While many video games are lauded for their original scores, others like theTony Hawk’s Pro Skaterfranchisehave gained reputations for using licensed hits in beloved soundtracks. Rockstar Games’Grand Theft Autoseries has become well-known for its in-game radio stations to listen to, and that musical exposure throughGrand Theft Auto: Vice Cityhad a big influence on Alex Bent, the drummer for heavy metal band Trivium.
In an interview with Music Radar discussing his influences as a drummer, Bent said when he was younger he played a lot of games, and that he first heard Slayer’s “Raining Blood” from the 1986 albumReign in Bloodthrough aVice Cityradio station. That was apparently one of his first exposures to metal music, and he said he “couldn’t believe the double bass” when he heard it for the first time.
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Bent said that he fell out of playing video games, but has slowly been making his way “back to that world.” The drummer talks about how his style is intentionally mixed up to avoid being repetitive, with inspirations from genres like funk, latin, and gospel music, and it’s easy to see how the eclectic soundtracks from games likeGrand Theft Autoprovide this. In fact,the soundtrack toWWE 2K20revealed in late 2019even included a song by a YouTuber and pop singer.
Though the Miami, Florida-basedGrand Theft Auto: Vice Citycame out in 2002, its influence on the series as a whole and popularity among fans is still present to this day. Amod forGrand Theft Auto 5added Vice City’s mapinto the game earlier this year, and work has been put in by fans to overhaul and update the original game’s textures.
GTA 5is a particularly interesting case in terms of having influence through its longevity. During the “Future of Gaming” livestream that revealed Sony’s PlayStation 5 this month, Rockstar Games announced thatGrand Theft Auto 5will be ported to the PS5, marking its third concurrent generation on the market.
That reveal confused and frustrated many fans of the series expectingGrand Theft Auto 6to be released on next-gen consoles. However, a former Rockstar publisher believes this means thenext entry in the series just isn’t ready to show yet. With this kind of fervent fanbase behind the games, it should be interesting to see how these modernGTAtitles influence future generations likeGrand Theft Auto: Vice Cityinfluenced Bent.
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