The Ultimate Arcade Hard-Rock Playlist?

[seaner]

I may be duplicating a reply I posted on another thread, but I figured it'd be more visible with it's own topic...

What songs do you remember playing in the background of your favorite 80s arcade?

My goal is to assemble a kickass playlist and mix in some of the ambient background arcade sounds that are floating about the net.  Still have 10 Gigs free on that iPod to use up

[MaximRecoil]

Just pick any songs from the various rock groups of the 80's. My arcade heydey was in the mid to late 80's and a little bit in the early 90's with SF2. '87 and '88 were the years that I was most into it. AC/DC, Metallica and Guns n' Roses were the biggest groups. George Thorogood songs like "I Drink Alone" and "One Bourbon, One Scotch, and One Beer" got a lot of play time too.

I guess it depends on what period you are trying to emulate exactly. For instance, "Beat It" from Michael Jackson's "Thriller" album was popular to play in the early 80's, even with the "tough" kids mainly because of the Van Halen guitar solo that gave it some legitimacy. However, if anyone played that song in like say '88, they would be apt to get beat up lol.

Kind of the same thing with the hair bands; by the late 80's they had lost most of their steam. Poison and Def Leppard still had something left even in '88 but it was kind of iffy among the tough crowd. Chicks still loved it though.

So I guess there are a few variables. What kind of crowd ("tough" crowd as in Defender and Double Dragon players or the crowd that tended more toward games like Pac-Man and Tetris) and what time period you prefer.

[CanStick]

"Panama" by Van Halen...I remember that one playing ALL the time!

[paigeoliver]

I truthfully cannot ever even remember hearing any music in the arcade. I am sure it was there. But I sure don't remember it.

[Brax]

Money for Nothin', Dire Straights.

I love the opening riff!!! Nothing better in a dark arcade playing Hang on!

[SpAwN]

I truthfully cannot ever even remember hearing any music in the arcade. I am sure it was there. But I sure don't remember it.

I think it depends on if you had a jukebox in your arcade. I remember all the songs playing over and over from the jukebox in my arcade growing up.

[Smack]

"Round and Round" by Ratt...

It's sad to say, but I'm a porduct of the 80's...  

Smack

[seaner]

okay, I've assembled the damn thing
I'll post an mp3 momentarily.. over 60 minutes of custom mix-down joy! (splitting it into tracks now)

1. Kiss - Love Gun
2. Ratt - Round & Round
3. AC/DC - Back in Black
4. Billy Idol - Rebel Yell
5. Van Halen - Panama
6. Bon Jovi - Shot Through the Heart
7. Thin Lizzy - Jailbreak
8. AC/DC - You Shook Me All Night Long
9. Ozzy Osbourne - Crazy Train
10. Rush - Subdivided
11. Def Leppard - Lets Get Rocked
12. Golden Earring - Radar Love
13. Kiss - Detroit Rock City
14. Black Sabbath - Iron Man

All set to the '83 ambient arcade background sounds courtesy of Andy Hofle.

While this may not be as authentic a playlist as conceivable, it is just about what I remember it sounding like in the early-mid 80s.

Cheers,
Sean

[allroy1975]

11. Def Leppard - Lets Get Rocked

Are you kidding me?

didn't that come out in like 93?

I don't really know, but I was thinking of something like pour some sugar on me, or one of their other crappy tunes.  lol

cock rock..gotta love it.

Allroy

[1UP]

I don't really know, but I was thinking of something like pour some sugar on me, or one of their other crappy tunes.  lol

cock rock..gotta love it.

Allroy

I thought it was "pour some shook-up ramen!"  

[seaner]

11. Def Leppard - Lets Get Rocked

I don't really know, but I was thinking of something like pour some sugar on me, or one of their other crappy tunes.  lol

Ah crap!  That would have been way better!  <disclaimer>It was the wife's suggestion</disclaimer>.  I wasn't really into much of that music at the time, and it doesn't quite sound "in place", but I knew for sure Def Leppard had some sort of role to fulfill.  I guess volume 2 will have that tune instead  (perhaps using the '81 arcade ambient sounds).
I'm on track 11 of 14 right now in protools.. be done in 15 or so...

