There is a thriving community on YouTube which re-imagines rock classics as pieces of 8 bit music – ie the sort of thing which would play in the background while playing a Spectrum or NES game in the 1980s. In fact, one devotee has re-recorded the whole of Kid A. Anyone else come across these? Any favourites to share?
Rock Classics 8 Bit Style
Here’s another (and to get the thread over there —————–>)
I don’t generally like these 8-bit versions except as a momentary bit of fun, but “Super Morrissey Brothers” is a titling masterstroke, IMO, and if prizes were awarded it would be a hot contender.
I’ve had the kind of day where I need a smile put on my face, and that’s done the trick. God bless people with too much time on their hands.
Bravo!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pODxBTr035Q
The Super Morrissey Brothers was wonderful.
Joy Division
More Smiths.
The 8-bit Radiohead is a marginal improvement on the original, but I’d prefer a 2-bit version, where I have the option to choose to hear only the zeros.
Pedant alert – 2-bit would give you 25% chance of that. Four states: 00, 01, 10, 11.
You’d be better off with 1 bit, which would double your chances to 50%.
Sorry, it’s been one of those days.
No need to apologise. Having the OPTION to hear only the zeros would mean that I could opt to hear only the 25% of Radiohead that encodes as 00. Bliss.
i wonder if these tracks would sound, I dunno…..more realistic on vinyl??
Ah, the General Instrument AY-3-8910 series of sound chips, found in a variety of 8-bit and 16-bit systems from the late 1970s onwards, and still used today in some gaming machines, most notably the 128K Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Intellivision and Atari ST. The chip could generate three sound channels, plus noise.
The NES used a similar type of sound generator integrated into the CPU, also with three audio and one noise channel, but it also could play back small samples.
Yet another three voices plus noise chip from Texas Instruments was used in Sega’s game consoles and Acorn’s BBC Micro.
I have been out-nerded – well done! Have a pair of horn-rimmed spectacles with milk-bottle-bottom lenses. And acne.
Always interesting to hear songs interpreted in strange ways. It took me a while to cotton on to the fact that the homely brass band incidental music in The Great Pottery Throw Down were of various 90s electropop tunes (808 State, Prodigy, Chemical Brothers).
There’s a good chance that’s the Williams Fairey Brass Band’s ‘Acid Brass’ as directed by Turner prize winner Jeremy Deller. There’s a KLF link.
Their version of 808 State’s ‘Cubik’ is fantastic.