.: Just going by what the press release says:

"Over the past decade, the Madden NFL soundtrack has launched premier artists that include Good Charlotte, OK GO, Fallout Boy, Franz Ferdinand, Avenged Sevenfold, Bullet For My Valentine, Yellowcard, Dashboard Confessional, Jet, Ozomatli and 30 Seconds To Mars......"

@ninja_warrior: You are right... Their careers were about as short as a midget on stilts. [crossing my fingers too]

@Terance: All you have to First question.: It's funny that you claim that Good Charlotte is too old for you to remember... hahaha

EndwaterAngry

@EndwaterAngry: Wait endwater...you mean to say Good Charlotte, OK GO, Fallout Boy, Franz Ferdinand, Yellowcard, and Dashboard Confessional....all actually had careers?!? I forgot they even existed.

Oh yeah and Fall Out Boy (sucks)...the last band that covered a Michael Jackson song faded away...*fingers crossed here*

ninja_warrior

@EndwaterAngry:

Alot of those you have backwards. FOB and Franz were popular before their inclusion into Madden, OK GO was made popular from youtube, Good Charlotte is too old for me to remember who started their popularity, but the rest are spot on.

Either way, let's blame EA.

DAMN YOU EA!!!

Terance: All you have to First question.

@JesseLacey: What game? I would love to try it out.

Khabi

I finally figured out who I can blame for Good Charlotte, OK GO, Fallout Boy, Franz Ferdinand, Yellowcard, and Dashboard Confessional............. Since EA launched their career it only makes sense to blame them, right?

I also wonder how long it will take EA to start charging for additional songs...... 26 songs does seem a bit small.... $2.00/song seems about right.

EndwaterAngry

@LmaoTseTung: Yeah, that's pretty apt.

wild homes gets retconned!

If EA wants to revolutionize gaming they should find a way to get the price of the game lower. With all this in game advertising and publicity for new musical artists and their songs you would think the game would cost less. I don't give a crap about the music in a football game, I don't care what kind of shoe a player uses nor do I care about what company is bringing me the half time report, I just want a good football game.

tralfaz23

@tlozwarlock:

I've known MSI for years, and don't quite like them.

Most of these artists aren't breaking out and gaining exposure.

They're either washed out artists trying to regain popularity, crappy bands appealing to the mindless drones who listen to them, or bands releasing new singles.

Infact, these are the only bands/groups on the list I've never heard of:

Airbourne Stand Up For Rock 'N Roll
Innerpartysystem Don't Stop
Izza Kizza Millionaire
K'NAAN ABC's
Kardinal Offishall feat. Lindo P Burnt
Kidz In The Hall Blackout
Rev Theory Hey Yeah
Shinedown Devour
The Fashion Like Knives
Tyga Diamond Life

Terance: All you have to First question.

@Nik in NOLA: Maybe the game that made "licensed" music matter, but music in general? Are you serious? Is EA (or anyone else, for that matter) just gonna completely disregard the works of Uematsu, Mitsuda, Shimumura, Koji Kondo, Tallarico, Marty O'Donnel... etc? By saying EA "made music matter in games," they basically insult the whole gaming industry by saying that before they came along game music was shit.

Spiffyness

@DontTouchMyDaughterYouFilthyGaijin:

That is not a proper use of the horns. The metal gods are going to revoke your metalhead license if you keep brandishing the horns about like that.

@LettuceD: MSI is technically a non-entity on the national level. No radio play, small concerts, and hard to stomach style will do that. I'm actually happy they're getting some exposure.

@BluFire: Amen.

tlozwarlock

@EndwaterAngry: why would I put that there to justify what I posted? It was a comment I made to say "hey dude, I been doin this for a long time now and I want to know how I misused the horns?"

And Ill correct myself. I've only been playing since 2003.

DontTouchMyDaughterYouFilthyGaijin

@DontTouchMyDaughterYouFilthyGaijin: maybe it is because your profile doesn't say "i've been playing and going to shows since i was 12 years old dude"

EndwaterAngry

@tlozwarlock: btw Im gonna be an asshole for a second and say something about Mindless Self Indulgence...That shit is complete garbage, musically, lyrically. It's the kind of Hot Topic Metal that gives real metal a bad name. Lyrically appealling music for fat kids that have a hatred towards anything pro-establisment and "normal". Really everything that's wrong with Metal. They can get put into the Black Metal category of bands that should never ever be taken seriously.

