Skate or Die Intro C64

[vivadangermouse]

I just noticed something about this tune. The SID chip only had a 3-voice polyphony, yet I can hear at times 4 different voices. How on earth did they manage to do that?

[MrBrown77]

@vivadangermouse : IIRC the old trick to play back digitized samples (like the guitar here) was to change the volume on some sound channel in a certain way. That would produce a clicking sound. Then do that fast and clever enough to generate an artificial fourth sound channel :-)

[IanAntonioBurke]

?????????????????????????

[treismac]

Video game intro theme music like THIS just doesn't exist anymore, man. I remember loading up C64 games just to listen to the music and rock out when I was a kid.

[Ipassarella]

GAY

[SGJukka]

@Ipassarella Sorry to here that, but I guess you needed to get out of the closet... ;)

[fish998765432]

I've got a recording of the game from an actual C64 (PAL) recorded about 20 years ago, and yes it sounds higher pitch and quicker. Sounds like you have the NTSC t64 file and you're running it at PAL speed.

It's a great tune though, one of Hubbards best IMO.

[djs909]

Fucking brilliant game and a fucking brilliant theme. I had this shit on my walkman in highschool.

[syncrow76]

@djs909 I used to record Turbo Outrun and listened to it on my walkman on the bus to school, too. So I wasn't the only person to so crazy to do that ;-D

[jawed]

@syncrow76 nice

[JoeBlow914]

are gonna press start already dick!?

[Gorette66]

Ok....coming from a person who knows ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about the Commodore 64:

Is the background supposed to do that?

[Psyke89PT]

@Gorette66 Yes.

[djs909]

@Gorette66 yes, that's where the sample memory is.

[radix9523]

Pardon my french, but HOLY SHIT what happened to the time? Seems like just yesterday I was playing this as a kid.

[76MKIIDub16V]

this game was soooo coooool .....:)

[xsnrgman]

Anyone remember a pinball game where you make your own pinball table with the spites? I remember a topless woman and other crazy stuff I won't even get into with that game. C64 is better than NES IMO.

[Dynamitarian]

The introductory chords remind me of the legendary Genesis song "Mama"

Pure 80's feeling and power... Authentic music, ingenious composers, great atmosphere. We are very lucky we lived these times as teenagers.

[HardWarUK]

Racing Destruction Set has the best rock tune, but it's not on you tube! :(

[HardKore5250]

Awesome man Norg took it to another level!

[kreeddem]

The guy who wrote this song is now 66 years old.

[Princey1981]

37 people were beaten by Lester at Pool Joust, and should stick to competing against Poseur Pete...

[kristinacagy]

come si fa a non iscriversi a questo?



[Kedvespatikus]

Oh, my Lord! In the days of old I just sat in front of my Commodore 64 and listened to this intro for hurs.

[PyrozPlayground]

Why does it sound like the main chords are too overdriven? It could be just me... but if it's not could someone explain? Awesome tune nonetheless.

[Qwepir]

Heard the NES version, and the speed in that one is a bit more fitting for a bunch of blips. This is better slower because it sounds like actual music.

[superjeanke]

for sure thanks to this tune the waiting was not too hard (and yes... we had to wait a lot in those days) ... thanks for the upload!

[Jdub14000]

THIS ROCK 80's STYLE!

[gaijinplus1]

All I have to add is that I had this for my NA C64, and this is exactly what the main menu sounded like. Swear to god, every time I loaded the game up, I listened to this song in its entirety before playing the game. It was kind of showpiece for friends, too, whether they liked it or not. I always made them listen to it.

[unikat73]

when someone would give me the chance to live forever and ever in the 80s i would agree instant. i would miss pepsi wild cherry only :)

[Skumnation]

I think its safe to say this is the best track ever composed for an old school game. I used to love the NES version, until I heard this. So much better on C64.

[silenceofthehills]

Blonde Archfiend on a skateboard.

[navylaks2]

I like this version better than NES because the sound does remind more of an electric guitar with distortion

[Cihl280777]

This sounds a bit like AC/DC.

[djs909]

So..... Fucking... Awesome

[silenceofthehills]

Sounds like the second one on NES.

[MrHeineken32]

That board is a Regal (If that's how you spell it)

[vgcf86]

34 people died while skating.

[zaphod77]

This is what happens when you play the PAL optimized version back on a NTSC c64. The missed interrupt throws the song to 3/5 ths speed compared to the PAL.

Original game is NTSC, and song plays much faster.

[snazzell1]

the commodore 64 music is HARDCORE!

[jeanton1]

This was my favorite c64 game. I played the crap out of this game.

[TheAshun]

its the right speed guys I

[shahram72]

Wait, I hear 3 instruments plus the sample track. Is this possible? Drums, bass, synth, and then the sample.

[freejaytea]

@shahram72 Yes it is... the 4th channel is a sample track created by using the music chip's general volume channel.

[shahram72]

I remember this. I didn't care for the game, just the INTRO MUSIC!!!!! Back then I was 10 or 12 years old, dreaming of the possibilities of computer music, and today at 37 it's finally all affordable with a PC, a midi keyboard, and Ableton Live. Except, I have no free time now!!!!

[navylaks2]

can anyone here play this tune on any instrument, that would be realy cool, i mean i've heard tetris on spanish guitar that was great

[ancalites]

The title of this game always cracked me up. Skate or Die? Can't I just skate? lol

[auni418]

has it been 60 clicks yey?

[w1ntermute0]

I pressed space and the game didn't start

[tsuihark]

@w1ntermute0 Did you try pressing the joystick button? In port 2? In port 1? F7? F1? C=? Repeatedly hitting the keyboard?

[Banzeken]

There exists a sound-capture function in the CCS64 emulator, that is the best way to ensure you get the intro-song with the best quality ;)

5* to this video...

[jsalcomm1]

what is C64?

[PLeChuck23]

A sex position.

[ARInternetTelevision]

For 1987, these were cutting-edge graphics. I like the soundtrack!

[73mathesar]

Absolutely amazing.

[MAZP0]

Only 4**** ???? This is absolute genius, anyone who signed less than 5* needs their ears and heads examined.

Anyone know an easy way of downloading this song I want it for my ringtone!!!

[SkeOzz]

If you're using firefox, use an additional tool add-on (like DownloadHelper) to rip the audio and save as mp3 or wav format... then head to phonezoo where u can sign up for free and edit the track, then send it to your phone via text message. Hope that helps! : )

[fpoulloura]

@MAZP0 Rob Hubbard was the guy who wrote this song ... same guy who wrote Monty on the Run tune for Commodore 64 --- that guy deserves a medal or something the tunes he's busted out with are out this world wouldn't you agree ?

[MAZP0]

i agree, i think we should all go to nepal to live as shaolin monks with this song playing throughout the monastery while we sacrifice goats and carve them up with blunt spoons, how do you feel about that?

[dancingpixies]

if you have an audio program that you can "rip" the music from the video would be the best way to get it.

and you're right, this is absolute genius!

[DamoclesAlpha]

You can find MP3 recording of this theme from Stone Oakvalley's Authentic SID Collection. It includes 154473 MP3 files recorded using authentic C64 hardware.

Simply type "soasc" in Google and click the first link. You can find the proper file by using site's own search function. Since the sound hardware of C64 had different revisions, there are three different MP3 files - each recorded through different revision:

R2: MOS6581R2

R4: MOS6581R4

R5: CSG8580R5

[radicalaceshasbrin]

live to skate, skate or die, with this motto I'll survive...

[FrogMonkeyBird]

Brings back happy memories! I could but this game on and let this intro run for hours

[lkjyuiop]

i miss that game

[123GameReviews]

So much better than the sequal.

[kreso711]

This is how it sounded on C64 in europe :).

Those were the days!

[manuntd2009]

ok its taking an hour to loud

[manuntd2009]

this is fucking hardcore

[TheReverendBizarre]

Yes, it's definetely slower than the original PAL-version, too.

Oddly enough, it actually sounds even better to me this way - not as hectic and almost "hysteric" as the actual, faster version. It plays out "heavier" instead.

[marquis0r]

that MAY SURELY BE guys! got some annoying comments here right now. accept this version or buzz off. really.

it's a really great tune, and i don't wanna get into that 50/60Hz PAL/NTSC issue srsly. especially reading that NTSC and therefore other screen sync would have nothing to do with a sound sample played makes me laugh. sry guys. get into it or get lost!

[SarahKreuz31]

Hard to believe, but there WAS a time where in the Sudios of EA wasn`t all about Capitalism. "The Bard`s Tale" anybody? XD

[Evilmonkey66699]

I know in the 80's they were all about creativity, Bards Tale, Racing Destruction Set, Hard hat mack, Realm of immpossiblity, Wasteland, Archon and Adept, just to name a few. Of course that was also a diffrent time period too when games in general were just as much about doing something new and diffrent then just trying to make a profit as easy and painless as possible.

[jmann31705]

whats wrong with capitalism you broke liberal fuck, go get a job

[SarahKreuz31]

Oh, I think there`s a thin Line between the usual Capitalism that we all know - and we`re all surely into - than the one EA is showing. And if you don`t know the difference, you haven`t understand anything.

[pezztube]

Whoever says this is "too slow" - you probably never had an Aussie C64 (i.e. a real PAL C64). To me, this is the proper tempo for Skate or Die. Love it marquis0r...

[Jimmah82]

This is the cracked version, it plays a lot slower than the proper SID.

[marquis0r]

lol! this is the PAL version 50Hz refresh rate is lower than NTSC 60Hz for basis. don'T want to get further into this... for you...

[Jimmah82]

nope its a totally different tempo in the cracked version and is much more significant than the slight change of pitch between PAL & NTSC.

[Darcal2]

I agree Jimmah82. I had a PAL C64 for many years and this tune played a lot faster in the real game. It's nothing to do with refresh rates. The cracked emulator version is considerably slower. Still a nice upload though. :) Peace.

[djs909]

@marquis0r no it doesnt. the music is exactly the same.

[crazylevipinball]

This one blew my mind. Very impressive, it's also a fun game. Electronic Arts stuff was always great.

[jjjred1987]

BADASS!

[broochem]

I remember this great tune from my c-64 period all too good. Used to load skate or die just for this tune.

[ExistanZ15]

Wtf?

[nosajghoul]

Someone plz post guitar tabs for both the chord progression and melody.

[jonblast]

I was thinking the same thing. This would be fucking awesome arranged on guitars.

[dergelarste]

AAAAAaaaaahhhh... I'm eight again! Thanks for posting!

[Outlander999]

Great guitar saple for a C64!!!

Rob Hubbard is a MASTER of 8bit music.

[Doommaster1994]

Rob Hubbard did the music for this game.

[ShockingAce]

¿this is the load screen?

[crazylevipinball]

Nope...this loads up. You press space bar or whatever when you get sick of the music. I'd usually listen to the first couple minutes.

[Thefamiliaguy]

The best audio track ever programed into the comodore 64. You have to appreciate how complex it must of been to come up with a real guitar sound on that machine. He must of recorded a real guitar and got it sampled in then tweaked the hell out of the code. And then throw in the synced up bar code graphic that moved to the music. The game was pretty good but the intro was worth the purchase alone back then. That 64/128 had such charm that I miss in today comuters.Anyone remember Sprites :-) ?

[Sabocalypse]

I had this game too, but on my version the guitar parts came out as scrambled noises, maybe I had an bad cracked version.

I used to love this screen :D

[TheSmailee]

Hi,

no, your version was ok. So much years ago my dad and encountered the same problem, there are different versions of the SID around. Most of them do the sound nice, but some of the newer c64 miss the guitar part or it sounds scrambled. Hell, that's 2 decades ago...

[Sabocalypse]

kool !

I don't think or maybe have forgotten any game that had guitar music like this in a C64 game :D

[Teirersias]

I remember sprites and how hard it was to 'digitize' an auido sound. I miss 'S.A.M.'  lmao if you get that!

[sandimike7]

S.A.M. ........ the speech synth???? LMAO

[acydrayn]

It took electronic music about 15 years to catch up to the C64.

[Webking271]

Wiki says he used a glitch in the SID audio chip where if you change the volume register, the C64 makes a clicking sound. If you changed it fast enough (1000+ Hz depending on the Nyquist rate) then you could play back crude samples on the C64.

