pt-paratroopa's Full Review: Grand Theft Auto Vol. 2: Wave 103
A couple years ago, the latest installment of the Grand Theft Auto video game franchise was released on the Sony Playstation 2. Last fall, a boxed set of this game and it’s predecessor Grand Theft Auto III were released on the Microsoft Xbox, giving my first taste of the series. If you’re a gamer, Grand Theft Auto Vice City is a game I’m sure you’ve heard about. In it, you control Tommy Vercetti, a man recently released from prison. Playing as Vercetti, you try to completely overtake the 1986 version of Vice City (aka Miami), by completing missions, buying property and killing innocent hookers all at the same time.
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is a quite a detailed game. There’s a million or so methods of transportation (foot, car, bus, motorbike, boat, helicopter), there’s literally dozens of side quests (Rampages where you kill Cuban gang members; collecting revenue from the multiple properties you can acquire; performing taxi, paramedic, vigilante and firefighter missions.) a variety of local pedestrians to brutally murder (valley girls, Cubans, Columbians, Haitians, Asians, bums, Policemen, the wealthy…) and there’s loads of weapons (guns, assault rifles, chainsaws, flamethrowers, knives, brass knuckles…) to work with.
One of the best little “details” about Vice City is that the creators of the game created a whole collection of radio stations for the players to listen to while driving in their cars. Grand Theft Auto III also used this idea, but the music for that soundtrack was all custom-made with the exception of songs from the Scarface (a movie this game tries a lot to emulate) soundtrack. Vice City has an enormous original soundtrack of over 75 real songs. Yep; all of the music is licensed and all you need to do to hear favorites such as ”Billie Jean,” and ”Owner of a Lonely Heart,” is get in a car and tune in.
The game splits the radio stations into about 10 different genres: Wildstyle (old school hip hop hosted by Mr. Magic), Flash FM (pop and rock, hosted by the fabulous Toni), KChat (a talk show, hosted by the ditzy Amy Shackenhausen), Fever 105 (R&B and dance hosted by Oliver, the ”Ladykiller.”), VRock (Hard Rock and metal hosted by Lazlow), VCPR (Vice City’s Public Radio featuring debate program Pressing Issues with Maurice Chavez), Espantono (40s-50s-styled Mexicana music you’ve never heard before, hosted by Pepe), Emotion 98.6 (Songs of love and the heart hosted by Fernando) and Wave 103 (New Wave hits). On the Xbox version of the game, you also use your own music if the you hate all this 80’s stuff.
In Vice City, Wave 103 is by far the station that can found on the most in my cars. Of course, nothing can compare to the insanity of VCPR, but Wave 103 has the most appealing music to me. Real-life DJ Jamie Canfield gives the voice of DJ Adam First, an arrogant dude who takes you on a tour of the finest new wave songs from 20 years ago. There’s also a British female who ad-libs in between songs and commercials with cute lines like ”Who needs guitars? We’ve got little computer synthesizer thingies!” Part of a multiple volume set (which can be purchased as a boxed set) of Vice City’s several radio stations, the CD also features a couple of the silly commercials you can hear throughout the game’s radio.
Unfortunately, a couple of the songs featured on the video game’s version of Wave 103 had to be cut for either contractual or time issues. These include the crowd favorite (and slightly disturbing) ”Cars,” by Gary Numan (1979’s The Pleasure Principle) and two of my personal favorites, the catchy ”Poison Arrow,” by ABC (1982’s The Lexicon of Love) and infectious, robotic ”Obsession,” by Animotion (1985’s Animotion). Also missing is the incredibly annoying ”Love Missile F1-11,” by Sigue Sigue Sputnik (1986’s Flaunt It), a pointless song saying nothing but shoot it up, shoot it up ten million times.
The first song to be featured on this set is ”Two Tribes,” by Frankie Goes to Hollywood from 1984’s Welcome to the Pleasuredome. One of the more interesting traits of the radio stations is that the creators didn’t select obvious hits from the chosen artists, such as ”Relax,” by this group. ”Two Tribes,” is quite obviously an 80’s pop tune with quite obviously a homosexual British lead singer (well, I’m pretty sure that this was a gay group…). Featuring a video of Reagan and Gorbachev boxing, ”Two Tribes,” is energetic, catchy, memorable and probably a better selection from the group than the well-known ”Relax,” due to the seemingly anti-war lyrics (”When two tribes go to war, a point is all that you can score.”). While the delivery of the song is typical 80’s dramatic, over the topness, it’s works well for ”Two Tribes,” giving the song a hectic personality.
