Sunday, December 17, 2006

Interstate '76 Revisited


I try not to repost things, but someone requested this and it's just too good to remain unavailable. I'm talkin' about the soundtrack to Interstate '76, oh yeah. This amazing funk soundtrack is arguably better than the stuff it's paying homage to. Simply fantastic, get it while you can.

Rehashed from my April 18th post:
"Nearly 10 years ago, Activision released a computer game called Interstate '76 that featured muscle car mayhem, afroed sidekicks, and a protagonist named Groove Champion. I remember it being fun (but barely running on our computer) and it was followed by a dismal sequel Interstate '82.

The key ingredient that made the original game so good was the wicked funk soundtrack that accompanied the vehicular combat. Heavy on the wah-wah pedal, lots of fuzz, and sexy sax. You can totally imagine this groovy music overlaying a 70's police car chase or possibly porn.

This was one of the first games (that I remember) with professionally recorded soundtrack where the game CD could actually double as an audio CD. As you raced around blowing up other cars, this awesome music played on endless rotation off the CD , which made it easy to ignore the choppy, repetitive gameplay and mediocre graphics (hey, they were cool at the time).

The soundtrack was performed by the one-off band Bullmark headed by Arion Salazar (bassist of Third Eye Blind) and made up of Brian "Brain" Mantia (drummer for Primus), Santana's keyboardist, and other session musicians. Some of these songs are among my most played iTunes tracks, which goes to show how these have long outlasted the novelty of the game."


Interstate '76 soundtrack by Bullmark

"NOTE: these are the 16 tracks that came off the actual game CD. In fact, I only know these songs by track number. Activision actually released an official soundtrack with even more tracks (with real names), which you can read a review of here."


I have yet to hear this official soundtrack since I was too stupid to buy it at the time (if in fact I knew it even existed). Here's a pack of extra Bullmark tracks that I withheld from the original post. I think I downloaded them from Arion Salazar's website, which no longer exists.
-Can You Feel
-DESTRON Super Jam
-Interstate '76 Theme (Slight Return)
-Kanegon
-Ovum Bisquit
-Pocket Full of Yanni
-Skaebae Ranger GO!
-The Crab Style
-Track 12
-Track 16
-Track 24
Get 'em all: Interstate '76 bonus tracks by Bullmark

And would you believe it, an Interstate '76 cover?
Aqua Viva - Interstate '76 Theme [originally by Bullmark]
That is, if by "Interstate '76 theme", you mean Song #1. I always remembered Song #16 being the main theme... I have no idea where I got this cover and google's no help here.

Vaguely related, semi-cover:
Velvet Revolver - Interstate Love Song (acoustic on KROQ) [originally by Stone Temple Pilots]
This would be the equivalent of Audioslave "covering" Soundgarden.

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for putting it up, or whoever put it up. I can't find it anywhere else. That soundtrack is amazing! The memories.

Fongolia said...

You're welcome. I love this soundtrack and think everyone should hear it.

Anonymous said...

Hi there, great to see the Bullmark legacy living on! Just to clarify things for anyone who might want it since I had a bitch of a time tracking down this info, I'm aware of three versions of the I76 soundtrack material.

1) Interstate '76 (Game Disc) 1996
32:24

As the name implies, this was the disc that contained the installer and game data. The sweetest part was that it also had 16 audio tracks (playable as an ordinary CD). I've pieced together the track titles from the other two versions.

01 Interstate '76 Theme
02 Skeeter Gettin' Medieval
03 Revenge Rocco Style
04 Track 4
05 The T'aint
06 Pimp Like Me
07 Vigilante Shuffle
08 Just Call Me Daddy
09 Desert Sky Groove
10 Track 10
11 Henshin V3!
12 Mission Code- B.F.A.M.
13 Track 13
14 Ovum Bisquit
15 Malochio Down
16 Never Get Outta The Car

2) Interstate '76 1997
50:45

Activision cashing in (and rightly so) with a standalone, proper soundtrack album, with clips of game dialogue and different edits / mixes. Track titles are as they appear on the artwork.

