The game composer.

Last week I called out game composer Tommy Tallarico on Cruise Elroy for insinuating that older video game music has less artistic merit, citing passages like this one from his biography:

Tommy Tallarico is a veritable video game industry icon. As one of the most successful video game composers in history, he has helped revolutionize the gaming world, creating unique audio landscapes that enhance the video gaming experience. He is considered the person most instrumental in changing the game industry from bleeps & bloops to real music now appreciated worldwide by millions of fans.

I referred to this viewpoint as “a load of bull.”

Tallarico himself then dropped a line in the comments to defend himself. As it turns out, I overinterpreted him, and we’re more or less on the same page:

I actually agree 100% with you!

I think you’ve possibly misinterpreted my words because of editing. Sometimes when interviews are done they don’t take all the words or parts.

I have always talked about how the “old school” game music was some of the best written because the only thing we really had back then was the melody!

So when I read the Onion A.V. Club’s interview with Tallarico today, I had to laugh at this exchange:

AVC: At that point, it was only programmers who made music?

TT: Yeah, all of the music that was being done was a very simplistic. And don’t get me wrong, some of the greatest videogame music of our generation was written during or before that time. Mario Bros., Zelda, Castlevania…

Anyway, I really recommend the interview. Tallarico is an interesting guy and an important industry figure.