[seaner]

Ah crap!  That would have been way better!  <disclaimer>It was the wife's suggestion</disclaimer>.  I wasn't really into much of that music at the time, and it doesn't quite sound "in place", but I knew for sure Def Leppard had some sort of role to fulfill.  I guess volume 2 will have that tune instead  (perhaps using the '81 arcade ambient sounds).
I'm on track 11 of 14 right now in protools.. be done in 15 or so...

Wow.. track 11 was def leppard.. I'll try and pull a switcheroo right now!

[MaximRecoil]

Yeah, Def Leppard's big hit in the late 80's was "Pour Some Sugar on Me". They played the hell out of that song at our 8th grade dances (1988).

Still though, at our arcades, the tough crowd fueled the jukebox and that song would have never made it; anyone playing that might get beat up lol.

You gotta have some Guns n' Roses in there like Welcome to the Jungle, Paradise City, Sweet Child O' Mine...anything off their album "Appetite for Destruction" pretty much. You need something from Metallica too. As for AC/DC, "You Shook Me all Night Long" is a good choice but "Who Made Who" (1986) might be better since it actually mentions "video games" in the song:

The video game says "play me"
Face it on a level but it takes you every time on a one on one
Feeling running down your spine
Nothing gonna save your one last dime cause it owns you
Through and through

AC/DC - Who Made Who

[seaner]

Still though, at our arcades, the tough crowd fueled the jukebox and that song would have never made it; anyone playing that might get beat up lol.

You gotta have some Guns n' Roses in there like Welcome to the Jungle, Paradise City, Sweet Child O' Mine...anything off their album "Appetite for Destruction" pretty much. You need something from Metallica too. As for AC/DC, "You Shook Me all Night Long" is a good choice but "Who Made Who?" (1986) might be better since it actually mentions "video games" in the song:

woiii.. these are the replies I needed earlier in the day.. for some reason I associated G'N'R with the very late 80s, just based on what some friends listened too.. Def Leppard was the sort of thing none of my friends had on tape, so I assumed it was far older

Dammit, I'm gonna get beat up next time I have the guys from work over!!

[Magnet_Eye]

Sorry, but the Def Leppard song should be "Rock of Ages" or "Photograph" or even "Bringin on the Heartbreak" not that later stuff.

Van Halen is good, anything from 1984 or earlier. The "GLAM" metal stuff, like Ratt is good. Bon Jovi maybe, but they didnt get big until 1987. Early Motley Crue is good.

AC/DC is this SH*T! Dirty Deeds was big in my arcade years.

When I was at the Arcade, they had random music playing. Not a juekbox, but a stereo system. It was a very dark arcade with cool neon lights. Pretty cool. Called the "Milky Way"

Anyway.. what about:

- Pink Floyd - Another Brick in the Wall Pt2 (?)

   "Hey! Teacher! Leave them kids alone!"

- Twisted Sister - I Wanna Rock, We're Not Gonna Take It
- The Cult - Lil Devil, Wildflower
- Quiet Riot - Bang Your Head, Come on Feel the Noise
- Scorpions - Here I Am (Rock You Like A Hurricane), Big City Nights, Still Loving You, No One Like You
- Cinderella - Shake Me, Somebody Save Me
- White Snake - Still of the Night, Here I Go Again
- Bon Jovi - Shot Through The Heart (and your to lame)
- Night Ranger - Sister Christian
- Europe - The Final Countdown


Ozzy was hip. Also DIO, Iron Maiden (# of the beast, or Powerslave), Judas Priest...damn, am I metal or what!?


I guess it depends on if you want Radio Hits only, or what was popular with the kids in general at the time.


Awe crap, i give up! Too hard to answer. I have tons of stuff in my head!  

[NIVO]

OMG!   whats this? NO Judas Priest? Come On fellas, it was always crankin out "Livin' After Midnight" and "You Got Another Thing Comin"  or was that just my arcade(doubtful).
 I just always hated listening to some jammin tune, and then all of a sudden some kid played some damn Oreo Stationwagon tune, ugggh! Boston got alot of time as well, great to play some of their stuff to a game like gyruss.

Some other suggestions:
Foghat - Slow Ride
Foreigner
Krokus
Steve Miller Band
Styx

some may not be labeled as true metal here, but if you wanted Vintage 80's, it should help ya out. Game On!

[Smittydc]

Queen: "Another One Bites the Dust

From the roller skating rink arcade <missle command, asteroids era>

[Tiger-Heli]

Good suggestions - NIVO, adding a little (and I might be way off base here, feel free to correct me)

>OMG!   whats this? NO Judas Priest? Come On fellas, it was always >crankin out "Livin' After Midnight" and "You Got Another Thing >Comin"  or was that just my arcade(doubtful).

Both of those are good, as was Breakin' the Law.

Boston - More Than a Feeling, Party, and other songs
>Foghat - Slow Ride Yep,
>Foreigner - Dirty White Boy, Head Games, Double Vision
>Krokus
>Steve Miller Band - Fly Like an Eagle, Big Ol' Jet Airliner (that one's not really arcade)
Styx - (trying to think what they did that was arcade.  Probably not Crystal ball or Mr. Roboto, Light Up would fit, or Miss America, Paradise theatre, maybe.)

Other thoughts -
Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody, Killer Queen, Fat Bottomed Girls.
Led Zep??? - Black Dog, Immigrant Song,
Steppenwolf - Born to Be Wild, Magic Carpet Ride
Children of the Sun -
George Thoroughgood - Bad to the Bone, 1 Bourbon-1Scotch-1Beer, Who do you love.

[Zakk]

Damn are we ALL metalheads?

I've actually got an mp3 cd of '80's tunes.  There's priest, Ac/dc, loverboy, Autograph, April Wine, Kim Mitchell, billy squier, the Oz man, sabbath, BLOTTO (one hit wonder, you remember it don't you??), Diesel, Ratt, Dio, Dokken, Harlequin, Heart, Maiden, Journey, Triumph, Krokus, Zeppelin, The Kings, Metallica (old stuff not sue-ica), Scorps, Krokus, tommy tutone (remember playing pacman to that tune), Halen, Vandenburg oh man it goes on and on.   Can't get over it, today's music ain't got no soul
Most of the arcades didn't have tunes, just mirrors and coloured lights.  The roller rink had the rock, and yep, it had missile command and asteroids.  Screw rolling around that damn hard rink that would shatter your kneecaps, we came for the hard rock and vid games.  :sigh: back to real life...

[NIVO]

good additions as well Tiger-Heli. For Styx, I was referring to the tune "Too Much Time On My Hands", was played alot in my area.
Krokus - Midnite Maniac, Ballroom Blitz(decent remake) Eat The Rich, Screaming In The Night.

Talking Heads - Burning Down The House
Cheap Trick - I Want You To Want Me
The Cult - Fire Woman
Billy Squier - Emotions In Motion, The Stroke
Twisted Sister
Quiet Riot
ZZ Top(anything from the Eliminator album, when that album broke, it was all I heard, no complaints here )
Greg Kihn Band - Jeopardy

apologies for any repeat lisitngs.

[JustMichael]

Some aren't quite hard rock but how about:
Rush - Tom Sawyer
Sammy Hagar - Heavy Metal
Blue Oyster Cult - Veteran Of The Psychic Wars
Riggs - Radar Rider
Rush - The Necromancer
Black Sabbath - The Mob Rules
Styx - The Grand Illusion
Queen - Radio Ga Ga
Devo - Whip It
Guns N' Roses - Welcome To The Jungle

[Nailz]

Just wanted to see where this went but I also seem to remember a LOT of the following being played on the airwaves  

Duran Duran
Tears for Fears
J. Geils Band
Huey Lewis
Heart
ABC
Frankie Goes to Hollywood
The Pet SHop Boys
and how the hell do we forget the POLICE?  

All of these remind me of the 80's a ton, don't get me wrong I like the other stuff you guys have been listing but these just say "classic 80's" to me.

Also, I can't believe you metal heads didn't list Iron Maiden, what's up with that?

[clok]

We had a juke and it was always going...but I was prettymuch out of the arcades by 85.. We almost always had the same playlist. there where about 4 of us useing those game quarters on the juke..so the music was a bit varied.

