yes, and that's THEIR opinion.
there ARE certain things that give video game soundtracks a sound/voice, an array of different musical traits that are quite common to vgm...
so these musical traits are common to vgm, how is that not a genre?
seems like a genre to me. maybe not as definitive, embodying a much wider range of music than say "rock" or "idm" (though idm does cover a lot of crap)
usually functional things like looping, mood-kits, predominantly instrumental, etc...
all of those things give VGM a sort of uniqueness if you will, separating it from other music, into its own genre (I'd even argue it as a "super-genre" in which it'd have its own sub-genres)
i don't think it can justifiably be called a genre intrinsically though, vgm covers all sorts of musical idioms, it just does it in an idiosyncratic way that makes it different from mainstream equivalents.
well yes, that's why I think its own genre encompassing many types of music that are different, but generally similar
the line is increasingly blurred these days, too.
that's why its one of my favorite genres, because it is influenced by newer popular music and other crap (which to be clear I generally don't like, but it influencing vgm slightly I do)
also, good tastes in music my friend, IDM & Warp Records are my favorite stuff, might i recommend grabbing "VA-Warp20_(Chosen)-2CD-2009-SiRE" and "VA-Warp20_(Recreated)-2CD-2009-SiRE"? :)
edit: added linebreaks to make it more readable
edited 3:52 PM EDT October 1, 2009
all of those things give VGM a sort of uniqueness if you will"
well those traits are more a matter of procedure rather than of taste. TV and film soundtracks do similar things as well - it's a functionality vs. aesthetic deal. of course they're definitive things, i wouldn't deny for a minute that vgm has some very distinct traits (although less so these days), but genre is the wrong word. vgm is comprised of genres, thus vgm is more of an umbrella term if you will, in the same way anime music and film music are; they're platforms. if you describe a piece of music as "vgm", that really says very little about it, and unfortunately leaves out more important musicological influence. without hearing it, about all you could predict of something described as "vgm" is that it's more-than-likely instrumental and more-than-likely loops indefinitely, and even those aren't determinate :D i can't think of any constants in vgm, which are pretty crucial for identifying something as a genre...
my point is video game music can't be video game music without being other things as well, and that's what stops vgm being a genre as i see it. you said "super-genre", but i really wouldn't go that far. i see the fact it's for a video game as secondary rather than primary... this coming from someone who near exclusively listens to vgm these days as well. it's the other influences/genres in vgm that make the music more distinctive.
"that's why its one of my favorite genres, because it is influenced by newer popular music and other crap"
well this has always been the case, even back in the 80s and 90s, and yeah i think it is a good thing. the only difference back then was technolical impairment. soundchip limitations are the obvious thing, but also unlike these days not everyone had a studio sat in their bedroom =p so game and TV musicians had to make do with lower budget hardware as well, more often than not being unable to approach the production standard that popular music enjoyed.
But yeah, in general I don't think you can really draw a line between film, TV and video game soundtracks. That it is intended to be used in support of a larger work is really the defining characteristic.
As I see it, the legacy of technical limitations and the lack of most anything else audible means that we still have fairly dense collections of catchy melodies, that's what I end up enjoying.
constants no, but generally vgm is similar, like having a general shared theme which makes it a genre
(I'd write more, but I don't really have the time today
)I wouldn't say calling something "mario-style" is entirely bankrupt (we all have an idea of the sort of music that implies), but it doesn't mean anything intrinsically, only by association. I think it makes more sense to understand what exactly "mario-style" means musicologically, it can be eye-opening and fun! cinematic, jazzy and latin-esque is how i would best define the majority of it. naturally it's all going to sound kind of similar because it's the same franchise, same sort of styles, and importantly it's largely the same composer as well, so there's gonna be lots of micromusical decisions going on that make it bespoke and unique.
also i'm only persevering with this because i enjoy these sorts of debates!
I don't see this as a problem at all. It helps me enjoy stuff! One way or another I come into listening with a lot of expectations, and I find it easier to enjoy soundtracks in general. I think the coloring of the associated game/movie/etc helps here, even if I've never played/seen it.
edited 4:53 PM EDT October 10, 2009
anyway, my point is if you're analysing music, you have to look at it out of context as-is, otherwise you run the risk of coming to questionable (or downright wrong) conclusions like claiming "mario-style" is an idiom - when it isn't, it's a rough description (a description i might use, but i'm under no illusions that it is more than that.)
but that's just MY opinion, maan.
Some of my favorite game soundtracks started off strictly as albums, because I'd never played the games themselves, or intended to. In fact, I only ever ended up interested in (or even knowing about) the games themselves -- Symphony of the Night, Genso Suikoden 4, and Sonic Adventure 2, to name a few -- because of how much I'd grown to love the albums over the months before playing the games.
However, I also agree that sometimes, knowing something is from a game is helpful. There are songs that I really dislike musically until I see their names are things like "Unexpected Encounter", "Strategy Conference", "Fated Duel", or some other similar idea for which I can say, "Oh, I can imagine this part of the game now and see how this would fit." In other words, for the songs whose value lies primarily in the song's application in context rather than in musicianship (which I believe is what hcs was getting at with his opera comparison), knowing that something was a dramatic cutscene in a game can put a different spin on it and make it seem far less boring.
On the other hand, I've had this conversation many times with my brother:
me: Hey, check this song out, I think you'll like it.
....
him: Hey, wow, that's really good.
me: I thought you might enjoy it. The guitar sounds a lot like <band>, doesn't it?
him: Yeah, who's playing?
me: I'm not actually sure, I haven't looked at the credits.
him: Well what is it?
me: A song from the new <game> arranged album.
him: ....Oh.
This has happened with Metroid Metal, Sonic Adventure 2 OST, Perfect Selection Dracula Battle (Castlevania metal), and countless others. Or we'll be listening to something he knows is from a game and it'll "sound like" a certain style -- Sonic Adventure's casino stage songs "sound like" Big Band; a few songs from Castlevania Chronicle "sound like" Trance, etc. -- rather than actually being in that style.
Lunar also hits on a point of perceptions being shaded. That is, take any song and then say it's from a Mario game, and it will be perceived differently. We have a certain expectation of "Mario style" or "Castlevania style" or whatever else, so when that name is applied to a song, it's judged relative to that expectation rather than simply as a Latin song or Jazz song or whatever else (or in Suikoden 4's case...a "What the hell genre is that?" song). This is not true only of video games, though -- We do the same when our favorite bands come out with new albums ("WTF happened to Metallica?"), when watching a movie ("How is this chase scene music?"), and many other things. The solution, to me, isn't to avoid knowing something is from a game -- since, as stated above, that information is sometimes useful -- but to be aware of how much of your like of a song is shaded by that knowledge and either let yourself enjoy it knowing that's why or try to see past it.
While I agree that "VGM" as a genre is oversimplifying and shouldn't be done, I don't believe the "it's from a game" factor should be completely ignored. I also believe there is some music -- music from many NES games, etc. -- that really can't be classified in any other genre and has a distinct style to it, so perhaps "VGM" as a genre could define that; but I don't believe that simply because something is from a game, it should get its own genre label.