[NameNotaNumber]

From Wikipedia regarding this theme:

"Playback of samples was facilitated by exploiting a flaw in the SID sound-synthesizer chip: altering the volume register produced an audible click. Thus altering this register thousands of times per second allowed for a crude form of sample playback"

[Madgun68]

The 'bar code' graphics (if you're referring to the stuff in the border) is, I do believe, by changing the border color every time the sound routine is called.

Been ages since I've done assembly on the c64, but I'm pretty sure that's what is happening.

[crazylevipinball]

Right that's what was so amazing about this...the C64 NEVER did shit when digitized music was playing, but this had the nice title animation and the patterns changing. Class all the way.

[Ninuzzo1982]

@Thefamiliaguy e qui che ti sbagli.......il sample della chitarra elettrica è stato trovato da Rob Hubbard attraverso un bug nel circuito integrato SID......che lui ha sfruttato per ottenere lo strumento in questione

neanche gli ingegneri della Commodore fra cui Bob Yannes aveva calcolato come realizzarlo, chi ha sintetizzato qualcosa è stato Jeron Tel su Turbo OutRun

:)

[Citizenkill]

that was the reason why i started skateboarding

[SternSupremacy]

lol im waiting to see someone say the words machinae and supremacy in the same sentense XD they used this game's music in one of their songs.

[viciousKev]

skate or die!

[mayronoi]

skate 4 life!

[Doommaster1994]

PLEASE POST THE SKATE SHOP MUSIC!

[djrickd]

One of the best Sport Games (besides California Games and Winter Games) on the C64... and the fabulous Intro was stunning these days...

[Ryker2007]

you are so right dude.

[s0up3rman]

@djrickd This game was epic someone above said they got into skating cuz this. Me to :). Summer games wow what a trip its like im 6 again thanks man

[Phacioco89]

Fredrobin RULES! AND THIS GAME TOO!

[freddurobin]

Crackman, i love you! Greets!!! Heinrich Lenhard.

[TrinityDarkfold]

Now THAT is a tune I remember hearing. Though I never listed to that much of it before.

[funk192]

I used to have a block of a joystick, it was basically a heavy duty box with a joystick on top with arcade type buttons. I broke it one day from doing the height version of the half pipe, where you had to go round in circles with the joystick as fast as you can to gather height lol.

[SydneyLeach]

Still remember asking for and getting this for Christmas way back when.

[radix9523]

I used to play it on my Dad's C64 all the time! I sucked at it though, lol

[Sledge070685]

I like the NES version better.

[robocopatlantis]

ROCKZ!!!

[MrTantraMan]

You should hear the remix for this game. It rocks as well.

[Sledge070685]

Well since you put it that way. I imagine CM Punk coming out to dis for some reason. can't think bout' anybody else.

[freddurobin]

Simply the best!

[Classicrockfan71]

OW YEAH ! Instant favorite !

[ShenmueFans]

I Love theses

[robocopatlantis]

A masterpiece :-) *THUMBSUP*

[deizi1]

yes, i too remember i had it faster in my pal c64 too.

[siliconsurf]

anyone has the actual arcade game demo?

[ArmpitNoises]

This song goes on forever.... and I love it.

[captswiss]

I was in the 5th class whan I was play this game. Amazing like all the good old C64 stuff :D

[jonblast]

Why has no video game cover band, such as the NESkimos or the Minibosses covered this song? It is extremely complex, and would fucking rock with instruments.

[hinochi]

Machinae Supremacy have used portions of this song, I think in "Sidology: Apex Ultima". It's absolutely awesome!

[indi9xx]

A couple of users have mentioned that they remember this song having a faster tempo.

Rob Hubbard used whats known as a raster interupt to trigger his software to play the music. a raster interupt on PAL (EUROPEAN) versions of the commodore 64 happens 50 times per second, on a NTSC (USA) system its triggered 50 times per second. So on American machines the song plays faster! Ta Taaa daaa!

[mrcosine]

All cracked versions this game played the music slower. I had this game on tape and it ran on a PAL machine at the correct speed.