01 Interstate '76 Theme
02 In The Junkyard
03 Revenge Rocco Style
04 Think About It
05 Pimp Like Me
06 The Cake
07 Vigilante Shuffle
08 Code Six Pack
09 Mission Code- B.F.A.M.
10 Speed Is Your Salvation
11 They Call Me Swinger
12 Bring 'Em Back Alive
13 Skeeter Gettin' Medieval
14 Desert Sky Groove
15 Roswell
16 Jackin' For Good
17 Parlay'in
18 Helicopter Fuzz
19 The T'aint
20 Stampede
21 Spineless Funk
22 Little Daffodil Gas Parade
23 Jade'll Get You Thru
24 Tulip Waltz
25 Ass Retreat
26 Payback Recon
27 Fort Davis
28 Never Get Outta The Car (Extended Slap Mix)
29 Malochio Down
30 Reggae Fusion
31 Macadamia Medley
32 Bonus Track

3) Bullmark 1996
47:57

For quite a while, Arion Salazar's website had these Bullmark tracks available for download as 128K mp3's with artwork. I got the impression from the site that a CD was produced but this is the only place I ever found any hard evidence of it's existence, everywhere else on the web just linked back to this site. I also recall there was a message from Arion stating that they were demos - but they sound amazingly finished. Track titles are as listed on the website.

01 Track 1
02 Interstate 76 Theme
03 Track 3
04 DESTRON Super Jam
05 Bullmark Theme
06 Twamp Sack
07 Track 7
08 The Crab Style
09 Just Call Me Daddy
10 Tossed Salad
11 Pocket Full Of Yanni
12 Track 12
13 Henshin V3!
14 Ma... Something Like This
15 V3 Kick!
16 Track 16
17 Ovum Bisquit
18 Kanegon
19 Spam Jammies
20 Track 20
21 Can You Feel My Spacium Ray Tonight?
22 SkaebaeRanger GO!
23 Interstate 76 Theme (Slight Return)
24 Track 24

Fongolia said...

Wow, that's some solid research! Thanks. Any chance you have a copy of the Activision released soundtrack?

Anonymous said...

I checked the titles of the Game Disc that 'Anonymous' posted, and found some errors. Here is the correct list as verified with the 'Original Game Soundtrack'

I76 GAME CD

-01- DATA TRACK - NO MUSIC
-02- Never Get Outta the Car
-03- Skeeter Gettin' Medieval
-04- Revenge Rocco Style
-05- Untitled 05
-06- The T'aint
-07- Pimp Like Me
-08- Vigilante Shuffle
-09- Untitled 09
-10- Desert Sky Groove
-11- Untitled 11 (from Macadamia Medley 0m54s)
-12- Untitled 12
-13- Mission Code B.F.A.M.
-14- Untitled 14 (from Macadamia Medley 1m19s)
-15- Ovum Bisquit <- Different Mix from Bonus tracks mentioned above
-16- Malochio Down
-17- Interstate '76 Theme

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much for making this available.

I was crushed when my CD drive went nuts and scratched my game CD to hell all those years ago.
So good to re-live the memories. An absolutely stellar soundtrack to a great game.

Anonymous said...

The track list gamerdude posted contains errors, or more accurately, omissions. Track 9 is "Just Call Me Daddy" and Track 12 is "Henshin V3!" (both confirmed from the downloadable Bullmark demos).

The only other difference I can see between this and the previous one is that the data track has been included (shifting all the track numbers by one) and "Interstate '76 Theme" is now last instead of first.

Unknown said...

unbefreakinglievable. i NEVER knew there was an Official Soundtrack... i didn't think stuff like that started happening till the later GTAs. thanks to your blog, i got all 32 tracks from the Galbadia Hotel site. hey, is there any chance those Bullmark bonus tracks are still anywhere to be found?

--rick

Fongolia said...

Of the 10 or so bonus tracks listed above, here are the 5 tracks that aren't duplicates of the original game tracks or the "official" soundtrack. Enjoy!

i76 bonus tracks

Unknown said...

you, sir, are BRILLIANT, and you made my freaking week. I'm putting this all together on an absolutely megawhalin' mp3 disc of driving music. the songs from this soundtrack, the bonus songs you just sent, the music from the GT Interactive game Driver, and a handful of authentic songs from this era such as Average White Band's "Pick Up The Pieces" and Kool and the Gang's "Jungle Boogie" and "Summer Madness." If you didn't know the music already, you couldn't tell where the Bullmark ends and the vintage stuff begins. Absolutely brilliant. thanks so much for the files...

--rick

Anonymous said...

Hi there,

I was wondering if anyone knows the song from interstate '76 that begins with a radio scrambled signal and then the tune. I've downloaded the 32 songs soundtrack, but it seems not to be there.
I heard that song when playing i76 on windows 3.1. Maybe there was another song. I remember it was a wav file that i could easily rip from the game folders.

