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The Secret of Monkey Island

Monkey Island was the first adventure Michael Land wrote the music for. He nearly wrote all the music in this game and was the only musician who had a fix job at LucasArts. The other three composers worked for an extern company.
In opposition to the newer games, Monkey Island didn't have music throughout the whole game. It only had music in certain rooms, and when you left the room, the music stopped abruptly.
But still, Monkey Island had some really excellent music-cues (if you had the chance of owning an Adlib-compatible sound card; but even on the PC beeper it wasn't that bad).
Already the intro song wrote game history: It all starts with a few ambient tunes and a lonely conga while the LucasFilm-Games logo is displayed. And then suddenly, with the "Monkey Island" logo it gets fast and rhythmic.
Other cool songs were the groovy LeChuck Theme, the romantic Love Theme and the rhythmic Bones Dance.
By the way, in the Monkey Island Madness edition, which has been released much later than the original, the game features CD-Audio music instead of Mediumistic. But as far as I've heard, there are no new songs, but the old songs are only played on a good synthesizer.
 
 

Composer(s):	Michael Land, Barney Jones, Andy Newell and Patrick Mundy
Format:	Midi (CD-Audio on the Monkey Island Madness version)
Main style(s):	Reggae
Hits:	Monkey Island Theme, Le Chuck Theme, Love Theme
Interactivity:	None
Rating:	Excellent

 
 

Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge

Monkey Island 2 was a very important step in the evolution of LucasArts' sound department. It was the first LucasArts game which featured continuous music throughout the whole game (except the little cutscene in the very beginning and the library room). There is a different song for every single room(...and there really are a lot of rooms)!
Besides, it was the first game that used the iMuse system. This game is very interactive. One of the best examples is Woodtick. The main rhythm and harmonies continue to run, but in every room, we hear variations of the melody (for example when you talk with the pirates, you can hear an accordion).
Some themes of the original Monkey Island are used again, but mostly in a different way. The intro song is more funky, and the LeChuck Theme is played in a very slow way (to show that LeChuck is a Zombie now).
 
 

Composer(s):	Clint Bajakian, Peter McConnell and Michael Land
Format:	Midi
Main style(s):	Reggae
Hits:	Title music, Largo Theme, Oh what a dream
Interactivity:	Very much
Rating:	Excellent

 
 

Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis

Since this game is based on the Indiana Jones movies (although it has its own story), it is obvious it has to use the Indy theme from the movies (which was written by John Williams).
Nevertheless, besides the main theme, the game has its own and unique music, which was composed by the LEC-Sound Department. It is very ambient and classical, and it helps to set the right mood for every situation in the game. In the catacombs and on Atlantis, the music has a deep mysterious touch. In the big cities like New York and Monte Carlo it is a little jazzy, in the desert it is quite exotic and in the fight scenes it is fast and dynamic.
Like in most other LucasArts games too, most persons have a specific theme, and these themes can be heard in many different songs. Especially the Indiana Jones cue is used very often after you have solved a difficult problem, but it is used in such a clever way that it fits perfectly to the main song that plays in the current room.
By the way, did you know that in the Finale, we can hear the Dies Irae tune. This is a very old and macabre church psalm that talks about death. This tune has been used by many famous composers to represent death.
 
 

Composer(s):	Clint Bajakian, Peter McConnell and Michael Land (Indy theme by John Williams)
Format:	Midi
Main style(s):	Classic, Ambient
Hits:	Title music, New York, Sophias Presentation of Atlantis(!), Finale
Interactivity:	Very much
Rating:	Excellent

 
 

Day of the Tentacle

The music of this game fits very well to the game. It is... hmm, how should I describe this, very cartoonish. Most of the songs could be out of TV-cartoon-shows. They are mostly very fast and light. Hoagies theme is more like Hard Rock (which is obvious, as the character himself plays in a heavy metal band). By the way, this reminds me of a very cool musical joke: When the time machine crashed down and all the toilet houses fall into the deep space of time, we first see Bernard and then Laverne, who both look very scared. The music is quick and hectic. Then we see Hoagie. Here, the music is a little bit slower and much heavier... and we see Hoagies who seems to be rocking to the music... it all looks like if he is having a wonderful time ;-)
The music in the past is much calmer and more classic.
Day of the Tentacle was by the way the first LucasArts game that used real digital sound effects. It also features voice acting in the intro (disk version) respectively throughout the whole game (CD version).
 
