A Moment in Scene History: Hitting a Grand Slam in Music

Written by Brighton Bischofberger

Edited by Mike Salem

Video games and the scene aren’t strangers to creating famed crossovers. Guitar Hero and Rock Band introduced youth to bands outside of mainstream pop - Weezer, Paramore, Rise Against, and others in the scene. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater series featured tracklists of punk, hardcore, and ska artists.  Yellowcard’s ‘Lights and Sounds’ and The All-American Rejects ‘Top Of The World’ made it into the destructive, racing party that is Burnout Revenge.

One game amassing a tracklist of scene music history, MVP 06: NCAA Baseball, created by Electronic Arts (EA) Sports. The college baseball game was playable on Sony’s Playstation 2 console garnered high ratings from GameInformer (7/10), IGN (8.7/10), and Metacritic (76/100). Creative control of your character’s appearance allowed for hours of gameplay solely customizing your dream player. The game also followed the multiplayer game trend beginning with the Playstation 2 and its four controller-ports.

However, the games hardcore inspired soundtrack created an action packed ambiance. In 2005 before the game was  released, EA Sports teamed up with Victory Records. Victory jumped at the opportunity to get their artist’s heard in a high-profile game series. Compiling music into a tracklist from several bands under Victory’s name, the soundtrack was a hit much as the game was. Fans pre-purchasing the game got a 20 song CD sampler to go along with their new game. 

Check out the official soundtrack below!

ARTIST                            SONG

Action Action           Paper Cliche

Aiden                          Die Romantic

Bayside                      Devotion And Desire

Hawthorne Heights  This Is Who We Are

Silverstein                   Smile In Your Sleep

The Forecast              These Lights

The Audition                Approach The Bench

The Black Maria         Organs

The Junior Varsity      Get Comfortable

Waterdown                   Repeater

Ummm, yes please - Silverstein, Hawthorne Heights, Bayside and Aiden? Heavyweights in the scene and were golden acts among Victory Records’ repertoire. ‘Devotion and Desire’ and ‘Smile in Your Sleep’ are classics (and on my all-time favorite songs list). MVP gave bands like The Audition, The Junior Varsity, and Waterdown a chance to be heard by the sports demographic. ‘Approach The Bench’, the opening credit track and resident banger of a throwback. My favorite song off of the game’s soundtrack is ‘Get Comfortable’ by The Junior Varsity. 

This game opened me up to scene bands I hadn’t heard yet - and I know it did that for a lot of others too. Video games are still widely popular, but I feel the art of creating soundtracks for gamers is becoming a lost one.