Hope somebody can help me !

Best of luck !

Fongolia said...

I'm not sure exactly what song you're talking about, but I've uploaded every Interestate '76 related track I have here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=301946acbe4e30e6b4e0c5efb3960d79ae3bbbe8ce0624be

Anonymous said...

Are you sure the link is correct ?
I receive this message "You currently do not have any files. You can upload files using the upload form on the main page of MediaFire.com !"

Fongolia said...

Hmmm...Try this

Anonymous said...

Thanx a lot !
I believe I've found it :)

Anonymous said...

There are three tracks from Interstate '76 and the Nitro Pack in WAV format not listed above.

1. The Interstate '76 theme that is played when the Introduction screen appears.

2. The AM radio news-and-music sequence that plays when Interstate '76 is installed.

3. The AM radio music sequence that plays when the Nitro Pack is installed.

Use the Explore function to look at the CDs to find the files.

Drive Offensively!

Michael P. Owen
Seattle Washington Autoduel Team
http://www.serv.net/~owenmp/swathome.html
October 06, 2007

Anonymous said...

Don't forget that there are 4 different sources for the I76 music tracks:

1.The original I76 Play Disc-1997

2.The Gold edition Play Disc-1998

3.The Nitro Pack Game Disc-1998

The above sources all have different tracks on them. Some are repeats some are not.

4.The Official Activision Soundtrack-1997-1998

The soundtrack adds sound clips from cutscenes in several spots/tracks.

All of which sound considerably better than the .mp3 versions available on the 'net.

I'll compile a list of what's available on each disc if anyone is interested.

Anonymous said...

Lurch said ..

FABULOUS ! 1st time I see discuss with so many details about this marvelous soundtrack .


A french funk lover ..

Anonymous said...

Any chance for that list of songs from each version of the soundtrack? I have the actual soundtrack disc; the "gold edition" game discs, and the "nitro pack" game disc. There are several songs on the game discs which don't aren't on the official soundtrack and I don't know what they are. Also I'd love to hear those extra tracks that were on Salazar's website. Any help?? :)

Fongolia said...

Honestly, what you see above in the comments is about as comprehensive as it gets. You can go here to grab the stuff that used to be on Salazar's site. As I understand it, they're the same tracks that have appeared elsewhere. Someone once made a spreadsheet and one song could appear on 4 different incarnations of I76 soundtracks under 4 different names (or no name at all!).

FeelingShred said...

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL THE COMMENTS!
I am a huge fan of this soundtrack, Bullmark should return someday, it would be awesome!
I have the "Nitro Pack" game CD, and the soundtrack is different and has some new songs that don't appear on the original soundtrack.
I just don't know their songtitles, I will try to find the songtitles from the Nitro Soundtrack.
Arion Salazar is a fantastic bass player!

Anonymous said...

I have always loved the music from this game, back in 2000 I found someone who ripped the music from the game, and I made a CD. Now that CD is dead, and in trying to find the soundtrack again, all that there is available is the official soundtrack (with all the sound effects and voice overs)

However, the official soundtrack is the most comprehensive list of songs.

does anyone have a compilation of all these songs (or most of them) without the sound effects and voice overs?

The voice overs just ruin the music.

if you can help me out, please contact me cowboy_7_AT Hot mail com

This music is awesome, we gotta keep it going.


cheers,


Jamie

Anonymous said...

Hi again,

original Anonymous poster here again. Since my original comments, I've since acquired the Nitro Pack, which as a few people have pointed out contain yet more variations. Here's the full list:

4) Interstate '76 (Game Disc) (Gold Edition) 1998
31:20

01 Never Get Outta The Car
02 Skeeter Gettin' Medieval
03 Revenge Rocco Style
04 Track 4
05 The T'aint
06 Pimp Like Me
07 Vigilante Shuffle
08 Just Call Me Daddy
09 Desert Sky Groove
10 Track 10
11 Henshin V3!
12 Track 12
13 Ovum Bisquit

5) Interstate '76 Nitro Pack (Game Disc) (Gold Edition) 1998
26:02

01 Vigilante Shuffle
02 Pimp Like Me
03 Just Call Me Daddy
04 Revenge Rocco Style
05 Tulip Waltz
06 Spineless Funk
07 Never Get Outta The Car (Extended Slap Mix)
08 Track 8
09 They Call Me Swinger
10 Fort Davis - Jackin' For Good