 

Composer(s):	Clint Bajakian, Peter McConnell and Michael Land
Format:	Midi
Main style(s):	Classic, "Cartoon"
Hits:	Title music, Nurse Edna, IRS
Interactivity:	Average
Rating:	Excellent

 
 

Sam & Max Hit the Road

The music in Sam & Max can be described in three words: Jazz, Jazz and Jazz. The game has some amazing tunes which you still whistle weeks after playing the game. One of my favorite tunes is The World's Largest Ball of Twine. Notice how the song changes in the middle part to a much faster and louder interlude. I also like the piano solo towards the end.
Another style which you also have a lot in the game is country. This style is always used when Conroy Bumpus, the great "country western star" enters the scene.
A special goodie of this game is the song King of the creatures which is sung by Conroy Bumpus in the game. This is by the way the very first time LucasArts uses digital music, although only for one song (and only in the CD-Version of the game; in the disk version the song is in Midi and the text is displayed on the screen).
Additionally, the CD-Version includes 4 audio tracks to fill the CD (Main theme, Moleman Theme, King of the Creatures and Bigfoot Band). However, these tracks are not used by the game. They are only intended for the use in a regular Audio-CD-Player. They are played on a synthesizer.
By the way: When I was browsing to the Sam and Max midis from Highland Productions to select those that I like for the File section, I didn't bring it over me to leave one single midi away. This pretty much shows that all the cues in Sam & Max are really great.
 
 

Composer(s):	Clint Bajakian, Peter McConnell and Michael Land
Format:	Midi (except "King of the Creatures")
Main style(s):	Jazz, Country
Hits:	Main theme, Moleman Theme, Ball of Twine, World of Fish, Dinopark
Interactivity:	Average
Rating:	Excellent

 
 

Full Throttle

Full Throttle was LucasArts' first CD Rom-only adventure... and this opened new possibilities to the sound department: in this adventure, the music was completely digital.
And what's more: most songs of the game were performed by real flesh and blood life players: LucasArts hired a motor gang, the Polecats, to come to their annual shareholders meeting... eh, no, I wanted to say: LucasArts hired a heavy metal band, the Gone Jackals, to play the music for their new adventure game.
So the main style of this game's music is definitely Heavy Metal. The songs are really groovy, with a lot of drums and guitars, and even some good singing (yes, really: "singing", not "shouting", as it is the case for some heavy metal bands).
The game also contains some orchestral bits by Peter McConnell from LucasArts. On some part, he seems to have found some inspiration on famous classic music. However, he arranged it in a real funny way. What am I talking about? Yes, of course, I'm talking about the bunnies and about the lonely bunny.
One very special song is the song called the Apocalypse. It contains a real funny text.
 
 

Composer(s):	The Gone Jackals (heavy metal), Peter McConnell (orchestral)
Format:	Digital
Main style(s):	Heavy Metal, Hard Rock
Hits:	Main theme, Apocalypse, Bunny and Bunnies, Police
Interactivity:	A little bit
Rating:	Excellent

 
 

The Dig

This music is really a masterpiece of mood and atmosphere. The soundtrack manages to capture you. It underlines the emotions of loneliness, dark mystery and of hope. This is the music that works most like an (interactive) film score.
One of the really greatest themes is the Ghosts Theme. It is always heard when these strange light forms appear (mostly only for a long time) and from the music we realize that something very special and amazing is happening.
Most part of the music is played on synthesizer, but Michael Land has used some fragments (mostly single harmonies) from CDs of Richard Wagner, to get a better sound quality. Well, it has worked: when you are listening to the game music, it sounds like if it was played by a symphonic orchestra.
The Dig was also LucasArts' first game to get an official soundtrack-CD.
 
 

Composer(s):	Michael Land
Format:	Digital
Main style(s):	Classic, Ambient
Hits:	Ghosts, Underwater Cavern, Madness of the Crystals
Interactivity:	Very much
Rating:	Excellent

 
 

Outlaws

This is no adventure, and yet this game has an incredibly cool soundtrack by Clint Bajakian. The music is strongly inspired by the music of the traditional Western movies like "Good, Bad and Ugly". What's amazing about Outlaws' music, is the rich sound quality. What's more, the songs are very long. In opposition to the adventure games, where there's a different (mostly short) cue for each of the hundreds of locations, here you have about ten songs, which are all at least three minutes long.
As already mentioned, many songs in are in a western touch. But there are also songs with indian or mexican feeling.
Which is quite special, is that there are a lot of tracks which contain very... hmm... "modern" music. These tracks have no real melodies and focus rather on sound and atmosphere (but they are played on real instruments). In the game, these tracks help to set the right mood. But they can be sometimes a little annoying when you listen to the audio tracks in a CD-Player.
But still this game has definitely some excellent music. For those of you who are adventure freaks and don't like to play action games: The music alone is worth buying the game (especially in low budget versions). Please check out Sanchez, the Outlaw - this song is a real masterpiece.
 