DontTouchMyDaughterYouFilthyGaijin

"Over the past decade, the Madden NFL soundtrack has launched premier artists that include..."

Jesus Christ EA, get the fuck over yourselves. You only picked 90% of these artists when you heard them on the MTV. You didn't launch shit for artists, you were just grabbing the sloppy thirds (If you were lucky).

Shabadage

@tlozwarlock: huh? not proper use of the horns?! you gotta be kidding right? i've been playing and going to shows since i was 12 years old dude. now you're gonna say Im not "metal" because i dont like crap like Dying Fetus and garbage like that? I wanna know how im misusing the mighty horns.

DontTouchMyDaughterYouFilthyGaijin

DAMN IT, BUSTA, QUIT BLOCKING THE YEAR! 0-WHAT?!?!? 0-WHAT?!?!?

Adrock4

@Stefanten: A Sense of Purpose is their best album since Clayman, by far. Of course stuff like Jester Race, Whoracle and Colony is the true "classic" IF but for newer IF ASOP ain't bad at all.

And the new Trivium album "Shogun" might be the best melodic metal album in 2008. They don't sound like Metallica anymore and it truly sounds like a improved version of Ascendancy Trivium.

DontTouchMyDaughterYouFilthyGaijin

@Khabi: NFL 2k5 had a version of it..and heres a shotty video for proof ha.

+ Watch video

JesseLacey

ahhh great to see ea's priorities in this game. instead of improving or adding better (read not gimmicky crap) features, lets improve the soundtrack!

maraxusofk

I avoid games that use licensed music mainly because its music that is heard everywhere else already and i don't want to hear it on my games too.

I have yet to own an EA game and this isn't really swaying me. ontop of that its Madden so i can only imagine that the people playing these games aren't people who care much for originality anyway.

Beximus

@Gabexmosh: Let's survey the "'down south' rap"

Airbourne Stand Up For Rock 'N Roll -no
Busta Rhymes feat. Linkin Park We Made It-no
Disturbed Inside The Fire-no
Franz Ferdinand Lucid Dreams-no
From First To Last Worlds Away-no
Gym Class Heroes I'm Home-no
Hollywood Undead Undead-I don't think so?
In Flames The Mirror's Truth-no
Innerpartysystem Don't Stop-probably not
Izza Kizza Millionaire-no
K'NAAN ABC's-no(and the only artist on the entire soundtrack I enjoy)
Kardinal Offishall feat. Lindo P Burnt-no
Kidz In The Hall Blackout-no
KOVAS Wax On, Wax Off-no
Mindless Self Indulgence Never Wanted To Dance-no
Rev Theory Hey Yeah-probably not
Senses Fail Wolves At The Door-no
Shinedown Devour-no
The All-American Rejects The Real World (Demo)-no
The Fashion Like Knives-no
The Offspring Hammerhead-no
Trivium Into The Mouth Of…We March-no
Tyga Diamond Life-no
Underoath Desperate Times, Desperate Measures-no
Wale feat. Southeast Slim Breakdown-no
Young Dre The Truth feat. Good Charlotte Workin'-no

So you're 0% correct. And you like the Offspring. Good job.

LmaoTseTung

That is a really dull soundtrack. I buy Madden just about every year and I get disappointed every year(I'm not talking about the music, I'm talking about the overall game. Its the same thing every year).
Its just these games get so hyped and I can't resist purchasing them, maybe this year I'll be able to resist the hype.

omfg_its_dally

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 Soundtrack > This garbage

Best sound track bar none. THPS was the franchise that started having good soundtracks (or soundtracks at all).

Nice try EA, go milk all of your BS franchises quietly while the big boys put out new games that people want to buy. You know you've got a problem when your target demographic has early-early-early onset Alzheimers' disease and you bank on them forgetting how bad the same game was last year.

mistake

Sorry, the GTA games do licensed music better than everybody else. And to say that licensing music is an awesome, "revolutionary" step in gaming is like saying sprite comics are a more important artistic movement than Impressionism.

I don't play sports games much, but I much prefer unique game soundtracks over licensed music. Some greats have already been mentioned (will some of you stop hugging Square's nuts already?), but others like Hip Tanaka and Tim Follin have been woefully omitted.

Ubik2501

I'm sorry but this isn't a game soundtrack.

A game soundtrack tends to be composed and created specifically for a game.

All I see here is a bunch of groups/bands thrown together so EA can swing it's corporate dick around and we should go OOOH! and AAAH! on how awesome it is.

I know this has been a trend for quite some time but I'm not happy with it at all. Genuine music talent is being substituted for what's popular in the charts or is "cool" and "hip" among the people.

EA, you can keep your Trax.

StormdragonBlue

@DontTouchMyDaughterYouFilthyGaijin: You seem to be confusing Mindless Self Indulgence with bands that want to be taken seriously.

grundlesnatch

@PsycheE: On that note. Rock 'N Roll Racing, best use of licensed music EVER.

Shabadage

@Shabadage: Its the same people that thought "DJ Lantern in GTAIV, Whoo kid?, who are these people?"

:/

PsycheE

@Ubik2501: I love these comments. GTA doesn't "do" licensed music. They put it on the radio. That's the equivalent of me putting a CD in my car then claiming I did something awesome. I didn't, I just put a fucking CD in my car.

GH/RB/BM all actually do something with the licensed music. Hell, even some shooters do more with music than GTA ever did; and all the shooters do is make little parts synch up with beats and the like.

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against GTA (I'm almost afraid to admit how much time I actually spent in GTA4 just trying to jump over cars and fucking Niko up); but give them credit for something they've actually done instead of lavishing them with random praise.

Shabadage

If EA is hyping the soundtrack to Madden 09, they should just hand over the NFL license to 2K Sports and call it a day.

twinturbo2

Hey! Look at that, a Franz Ferdinand that actually isn't available yet. Sweet.

Double J

"[b]Madden NFL revolutionized the industry by making music of multiple genres[/b] - from both established acts and brand-new artists - an essential emotional component of the videogame experience and the NFL season itself... Not only have [b]we changed the gaming culture forever[/b], we continue to move the needle musically for millions of people around the world. [b]Madden NFL will always be recognized as the game that made the music matter in videogames.[/b]"

Hahhahahahahhahahahahahhahahahahahahahhahahahahaha

Durandal

I'll just stay on topic, whether Madden improves every year or not. This is their best EA Sports soundtrack since Madden '04 IMO.

chesterhybridz

@sherv: What's funny is the bassist in our band actually played a gig with her when she breezed through the area a couple of years ago. She would sing using local talent as the backing band and the promoter asked him if he'd be interested in selling out and he said yes.

ZeeBeeEss

@grundlesnatch: no, no, no I'm not. I know they don't take their "music" too seriously. it's all the idiots that read too deep into the lyrics and go around quoting ridiculous bullshit that do. they add gasoline to the fire though by embracing that nonsense however, the band that is.

DontTouchMyDaughterYouFilthyGaijin

I was gonna say how EA typically does a good job with music in their sports games when I realized one of my favorite songs is actually in 2K's MLB 2007 and not an EA game at all.

Nevermind.

antialias02

Yah yah yah yaaahhh, yah yah yaaaah yaaaaaahhhh.

Flip mode squad is dangerous.

Strangelove

Wow, nothing screams "amazing music in games" like a bunch of singles from popular bands..sigh.

Nowell

@AEREC:
wat

Mr. Mastodon Farm

Buried for Mindless Self Indulgence. Their cover of Method Man's "Bring The Pain" cannot (and shall not!) be forgiven.

exeprime

Busta Rhymes looks cold.....standing outside with no shirt on in the snow. Dipshit.

Trekka

@LmaoTseTung: Oh no. It's still a yawner. And it doesn't change the fact that previous soundtracks have been full of that shuckin' and jivin' southern party rap.

PS. Ignition, Smash, Ixnay On the Hombre and even Americana are great albums. Eat it.

Gabexmosh

I shut all the tracks except the classic NFL film tracks. I'm not into being force-fed the flavor of the month.

The music industry is about as alive as roadkill.

superdynamite

So...When did Busta grow his dreads back again?

KillfaceJenkins