Yuzo Koshiro's Influences In Music
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- Опубликовано: 5 фев 2025
- A comparison of various mainstream songs and artists that directly influenced Koshiro during the early 90's, of which the links are evident in the Streets of Rage soundtracks. I have also added a pretty obvious comparison for Super Adventure Island.
Artist such as Black Box, Soul 2 Soul, Maxi Priest and others were the main influences for Koshiro during his younger years as a composer.
Let me know your own links you've discovered!
Video by Yuzoboy
![Eminem - Lose Yourself (The Last Soul Remix) [SORRV5]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/CJ-oUET2p1E/mqdefault.jpg)
My boy yuzo koshiro is like a selecta or a DJ who made the best samples at the time... Gave the perfect vibe for this game, specially talking about the first S.O.R.
Mr. Koshiro loves EURODANCE
What's awesome is how great these tracks sound on the 1988 Mega Drive's sound hardware!
Absolutely amazing.
I don't gaf how he produced. Just God bless this man for making my childhood!
We we do! Study history asshole
What made the soundtrack of Street of Rage 1 and 2 great was the use of popular music of the time on the Genesis. His music felt like they could be club music which was awesome.
@@Epsilonsama it was during the early 1990’s (1990-1993).
Samples! Dance, Techno, Electro, House, Hip Hop, yep the 90's.
So Yuzo Koshiro must really like Black Box..... Hehehe
He loves our black boxes for sure
Same here 😂
The Japanese have this special way of taking pre-exisitng sources of reference and refining them to the point that although there's unmistakable influences, they also become their own unique thing, and in many cases improve upon some of their influences, also adding their own sensibilities.. The culture of pefection runs deep in Japanese historical roots
I wanna know how he came up with the elevator stage (SOR1 Stage 7) I was a young kid when I 1st heard it. I remember thinking it was absolutely crazy. I was so happy when I learned there was a BGM mode in the options that let me listen to it to my heart's content.
Same for me it's my preferred song from this game
That elevator song is so iconic
It's probably Rock My Heart, from Haddaway, but others suggests She's Homeless - Gipsy Woman, so idk.
The elevator stage song is really good!!
A lot of people seem to be getting upset about the fact that Koshiro got a lot of inspiration from artists and songs that he heard, and that he just recreated these songs, but modified them so as to not sound the exact same. But you have to think about the time period and put it into proper context. The technology for making music in video games was still quite new and primitive in the late 80's and early 90's. Gamers were mostly used to 'beeps and bloops' from their games. But with the Streets of Rage series, we were given music that actually sounded like songs that sounded like they could be played on the radio. And in a way, Koshiro's sampling, to me, is very reminiscent of hip hop with his use of sampling beats and songs. And as far as copying and sampling goes, this isn't new. How many songs were made with the funky drummer beat alone? Or the beat from Ashely's Roachclip? Or the Hallelujah break? Answer: lots!
The late 80s, early 90s mix of new jack swing, hip hop, R&B, house, techno, and rave were all well suited for the Genesis's hardware, wouldn't you agree?
sonikku956 Absolutely, but it also depends on the composer to be able to make good compositions that fit the genesis' sound chip.
Yeah. Even as well as the SNES musical instruments components. For alot of games.
This also set the stage for a wonderful ferment of music that is unthinkable today with our draconian IP laws and banbots. People used to borrow and be inspired from each other all the time and it gave us more and better music.
I'd say part of the issue here is there's a fine line between "inspiration" and "plagiarism".
Koshiro and Robert Prince (who composed the soundtrack for Doom 1) are examples of composers whose works were *inspired* by preexisting songs: they could take other artists' works and modify them enough to create original, perfectly legal songs that are still beloved by many to this day (bonus points for Robert Prince, who was actually a copyright lawyer prior to working on Doom).
Kenji Yamamoto, meanwhile, is an example of an artist who committed plagiarism: he took pieces of other peoples' songs and put them into his own work without doing much to alter them. The most blatant examples of this were "Battle Point Unlimited" literally being just random quotations from the Proaganda album "A Secret Dream", and "Isshin Ittai" straight-up being the war theme from Avatar.