 

Composer(s):	Clint Bajakian
Format:	Audio CD (Redbook Audio)
Main style(s):	Western, Ambient
Hits:	Outlaws theme, Sanchez, the Outlaw, The Ballad of Dr. Death
Interactivity:	None
Rating:	Excellent

 
 

The Curse of Monkey Island

After so many years, it was a real pleasure to hear all these fine leather... eh, these fine reggae tunes again. For instance, when I first heard the Monkey Island theme, played by real live players, I could hardly restrain myself from cheering and springing around like a little child. Other familiar tunes are the LeChuck theme, of which we hear at least 10 different variations throughout the games. There's also a variation of the Graveyard music and of the Voodoo theme (which is also played in a jazzy version).
On the other Hand, there's also a lot of brand-new music, as for example the Wally theme or the real cool Boat Song.
One of the special extras in this game is The Pirate Ship Song. It's inspired by the style of the Broadway musicals. The tune is nice and the text is very funny. Guybrush's crew is singing instead of sailing, and Guybrush does everything to stop them. But, to every sentence of Guybrush, the pirates come up with another rhyme they include in their song. The lyrics of the song can be found here.
Unfortunately, this song has been cut in the translated versions of the game (e.g. German, French and Italian). What a pity!
 
 

Composer(s):	Michael Land
Format:	Digital
Main style(s):	Reggae
Hits:	Title music, Boat song, Blood Island, Pirate Ship Song
Interactivity:	Very much
Rating:	Excellent

 
 
 

Grim Fandango

This epic game really has an epic soundtrack! It's a lot of Jazz, Swing and Big band. This really fits to the Film Noir genre with all the casinos, bars and gangsters. One of my favorite songs is Maximino's office.
But the game features many other styles as well: There's mexican folklore (which is associated to the Mexican Day of the dead festival), orchestral music (for example under the sea), meditative music (in the temple) and much more...
A special goodie in this game is the song called Rusty Anchor. It's sung by Glottis by glottis when you show him the "rusty anchor"-inscription. It sounds great! Besides, the text is quite funny...
This song has also been included in translated versions of the game. You can listen to the german version here.
 
 

Composer(s):	Peter McConnell
Format:	Digital
Main style(s):	Jazz, Mexican folklore
Hits:	Maximino, Compañeros, Gambling Glottis, Bonewagon
Interactivity:	Average
Rating:	Excellent

 
 

Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine

Actually, I have to admit that I was a little bit disappointed about the music in this game. Not that the music would be bad, on the contrary! I really loved all the music cues, they reminded me a little bit of good old Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis. All the music except the Raiders March (the famous Indy theme) are original music composed for the game.
But, and here lies the whole problem, there are far to less cues. There's only some occasional music in the cutscenes or when something special happens. There's no background music in the game.
 
 

Composer(s):	Clint Bajakian   (Indy theme by John Williams)
Format:	Digital
Main style(s):	Classic, Ambient
Hits:	Indy theme, Russian theme, Lagoon theme
Interactivity:	A little bit
Rating:	Good

 

Force Commander

Bored to hear the Star Wars themes in so many LucasArts titles over and over again? Then I'm sure you'll like the music of Star Wars: Force Commander. It is... well, very different! In this game, most Star Wars themes have been arranged as Hard Rock / Heavy Metal songs. Many songs really have a great beat and are very entertaining. If you want to learn more about the music from Force Commander, read this Interview at DailyRadar. There are also some sample of the music.
 
 

Composer(s):	Peter McConnell   (Star Wars themes by John Williams)
Format:	Digital
Main style(s):	Hard Rock, Heavy Metal
Hits:	Imperial March Rage Mix, Escape from Kalaan, Redemption at Abridon
Interactivity:	A little bit
Rating:	Very Good

 

Escape from Monkey Island

All in all, the music in Escape from Monkey Island is very varied. There are many different styles of music in the game...
more than in any other Monkey Island game. Of course you hear traditional Reggae music, ambient classical music, creepy tunes, dramatic tunes and ambient, native flute music. But on the tourist infected Jambalaya Island, there are also some Soft Rock / Country songs, some jazzy arrangements and a Bossa Nova piece with great guitars.

I really appreciated the music and think it's as excellent as ever! Yes, a real masterpiece! You will find a full soundtrack review, a complete(!) song index and instructions on how play the music outside the game in our feature The Music of Monkey Island 4.
 
 

Composer(s):	Music Supervisor: Clint Bajakian Music Composers: Clint Bajakian, Michael Land, Peter McConnell,  Anne Karney, Michael Lande
Format:	Digital (Stereo, 44 kHz)
Main style(s):	Reggae (+ Ambient, Native, Rock, Jazz...)
Hits:	Diving Contest, Meathook's house, Outside the Booty Showcase, House of Sticks, Prothese Shop, Pegnose Pete, Herman Toothrot
Interactivity:	Average
Rating:	Excellent

 
 
 

(Most of the MIDIs on this page are by HighLand Productions.
Most MP3's have been ripped with Scumm Revisited.)
 

Notice:
Out of legal and moral concerns, this page does not contain any MP3s that can also be found on commercial soundtrack CDs from LucasArts (The Dig, Gone Jackals, Grim Fandango, Outlaws, Force Commander). I think it's great that LucasArts does the effort to release these soundtrack CDs for us fans, and I definitely don't want the MP3s to prevent anyone from buying them. This page should be a perfectly legal place where fans of the music in LucasArts games can inform themselves and can interact with each other. I hope for your understanding... please don't argue with me about this.

All images and media files are (c) by LucasArts Entertainment Company LLC.