8-Bit Punk (2003) | Hacker News Reader

8-Bit Punk (2003)

wired.com

35 points8bitsrule9 comments

They were Nintendo-ifying history even in 2003...

Game Boy music is nice and all. But Welle Erdball got their start in 1990, when 8-bit computers arguably weren't even obsolete. And the term "chiptune" appeared on the Amiga in reference to music that sought to sound Commodore 64-ish.

It's not called "chip music", it's chiptune. How are people supposed to learn more about it if they don't even call it that.

I'm feeling like this was posted more as a fun read than a revelation about how awesome music can be made on a gameboy. Also it seems to be from forever ago so there's that. But regardless here are some of my favorite gameboy solo examples.

NanoLoop (GameBoy DMG) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wn1qlTDvRoY

Rhythm Core Alpha 2 (3DS, not 8bit but related maybe) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRNK6O_MvKU&t=7m7s

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I was part of this scene from the late 90's until about 2015. I remember feeling bitter about McClaren getting involved. To me 8-bit was about claiming a tiny bit of utopia, and exploring the possibilities of pop.

After this article it began to be all about style and irony and it just wasn't any fun anymore. Just like what he did to punk.

Malcolm McClaren has spent his life claiming he invented whatever subculture he most recently stumbled into.

> It's the Nintendo generation sampling its youth.

Pretty much sums up this fun read. Although dedicated chip-tune artists/albums are easy to find now, I feel like they've never really landed more than sample-level roles or received vague stylistic nods in mainstream pop, sadly. Compare with Hip Hop which is pretty mainstream now. Maybe we're still early.

McLaren was also very influential in early NYC Hip Hop

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCBN7lyLT4w

It's fascinating how he was able to go from punk to hip-hop to cutting-edge electronic music. (He died in 2010).

The guy was a master promoter. He was also something of a cultural leech. The punk era was made possible because some basic technology was suddenly cheap enough for anyone. I'm talking about small run vinyl pressings (music) and xerox machines (print media). But the media image of punk from the late 70:ies was largely manufactured by the likes of McLaren and Westwood who was fashion store owners at the time. When the DIY strain of punk culture took over they declared punk dead and moved on.

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