Great compilation thank you!
Great plagy
The fact that you missed Inner City's (aka Detroit techno godfather Kevin Saunderson's) "Good Life" as an influence on Go Straight is absolutely *wild*. But props for giving a shout to the one and only Wizard, Jeff Mills, who is an absolute legend in the Tokyo club scene.
: Yuzo Koshiro's work on the Streets of Rage franchise cemented his status as an legend among video game composers. He created a very specific sound and mood unique to an entire genre of games, only two years after the release of the deeply related Belgian techno anthem "Pump Up The Jam".
Man I hadn't heard some of these tracks in like 20 years! Awesome work!
I always thought the stage 1 music sounded like pump the jam
Same here, been thinking that all my life also it reminds me of a song from spongebob. The Enigma song I also always thought it sounded like the one from SOR2
It was that song, combined with some old-school Frankie knuckles for me.
@@andym2193 i can see that. The SoR soundtracks had a lot of major influences that were easy for me to pick up on, due to my exposure to house music. And the song you're talking about, samples that Frankie Knuckles song I was talking about.
good life by inner city is the song that inspired the opening level of SOR2
Thanks for including Enigma. I was worried that you missed that one, that’s the first band I thought of when I popped in Streets of Rage 2 for the first time with my Sega Genesis LOL
Yes but it was really only the drum beat that Yozo used, he wrote a completely different melody to it, just as good in my opinion!
Wow, I really like the game because of the amazing soundtracks Koshiro did, these influences are really the best!
But the koshiro songs are better
As músicas do Koshiro são muito melhores man
@@hezekiascabral8135 mas o cara basicamente sampleou as paradas
@@LSCloveMJ Nem todas.Tem algumas que são quase iguais,mas tem algumas que nem estão muito parecidas.
@@LSCloveMJ E mesmo se todas fossem muito parecidas,ele evoluiu todas a um nível espetacular.Ele deu um upgrade absurdo em todas.
This guys music defined my gaming experience back in the 90's. Great work!
Love this age of Techno and miss it so much!
House music not techno
It was not Techno, it was House music. How could you not know this?
"Good artists borrow. Great artists steal."
its a well known expression, but i think the interview with steve jobs made it much more prevalent.
bro the real trick is to steal from such obvious sources that people think your'e just paying tribute
very nice work!
Had childhood flash backs just now! Really miss this game can't wait for streets of rage 4
Great work! Special thanks for "Bass Value - Do You Wanna Party"! Interesting that there are different versions of the track.
I can appreciate how some of these aren't even subtle. I've been obsessed with Sonic CD's influences for some time now, and these are very similar to what I come across. I've found one or two of these by pure accident.
I will not be able to un-hear the whistling kettle as I plunge down from the baseball field to the underground wrestling arena. It's magnificent!
Great compilation
🙏 🙏 😊
thank you so much for such a great compilation !!
Go straight is literally Inner City - Good Life
Yep.😆 Literally Go straight when in the inner city ignore the troubles there
That's a great job you're doing here, man. Thank you.
Most themes are severely changed, some have little to do. Some have just the same resemblance that the music of different artists of those days already had within each other.
Besides that reinterpreting, if you will, some things with the Sega sound chip the way he could is a master work.
I would add in Liza Stansfield "All Around The World" for SOR 2 stage 8
This!🎵😌🎵
gonna listen to most of these songs now
The beach in SOR 2 is C&C music factory just a touch of love 😁
I always thought “make me happy” by Crystal Waters.
A listing in the description would be greatly appreciated
Yuzo foi responsável por expor toda uma geração que jogava SOR às músicas que tocavam nos mais exclusivos clubes do mundo! No tempo que era muito dificil ter acesso a tais conteúdos, uma vez que a internet ainda engatinhava. Suas músicas têm presença garantida na história dos games. As músicas de jogos se dividem em antes e depois de Yuzo!
Wow that was more than a little inspiration.
Hey Yuzoboy, you are right on regarding the influences on SOR1, but with the SOR2 comparisons you are really grasping for straws. By that time Koshiro had clearly found his own, unimitable style. That's what makes his work so timeless.
Really? You think so?
Go straight in SoR2?
Go listen to Good Life by inner city.
The simularited are irrefutable
Merci Beaucoup, c'est très instructif :)
Great research anda compilation!
Love all the people whining about this in the comments. PEOPLE! Who cares if he was inspired by other musicians, EVERYONE IS! He just copied other songs and slightly changed them? Again, even if he did, who cares, good music is good music. Enjoy it, Yuzo Koshiro made some sick music, copied or not.
Feelin' DanDy Best Comment Ever. You Show Them!
Yeah but they should get paid some of these songs sound way way to similar
What's really amazing is how skillfully and authentically he was able to replicate the sound of all these house songs on the Genesis. Any time I argue with SNES fanboy friends about the console war they always bring up "the genesis has such shitty sound blah blah blah" and I always whip out the SOR games as an example that proves that notion to be bullshit. All the shitty music on the Genny was a result of a lack of effort on the part of the sound designers for those games. You get out what you put in when it comes to the YM2612.
A buddy of mine who makes dope-ass chiptunes described the differences pretty well:
"The Genesis is more of an instrument whereas the SNES was more of a playback device or a sampler."
Que buena época nos tocó.
Yuzo was before his time. He took bangers and made them certified bangers for video games
Nicely put together.
I always thought that The Last Soul had a bit of Close To You by Maxi Priest to it, in terms of rhythm.
In my opinion he was influenced in a good on way on this music. He probably wanted to make it sound like popular music to get attention just like the game featured other popular stuff at the time like Skates and Cool cheesy names like Blaze and flashy neon lights. Also he did not copy every song!
Yes he did copy every song
@@QstormtheGod Except he composed it differently. It's all about references.
@@poweroffriendship2.0 It's not just references or homages to the source material. He would almost certainly lose court cases over these songs. I love them, and I think these songs are among the greatest vg music out there to this day, but he completely ripped off those songs. It's beyond blatant. Bass lines, chord progression, instruments, it is SO obvious. I don't know why anyone would contest that. It's not a bad thing, they are faithfully recreated compositions. It does not take away from their impact, or how much you like them to just admit they were directly ripped off.
Yuzo Koshiro, Naoki Kodaka & Jim Latham made my Childhood
This is a genre of music that likes to use the same sounds and samples and beat progression to allow a coherent DJ set at clubs of that time. If you look at other RUclips videos on the same subject, they cite different songs as possible SoR inspirations, because there isn't one song to point to
For instance, the baseball tunnel stage with the whistling song, tons and tons of songs used that sample that SoR emulated on the Genesis sound chips. Which song did that track "steal" from, and what's the difference between Streets of Rage, and Public Enemy and Madonna and Wu Tang Clan and Black Eyed Peas and etc etc etc? People heard the SoR soundtrack back then, and noticed that it sounds like late 80s early 90s club music in general terms
On another note, Sephirot Theme Phase 2 from FFXIV only sounds like one popular single, When Worlds Collide by Powerman 5000
The track at the beggining of the game is actually "Sadness" by Enigma. Look it up, it's the same song :P
You are right. This is kinda sad...
Its Rusty Ruins act 1 (Saturn version)
Did he copy it?
Sadness sampled the beat from that song.
I would say SoR1 music is greatly influenced by acid house in general. Boss theme resembles Royal House - Can you party
Só As TOP Da Década 👍😄❤👏
No I know why I loved the music in the game 😁
The keyboards in stage 7 sounds similar to the song I'm Too Sexy by Right Said Fred
Wangan midnight would not be the same without this legend of a composer 🤘
I found out today that Dub Slash (from streets of rage 3) is influenced by Primus' DMV.
Mind blown.
Ummm forgot some other important influences. Maxi Priest's 'Close to You' was too influential in tracks like Keep the Groovin' or The Last Soul. Good Times by Inner City was also incredibly influential on Go Straight, too.
The music of the streets of rage saga really fits with comics from the 90's and 80's
I dont understanding why people are uppset with Koshiro, he just did what every Rap DJ did with tunes from the past and making some great beats and melodies out of them. This Is Music people.
Amazing!
Thank you!!
you did some serious research
Because I was exposed to house music at such an early age, I was able to pick up on a lot of the influences immediately.
Same here! Favorite genre still to this day.
4:18 the sound in the background reminds me of the NES Friday the 13th.
Best video on youtube
I think he may have also sampled Sueño Latino for the intro of Dreamer. You can hear it at the 4:40 mark of the Paradise version.
"Percussion" from Streets of Rage 3 definitely takes inspiration from the theme to Peter Gunn (heard in the Blues Brothers).
If not, then it's a damn close coincidence!
I don't think Streets of Rage's 3 soundtrackhad that many direct influences though since most of it was procedurally generated using a program that Yuzo Koshiro made himself.
I remember some of these songs back in the early 90's. Even remember the fat Genesis model 1 and model 2 and Bare Knuckle 1 and 2.
Nice...thank u
Thanks a lot.
Not sure which came first, so which influenced which but... The Original 'I Love U Baby' the Dancing Divaz remix, check it out and spot the Streets of Rage similarities
Wow. He’s got New Jack Swing Swag!
Fantasy is Earth,Wind and Fire song.
Yeah but I get why they would the Black box version here. It's more upbeat an electronic. I doubt he would have gotten the same influence from the EW&F.
Basically early 90s dance music
Streets of rage is one of my favorite games of the Mega Drive, i knew its music was inspired from various artis, but i wanna know what is that odd version of Strike it Up, so.
He took inspiration from these songs and made them better all with the limitations of the Mega Drive.
Another inspiration that I'm pretty sure about: the bonus stage from Sonic 1 Game Gear / Master System sounds just like "Oh! Tengo Suerte" by Masayoshi Takanaka
not even saying that "Black Box - Everybody Everybody" is already ripoff of "Grace Jones - Pull Up To The Bumper".
piranias oh man. I do hear the similarities !! But it’s more influenced than a rip off.
Good Vibrations - Mark Wahlberg ruclips.net/video/EDQV2iXgZjQ/видео.html starting at 2:53 you can hear a lot of "fighting in the street".
i always thought the theme song sounded a lot like Enigma's sadness
i wish more games drew their soundscape influence from jock jams instead of 70s prog.
Stage 1's theme from SOR 1
Nada se cria, tudo se copia!
Does anyone know what the instrument is called that he's using to carry most of his melodies?
good sounds
Was Alien Cave theme taken from anywhere?
A little bit longer is actually the song for player select
I always felt like yuzo couldn't have come up with the best game music in the world of all time. The worst part is i listened to most of the originals songs on a regular basis, but still didn't see the link. Some of the tunes have been remixed better in streets of rage though.
There's just so many songs that sound similar, its hard to say hes legit. I do wonder how many songs he actually composed himself without 'influence' though. tbh i don't really mind since 'never return alive' from streets of rage 2 isn't on this list. The day that shows up, is the day i leave this world...
Good 👍
Don't forget about the doctor's adamski - musical pharmacy album guys
2:21 OMFG.
Holy shit, I'm amazed as I listen to this.
I always though the lift stage before abided was gang starr-who's gonna take the weight. Guess I was wrong lol
how about The Revenge of Shinobi? This music in particular:
ruclips.net/video/8qMQs0MV-_k/видео.html
And the song from Kraftwerk:
ruclips.net/video/5DBc5NpyEoo/видео.htmlm18s
I think Big Boss - Streets Of Rage It's more inspired of It's My Life - Doctor Alban. The Beat sounds pretty similar
The jungle OST in SOR2 sounds like Acid Hammer by Psykosonik
what's the last track called at 8:35?
This part of Yuzo Koshiro's Jungle Base ( ruclips.net/video/klX4e3WoBbk/видео.html ) sounds a lot like this part of Kraftwerk's I Program my Home Computer ( ruclips.net/video/bu55q_3YtOY/видео.html )
Epic soundtrack 92s
1:53 speed that song to 1.25 and you got a slight cameo of alien power.