ACDC: Back in Black                             My Pick
Billy Squire: Everybody wants you       My Pick
Van Halen: Happy Trails                       Friend #1
Adam Ant: Goody 2 SHoes                   GirlFriend
Streetheart: One More time                 My pick
April Wine: Gypsy queen                      Friend #2
Judas Priest: Breaking the law             My Pick
Judas Priest: Desert Plains                   My Pick
Styx: Renagade                                    Friend #1
Krokus: Bedside Radio                          My Pick


Man so many... can remeber the playlist being exactly the same order every night..then random after...(back in those days I could Play Pacman longeron one quarter then I could play music in the juke with 5-6 quarters... I cant anymore    )...


Clok

[Zakk]

Some aren't quite hard rock but how about:
Rush - Tom Sawyer
Sammy Hagar - Heavy Metal
Blue Oyster Cult - Veteran Of The Psychic Wars
Riggs - Radar Rider
Rush - The Necromancer
Black Sabbath - The Mob Rules
Styx - The Grand Illusion
Queen - Radio Ga Ga
Devo - Whip It
Guns N' Roses - Welcome To The Jungle

Isn't 80% of this the soundtrack to the movie Heavy Metal?

[seaner]

Here's the track.. it's a 65MB 128kbps MP3 file.
Please go easy on my server, my outgoing bandwidth isn't what it used to be

http://www.beerbot.ca/arcade/arcademix1.mp3

If someone wants to mirror it, that'd be swell.

Cheers,
Sean

[CanStick]

Damn are we ALL metalheads?

I've actually got an mp3 cd of '80's tunes.  There's priest, Ac/dc, loverboy, Autograph, April Wine, Kim Mitchell, billy squier, the Oz man, sabbath, BLOTTO (one hit wonder, you remember it don't you??), Diesel, Ratt, Dio, Dokken, Harlequin, Heart, Maiden, Journey, Triumph, Krokus, Zeppelin, The Kings, Metallica (old stuff not sue-ica), Scorps, Krokus, tommy tutone (remember playing pacman to that tune), Halen, Vandenburg oh man it goes on and on.   Can't get over it, today's music ain't got no soul

Geez, it sounds like you stole my 80's MP3 disk!  

I still love all those tunes too....listen to them way more than the newer stuff (for the most part).

Hey, have you heard the new Maiden CD, btw?

[mrhowell]

Freeze Frame

J. Geils Band -1981-

Centerfold and Freeze Frame.  

Classics

[CanStick]

Here's the track.. it's a 65MB 128kbps MP3 file.
Please go easy on my server, my outgoing bandwidth isn't what it used to be

http://www.beerbot.ca/arcade/arcademix1.mp3

If someone wants to mirror it, that'd be swell.

Cheers,
Sean

Hi there, I have it up on Kazaa if anybody wants to save seaner some bandwidth....same filename (arcademix1.mp3), and the name is "Arcade Mix Volume 1".

Thanks for the great track, seaner!

[Zakk]

Hey, have you heard the new Maiden CD, btw?

Yup, not bad I suppose, but nothing like Powerslave.  Get rid of that Janic Gears or whatever his name is, it's been the pits since he stepped in.

[seaner]

Hi there, I have it up on Kazaa if anybody wants to save seaner some bandwidth....same filename (arcademix1.mp3), and the name is "Arcade Mix Volume 1".

Thanks for the great track, seaner!

Thank you!  Glad you like

[PacManFan]

Blondie - Heart of glass, Rapture
Fleetwood Mac - Go your own way

-PMF

[johnpurs]

Damn are we ALL metalheads?

I
Hey, have you heard the new Maiden CD, btw?

Dances of Death is awsome been listening almost every day since it came out! Saw IM and DIO with Motorhead and for guys that age Iron Maiden puts on a hell of a show. Evne better than when I saw them 3 years ago.

[Thenasty]

Cum on Feel the Noise
Run Run Away
Were not gonna take it
Jump
Like a Virgin
Mickey
Come on Eileen
867-5309/Jenny
Why me ?
2 minutes to midmight
Screaming in the night
I got big balls

[NIVO]

hehe nasty, if you look closely at your list there, it could be "Hits of 80's p0rn"  

[Cooper]

What about Journey?!?!  They had their own video game.