[Freddan303]

I confess, I have loaded this up and let it run while I was cleaning my house too and did various jobs around the house that needed doing. God, this is a damned good c64 tune, isn't it? Rock the c64 oldskool - because we love it!

[s3nghir]

scoobylicious I am with you! That was among the things I always used to listen to while doing stuff.

Never befriended another machine like the C64. Everything that came after relatively sucks.

Thanks for uploading!

[Tobi1994S]

der isch echt cool

[scoobylicious]

I remember back in the days I used to load this game on my c64 just to listen to this song while I cleaned the house. Damn, I miss the 80's and yet my friends make fun of me. At least they'll never know what us 80's kids went through and got to experience. Their loss.

[CRYP77]

LOL YES, Scoobylicious i agree :) sometimes i load this game just to listen to the tune^^ And thanks to Marquis0r for upload! I started to upload C64 tunes too. Tunes i cant find on youtube. You can find them in my Profil if you like :)

[domplegi]

One of the best video game tunes ever!

[TylerMontana]

oh man, time goes by like a mofucker. I haven't played this since 1990 when I was 8 years old. hehe... gotta get me an emuator real quick

[geekyviking]

Very nice Hubbard tune, but I'm positive this tune is played at a slower speed than originally intended.

[mrcosine]

it did, this is most likely a cracked version.

All the cracked versions of this game had issues with the audio.

[wawatu]

nice song

[SigfridAroni]

Fuck Tony Hawk, this is the ultimate skaing game...

[lucace1996]

awsome for the time 64K

[airkreep]

loving memories of a kid beginning his skate life!down 4 life!

[hansuwepilz]

this game was the reason why i started skateboarding in 1991

[koseidon72]

I remember a speech saying "skate or die" before this digit music (c64 version of course) Where is it gone?

[bradv10]

thats skate or die 2

[jerseyimperial]

great song ...a lot of memories. thanks for posting...never heard it for c64

[JDubbsTheatre]

hm, It's a little different than the NES version.

[Eisenbahnfan]

THX for posting this! C64 the best "Daddelmaschine" Cool Intro I like this!

[300bucks]

This was one of the top 5 games ever made on C64 - what a great piece of music to make with only 64K!!!!

[beachcricket]

kick ass

[Falco2073]

And anyone who wants to know who did Sidology Episode 2 - Trinity, it's Machinae Supremacy, my favourite band. <3

[p2ptube]

Had this on NES

[hansuwepilz]

the first skate game i ever played

[MINESWEEP2k]

I'd love to hear some music group try a cover of this music. I like how the "electric guitar" sounds like an electric guitar.

-MINESWEEP

[qwerty987456]

theres this song Sidology Episode 2 that uses this tune, and many more... it's a 12 minute song!

[AlmYamamoto]

unas de las mejores musicas de robb hubbard(con perdon de monty on the run!!!),es increible lo que se podia hacer con solo tres canales de musica,se pensaba que el commodore 64 ya se habia llegado a lo mas alto en cuando en sonido,pero con el tiempo se mejoro con otro genio que es jeroen tel y su turbo out run,stormlord y savage.

[PigeonPair]

that rocks, brings back so many memories thanks!

[nibargerswife51482]

my cousin used to have this game.

[JeDorsBeaucoupTrop]

hmmm...if my memory serves my right the original tempo was faster ? Can remember well, so long time ago ;)

[carsonky]

Yeah, it was. Played in high school way too many times to know. This was probably running under emulation.

[madmomentsgo]

my favourite tune of rob hubbard this guy rocks.thanks for the memories

[toddybody]

pure nostalgie.

i´m now 35 years old, but if i see/hear this, i feel like a 15 years old child.

Rob Hubbard as his best.

just ONE of his great sounds.

1987: the C64 was just on his highest Level.

Remember the good old times.

THX for uploading!!!!!!!

what about uploading the intros from Bad Cat, Jinks, or someone else :)

[LDemonKnight]

the best of sound sampling with all the limitations there were on that period of gaming...still the SID was part of what made music as important as gameplay so thanks to the pionners of game sound :)

[LDemonKnight]

forgot to mention the Commodore 64 sound chip was only capable of only 3 voices(sound channels)