I loved computer games, as did most of my mates in Hartlepool at the time. We would often go on shopping trips to the big city (Middlesbrough) to buy the latest releases - arguing who was going to buy which one so we could 'swap' later. I won't go all geeky on you in this blog, but suffice to say that some games were the equivalent of classic albums to us. Except 'Elektraglide' or 'Mercenary'. Damn it! Geek alert!
The launch of the Playstation though, brought games crashing into the modern era and the pastime became cool, well almost cool, overnight. Suddenly PS booths sprung up in the hippest nightclubs where revellers could take a break from other forms of entertainment and play games. I'm not sure how they managed this as I have enough trouble manoeuvring through a game when fully sober. What does the 'X' button do again? One of the main architects of this was the Liverpool base Pysgnosis who created 'Wipeout'; a futuristic racing game with a storming soundtrack.
One of the main tracks was 'Chemical Beats' by The Chemical Brothers - a block rocking noise of a tune that somehow seemed to have been written especially for hurtling around a track at impossible speeds. Whenever I hear that tune start my eyes almost start to water in a pavlovian reaction.
The rest of the album follows in a similar vein and is the epitome of cool. So how did it come to be that gaming aligned itself with fashionable music? Not sure, and it's a long way from chasing blobs around a maze whilst bleeps and buzzes emit from tinny TV speakers. But is it any better? You bet!
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