Super Mario Bros (and why we should all love video game music)

One afternoon my dad and I were pontificating over the future of orchestrated music. Going to the symphony was something only older folks (like my dad, haha) did and it was and is a dying art. However, music always marches on. So, how are all the great composers in the present day getting recognition these days?

What we concluded was that the great composers of my day that were going to be remembered for generations to come were most likely those who write pieces for movies and tv shows. Think about it: all I have to do is type “Star Wars” or “Cheers” and you’ll have those tunes dancing around in your head the rest of the day.

But, since then I have come to discover another group of composers whose music very well may be passed down from generation to generation. I’m speaking of video game music. Think I’m joking?  Just check out Video Games Live and read through the list of sold-out performances. You’ll quickly learn how vast the fan-base is for something like this.

And I have to admit I am one of those fans. (If anyone is looking to get me a nice Christmas gift, two tickets to VGL somewhere close to J-ville would be really nice!) Yes, I am a geek but don’t tell me that hearing the Super Mario Bros. theme song wouldn’t brighten even the lousiest of days. To make my case that video game theme music has a major influence on our lives, let me point out that the original Super Mario Bros. game for the NES holds the record for highest selling video game of all time, topping out at 40 million copies. 40 MILLION. Then there are all the sequels and spin-offs which have combined, sold well over 250 million copies bringing the grand total to around 300 million- almost the size of the United States. I think it’s safe to say that people the world over that know the Mario theme song range in the hundreds of millions. This theme song was a huge part of many childhoods. It will go down in history as one of the most well-known and loved theme songs of all time.

So, here are some fans playing very unusual renditions of the Super Mario Bros. theme song- just to brighten your day :). 

This first video is of the Mario song being played by using a remote-controlled car and bottles:

Now we have a Mario enthusiast “tapping” on two guitars at the same time:

This is a group of what are either members of a church handbell group or ex-high school band members playing Mario by bottle-blowing (how they kept from laughing I’ll never know):

Another bored ex-high school band member playing Mario on a flute whilst beat-boxing at the same time:

This is a young man playing at VGL. Here he plays the Mario theme on piano blindfolded:

And here is the composer of the Mario theme himself, Koji Kondo, playing for a crowd: