P-Vock's Music Box: They were good enough for the Olympics
Hello and welcome to another edition of P-Vock's Music Box, where I take a random selection from my ever-expanding music box to help prepare you for the weekend. Hey, so how about those Olympics? Yeah, I'm sure many of you forgot about the Olympics or didn't even realize they were happening right now. They're definitely a thing, and while I certainly prefer the winter Olympics (call it my Canadian Racial Passive), I was given something to really cheer about this year (and no, I'm not just referring to watching the Yankees implode as they lost some basketball games). During the Opening Ceremonies of these games taking place in Tokyo, they played a shitton of video game tunes!
From Final Fantasy to Soul Calibur to Monster Hunter and even to NieR (which was a weird choice since that series is all about post-apocalyptic earth that was ravaged by a deadly virus), video game music blasted through the stadium as athletes waltzed through the tunnel. I got a delight watching my country enter while Kingdom Hearts music played, but the really shocking thing for me was that they play two separate tracks from my absolute favourite video game soundtrack.
Chrono Trigger houses my favourite album ever, I honestly think it is perfect. Every single track slaps and I cannot state how much I love its music. So I was absolutely delighted to hear my favourite character theme during these Opening ceremonies. Have a listen:
Frog's Theme is kind of perfect for this manner of ceremony. The character it was composed for is stoic and brave, which is perfectly embodied in his theme. It is triumphant, bombastic, and just makes you want to march around with your head held high. It's a simple melody that doesn't overstay its welcome and was an absolutely excellent choice for the opening ceremonies.
But they weren't done there, as they had ANOTHER hype ass character theme to play for us. So, without further ado... Clears Throat Ladies and Gentlemen, Rick Astley:
WHY DOES IT SOUND LIKE NEVER GONNA GIVE YOU UP!? This track being reminiscent of that absolute meme of a song is one of the most common memes within the Chrono Trigger fandom, which I could almost see as a bad thing as it almost takes away from an absolute gem of a theme. Robo's Theme is fun, enthusiastic, and just makes me want to vibe. It also helps that the character it was composed for, Robo, is best boy and must be protected at all costs!
The Chrono Trigger OST is phenomenal. For an idea of how much I adore it, I love both of these tracks to no end and yet, neither are even in my top five from this soundtrack.
Video game music was acknowledged at the Olympics. As someone who has been blasting battle themes like You Will Know Our Names at the gym and relaxing to the All-Star Rest Area theme for years, this acknowledgement honestly means a lot to me and I can't properly describe how damn cool it is to see. It's the reason I write this column, to help demonstrate how varied and phenomenal video game music can be.
Whether your weekend is jovial and playful like Robo's Theme, or more epic and enthusiastic like Frog's Theme, I hope it's just as memorable and amazing as Chrono Trigger. Thank you for reading, and I'll see you next week with another excellent suggestion from my Music Box. Have a good one.