Film scores, commercials, televised events. There’s plenty of examples of when iconic musicians lend their songwriting skills to non-musical projects. Sometimes they’re motivated by passion, at other times it’s about the pay cheque. Video games, on the other hand, are a realm into which fewer famous musicians have dabbled. 

It goes without saying that there have been some fantastic soundtracks compiled for games. The GTA series is well known for its famous ‘radio stations’, while LittleBigPlanet manages to perfectly synch indie tracks to its quirky platform levels. In one bizarre instance, Guns N’ Roses even allowed ‘Paradise City’ to be used in an online Guns N’ Roses slot game.  

There’s also been no shortage of wonderful scores produced by award-winning video game music composers, like Koji Kondo (behind Super Mario and Zelda) or O’Donnel and Salvatori (behind the Halo series). But a mainstream artist writing music specifically for a video game? Whether the idea strikes you as interesting or embarrassing, you might just be surprised at how many big stars have already taken a dip into gamer culture. 

Paul McCartney
Destiny
In 2014, the almost-a-sequel to Halo known as ‘Destiny’ was released to PlayStation 3 and PS. There’s a lot to like about the first-player shooter game - not least the unlikely fact that Sir Paul McCartney himself wrote a song specifically for the game. The song, entitled ‘Hope for the Future’ sounds just like it’s plucked straight from a Beatles album and even has its own Halo-style music video featuring a singing McCartney in hologram form. This musician and video game pairing might seem unlikely, but it gets even stranger. Apparently McCartney did not want to be paid for his involvement, but rather saw the Destiny song as an exciting opportunity to reach new audiences who might not have otherwise been interested in his music.

Trent Reznor
Quake
The artist behind Nine Inch Nails looks like he’ll sooner turn into a bat and fly around the Gothic spires of a haunted castle than play video games. Yet, apparently, Trent Reznor has a soft spot for the classic dungeon shooter Doom. As it happened, the game’s developers were big fans of Reznor too. So when the 1996 Doom sequel, Quake, was under development, Reznor joined the team in creating some rather terrifying tunes specifically for the game. Gore and grunge go together like peas in a pod, and Reznor’s music accompanies Quake’s gameplay perfectly.

Michael Jackson
Sonic the Hedgehog 3
This sounds like something straight out of a fever dream, but Michael Jackson wrote music for the third Sonic the Hedgehog video game in 1994. Yes, just absorb that information for a while. What makes this particularly funny is that it’s also one of the few instances in which an internet conspiracy has turned out to be true. Rumours had long been circulated that the King of Pop was behind a lot, if not all, of the game’s music. The truth was confirmed in 2016 following an investigative piece by the Huffington Post. Why did Michael Jackson never appear in the credits? Some point toward his personal scandals that became public knowledge around that time, and how the negative press might have affected the game’s success had his musical influence on its development been known. Others claim that Jackson was not happy with the sound quality produced by the the Sega Mega Drive Yamaha ™ YM-2612 sound chip, so only allowed SEGA to use his music providing his involvement remain secret. 

David Bowie
The Nomad Soul 
David Bowie, always ahead of his time, was the first major artist to allow his music to be purchased and downloaded online. He also predicted, with alarming accuracy, the profound impact the internet would have, back in its very early days. It’s maybe no surprise then, that Bowie jumped on the chance to get involved in Quantic Dream’s dystopian adventure game The Nomad Souls in 1999. The video game’s main developer, David Cage, apparently had a ‘composer wish list’ which included artists like Björk, Massive Attack and David Bowie. Bowie surprised Cage by responding enthusiastically to the proposition. 

Not only did Bowie want to compose music for the game - he wanted to influence the storyline. Both Bowie and his wife Iman ended up voicing characters. A fictional band called ‘The Dreamers’ was created for the game to perform Bowie’s song (many of which later appeared on his 1997 album Hours). This wasn’t the first time Bowie had written original songs for a specific purpose only to later incorporate that same music into one of his albums. The 1974 album Diamond Dogs featured songs Bowie had written for a George Orwell 1984 musical that never materialized, while the 1977 album Low consists of music Bowie composed for the The Man Who Fell to Earth soundtrack, but which was never used. 

Beck
Sound Shapes
Though a video game, Sound Shapes has a distinctly musical focus which makes the title a bit different from others in this list. Released in 2012, the PS3 platform game pairs music with its colourful levels, with illustrations more akin to a child’s drawings than typical video game graphics. Developers have described the game as ‘music visualized’. Also allowing players to create their own levels, Sound Shapes shares some similarities with LittleBigPlanet. So who provided the music to this indie gem? Alongside some tracks from Deadmau5, the game saw Grammy-award winning Beck contribute three original songs. One of these tracks, titled ‘Cities’ won an award for ‘Best Song in a Video Game’ and Beck fans are still annoyed that the music hasn’t officially  been released outside of the video game.

At a time when video games are becoming a more respected pastime with an increasingly important part to play in our culture, it’s not too far-fetched to imagine we’ll see more famous musicians writing original songs for video games. For now, we’ve got these five peculiar collabs to give us a taste of what magic can happen when the world of mainstream music and video games collide.