Our Soundtrack is Totally Better than Yours!
In posting some more info on the Songs in Paradise soundtrack project for the upcoming Burnout Paradise (where a bunch of us contributed songs and I slapped them all into one huge soundtrack) I happened over to Criteron’s page and found their news post with the official soundtrack listing… and boy is it bad!
EA Trax, which was once churning out hit-filled playlists that actually felt fitting for the games they accompanied has apparently done little more than scrape their back catalog and scrounge up some 80’s rock. “Highlights” include the title track by Guns ‘N Roses, a Depeche Mode remix, old Alice in Chains, and even Avril Lavigne’s latest “hit” song ‘Girlfriend’… which is nearly a year old by now.
I am happy to see the winners of the Burnout Bandslam competition featured and I’m intrigued by the inclusion of B’z who is one of my favorite bands… from Japan. How they got a song in a U.S. release is beyond me but it is surely the only shining gem on this otherwise scratched disc of music.
And I’m not even sure how I feel about Soundgarden’s ‘Rusty Cage’, Swervedriver’s ‘Duel’, and N.E.R.D.’s ‘Rockstar’. EA’s had the rights to the first two songs since the early 90’s. I remember loving that they were included in Road Rash on the 3DO. And Rockstar’s been in what feels like every EA release since SSX 3. I’ll probably let it play every now and again but there’s no way it’ll ever beat out Songs in Paradise!
For those inclined, here’s the official soundtrack.