When one thinks of Stewart Copeland, one usually thinks of The Police. Copeland was the British rock band’s drummer until 1986. His work as part of Curved Air is nothing to sneeze at, either.
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However, I’m a millennial. The golden age of The Police and Curved Air was a bit before my time. I, personally, know Stewart Copeland best from his work in video game music in the 1990s and 2000s. And I think he deserves way more credit for how he influenced that particular musical niche.
By the time Stewart Copeland got to work on the soundtrack to the 1998 PlayStation game Spyro The Dragon, he was already well-versed in composing soundtracks. He lent his talents to more than a few films, including Fresh, Riding The Bus With My Sister, Good Burger, the second Highlander movie, among others.
But something about the Spyro soundtrack stuck with me in a big way. Insomniac Games commissioned Copeland to produce the soundtrack and had him play the game first to get a feel for what it would be about. For the uninitiated, the Spyro franchise is a particularly fun platform game with a fantastical, almost psychedelic feel to it. He would go on to create the scores for two additional games in the franchise
Stewart Copeland Changed the Video Game Soundtrack World With ‘Spyro The Dragon’
Copeland got to work in 1998. His instrument of choice was a Kurzweil K2500x keyboard, complete with orchestral and modern ROMs. He also used a number of Spectrasonics CD ROMs as well, including Heart Of Africa and Distorted Reality.
The result was a soundtrack unlike any other. Though, the process was far from easy. Copeland said that he had to “churn and burn” and didn’t have enough time to really think of a creative process.
He has reflected on the process of producing the Spyro soundtracks in the past with a mature level of reverence. Copeland said that he “discovered something interesting about composition and probably other artistic endeavors as well, which is that pressure increases the quality.”
“And looking back, it turns out that that music produced under those harsh conditions actually are some of the best tunes I ever wrote,” said Copeland. “Some of the best basslines, some of the best chord progressions, some of the little three note tricks. And now when I’m writing my big gigantic symphonic works, I go back to ‘Spyro’ for that little trick there, that little idea that came when I was desperate, offering up my soul to the Muses, ‘Please just give me a riff!’”
Stewart Copeland would later compose the score for the game Alone In The Dark: The New Nightmare. It would be the only video game soundtrack Copeland would work on outside of Spyro. Today, I find myself playing the first Spyro game for a dose of nostalgia, but mainly to enjoy that killer soundtrack.
Photo by Arnold Jerocki/WireImage
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