DJ Adam First: What a fantastic track. That was Frankie Goes To Hollywood, with ”Two Tribes.” They're from Liverpool, England, produced if my memory serves me correctly, as it usually does, by Mr. Trevor Horne. Very powerful stuff indeed, and I think you'll agree, if you know anything at all! Let's take a quick break to listen to some commercials, and then we'll return with another top record for your listening pleasure.
The Sissy Spritz commercial isn’t one of the more humorous parody commercials to be found in the video game’s version of Wave 103. While the mocking of a commercial jingle is dead on, and the mindless deliverance of “Sissy Spritz while you’re clubbing or sticking your head out of a stretch limo sun roof!” is perfect, it’s just not as memorable as a commercial for bottled saliva (Salivex)
Female Announcer: It’s not pop music, it’s new wave! Wave 103!
DJ Adam First: See if you enjoy this next track as much as I have, listening to it in absolute darkness.
”Pale Shelter,” by Tears for Fears from 1983’s The Hurting, ”Gold,” by Spandau Ballet from 1983’s True and ”Love My Way,” by The Psychadelic Furs from 1982’s Forever Now are kind of a trilogy of dark pop ballads, making Adam’s description of listening to these tunes in “absolute darkness,” not such a far off idea. All the songs feature male vocals, canned drums, a lack of any kind of “New Wave,” sound, and less musical cheesiness than some of the more upbeat numbers on the disc. ”Love My Way,” is most likely the best of the these three with a smooth, lush (and foreign, rar!) vocal effect and pretty musical delivery topped with a catchy chorus. ”Gold,” isn’t a such bad song in it’s own right, but it sounds a lot like a very dated 1970’s soft rock song, which can sometimes rub me the wrong way. ”Pale Shelter,” finds a comfortable medium between the previous two songs by combining strong male vocals and quiet guitar riffs.
Female Announcer: Wave 103. Where the boys wear more make-up than the girls! Smashing!
DJ Adam First: I feel like we’re revolutionizing things here, or at least repackaging them for a new generation. I'll keep on with the music, and off with the chat.
The next trio of tracks could probably use that repackaging for the current generation. Thomas Dolby’s ”Hyperactive!," from 1984’s First Earth, Human League’s ”Keep Feeling (Fascination),” from the 1983 album of the same name, and Corey Hart’s ”Sunglasses at Night,” from 1984’s First Offense all symbolize an extreme lameness factor that makes all three tracks memorable but lovable. ”Sunglasses at Night,” isn’t actually cheesy, but it merely WTF-inducing, evident by it’s appearance on the 50 Most Awesomely Bad Songs… Ever. The vocal delivery is nice enough, and the song is refreshingly dark sounding, but the lyrics are completely stupid; fun to make fun of, however. ”Hyperactive!,” pulls out every 80’s synth and keyboard effect in the book (as could be expected from Dolby), resulting a very memorable electronic track with more British accents and vocal manipulation. ”Fascination,” could possibly be the cheesiest tune on the station, but the combination of extreme catchiness, exaggerated pronunciations, male and female vocals and a lame synth lines makes the track one of my favorites.
Female Announcer: A new musical trend, and a great excuse to use hair spray! It's Wave 103!
DJ Adam First: Wave 103! It has come to my attention that videos are an increasingly popular form of entertainment. For physically deformed and aesthetically unpleasing artists, this has greatly damaged their commercial potential! This next track parodies that state of affairs, by contrasting the old days of radio with the new world order of music videos, in which perversely it seems that artists' looks are more important than musical talent! I'm on the radio, but I assure you that's a choice I made myself! My mother had nothing to do with it. Is it perfection we’re seeking? A race of pop-singing super-haired men and women, who bestride the world in 3-minute movies? I've had it with these abbreviated operas for the modern world! Is it a good or a bad thing? Will the fat lady sing? You must decide that for yourself.
”I Ran (So Far Away),” by A Flock of Seagulls was released of the band’s self-titled album back in 1982 and firmly established them as one-hit wonders. 20 years later, ”I Ran,” was reintroduced to an awaiting public as more or less the unofficial themes for Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Easily one of the best tracks on the game’s entire soundtrack, ”I Ran,” combines old-styled rock and roll and hints of pop and new wave from a male band possessing unusual haircuts to create an enjoyable tune. The track just sounds good, and while lead singer Mike Score isn’t a particularly talented vocalist (Who was during the early 80s?), the sound of the track meshes well with his somewhat unique vocal style. Also being of the more catchy and memorable tracks on Vice City’s radio, it’s easy to see why ”I Ran,” became the group’s most popular hit.
And I ran, I ran so far away
I just ran, I ran all night and day
I couldn't get away
DJ Adam First: If you're well informed on music, then tell everyone as I do - you won't go away.
Female Announcer: The synthesizer of you’re inner soul; it’s Wave!
The other parody commercial from Wave 103 is an advertisement for Vice City’s Synth and Son store. Obviously, Synth and Son is a synthesizer and keyboard store. This is a much more memorable commercial compared to Sissy Spritz due to lines like ”We have some sad news for you.. Rock & Roll is dead, and pop is in!,” “Thanks to the science of music, you don't need musical talent to make great music!” and “Why work hard on difficult compositions, when a machine can make music better than you've ever dreamed of?” Also in Vice City’s credit is that the people they hire to do voice overs are very professional. It’s great when a person can deliver sarcasm with an entirely straight face.
Female Announcer: Wave 103. Where the boys and girls look the same! ....That's a little weird, isn't it?!
Wave 103 doesn’t fail in providing new wave hits from women. ”Kids in America,” from Kim Wilde’s 1981 self-titled album, "99 Luftballoons,” from Nena’s 1983 self-titled album, and ”Never Say Never,” from Romeo Void’s 1982 self-titled EP all appear here (and isn’t it weird that the three female acts all have self-titled albums?). I do like the Kim Wilde tune, but it’s annoying to think of its blatant bubblegum style (including male back-up singing ”Na na na na na na”) and the amount of bad pop groups that have covered the song. Still, it’s energetic, catchy, and Wilde does a good job. Nena is probably more famous for the German version of their one hit, but I actually like the English version better. While the music of both songs rock, and the lyrics describe the end of the world from war, the lead singer’s voice seems to have a lot more character singing in English. That, and I can actually understand the song… finally, Romeo Void’s song is rockish enough to normally suit my style, but it seems like a bad Waitresses cover, right down to the lead singer aping Patty Donahue and the song entering a little jazzy intermission.
DJ Adam First: Have you ever enjoyed the experience of looking at the world from a glider? It's a profound experience that I have found very interesting. Of course, it's not a cheap pastime, but I think that if we’ve learnt anything by now, is that money is a good thing - only the people without it complain. Anyway, I digress, and as a great man once told me, nobody likes a word smith. Let's get to the records. Next up, we have an American act for you. They've been around for a few years now, and for my money, this is their finest hour. "Atomic," by of course, Blondie.
”Atomic,” from Blondie’s 1979 Eat to the Beat is many things to me. The best song on all of Wave 103 and Vice City’s radio, my favorite Blondie song overall and my favorite new wave song. While you could complain that the lyrical content is vertically nonexistent, Blondie are sonic experts and ”Atomic,” highlights just how damn good they could make their music. Lead singer Deborah Harry is usually brash and emotional, but she changes her style to smooth and sexy, and she uses her voice well to make the song infectious and memorable. The band contributes with keyboards, guitars, drums and bass to make ”Atomic,” a bombastic, almost disco/new wave hybrid of an experience and it stands as one of Blondie's finest.
Track Listing with Personal Preference:
1. ”Two Tribes,” - Frankie Goes to Hollywood *****
2. ”Pale Shelter,” - Tears for Fears ****.5
3. ”Kids in America,” - Kim Wilde ****
4. ”Atomic,” - Blondie *****
5. ”I Ran (So Far Away),” - A Flock of Seagulls *****
6. ”(Keep Feeling) Fascination,” - The Human League *****
7. "99 Luftballoons,” - Nena ****
8. ”Love My Way,” - The Psychadelic Furs *****
9. ”Gold,” - Spandau Ballet ****
10. ”Hyperactive!,” - Thomas Dolby *****
11. ”Never Say Never,” - Romeo Void ****
12. ”Sunglasses at Night,” - Corey Hart ****
13. Sissy Spritz (commercial) ***
14. Synth & Son (commercial) ****
Not Included (but there in spirit):
15. ”Poison Arrow,” - ABC *****
16. ”Obsession,” - Animotion *****
17. ”Cars,” - Gary Numan ****
18. ”Love Missile F1-11,” - Sigue Sigue Sputnik ***
In Conclusion
While this little collection of late 70s through mid 80s new wave is by no means a definitive collection, it does provide a nice, diverse little song selection of the genre. Although a few of the songs from the video games were missing, acts like Blondie, A Flock of Seagulls and Frankie Goes to Hollywood keep things going hard enough to squeeze a five star rating out of me. Recommended for fans of Grand Theft Auto (also check out Flash FM, another volume in the game's original soundtrack; or just get the boxed set) or general fans of 80’s music (these guys would especially benefit from the highly diverse boxed set.)
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