Comments on: Mother 3’s musical allusions

By: SPennLUE

SPennLUE — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 04:34:55 +0000

“Natural Killer Cyborg” sounds to me like it borrows the riff from Hot Blooded: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5c1m2BAg2Sc#t=7s

By: Wilson

Wilson — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 14:33:05 +0000

“Suspicious Flying Object” and some other tracks that use the same melody were probably inspired by the song Frère Jacques.

By: Cat

Cat — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 23:58:13 +0000

I love your Mother 3 articles! You’re always very thorough with these various dissections of the game. :)

The musical references in this game aren’t as numerous as the ones in Mother 2/Earthbound, but these are all still worth pointing out. Actually, I have a little something to contribute regarding the Natural Killer Cyborg’s theme (again, this guy is popular!). The guitar riffs, to me, don’t resemble Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” as much as they do ZZ Top’s “Sharp Dressed Man.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pn2-b_opVTo

Just another interesting thing to point out!

By: Daniel

Daniel — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 19:52:24 +0000

I haven’t read through all of the comments, but I believe a glaring omission from this list is the striking similarity between Mother 3′s “Rock and Roll (Spicy)” and The Beatles’ “Dizzy Miss Lizzy.” Now, I realize this similarity may be inherent to Blues music in general, but they sound too similar to simply ignore.

By: sloth

sloth — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 02:47:44 +0000

the Natural Born Killers is definitely Beat It. With the classical pieces, I dont think there should be a problem with copy rights because most should be in the public domain

By: Ryan

Ryan — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 23:40:27 +0000

The song you’re comparing to Dr Wiliy stage 1 in Mega Man 2 Killer cyborg actually sounds a lot more like part of Beat it by Micheal Jackson. Listen to the guitar solo by Eddie Van Halen in the middle of the song and you’ll see what I mean.

By: 620BC

620BC — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 20:44:28 +0000

Found it – it’s “Unfounded Revenge.” Also, in addition to “Audacious March” referencing the first movement of Shostakovich 5, “LOG-O-TYPE,” though short, references the very end of the last movement, complete with pounding timpani. Seems like the composer might be a bit of a Shostakovich fan!

Another interesting thing is that the music for the door-opening dance is a sped-up version of the hot spring music – wonder if that means anything. There’s a lot of funny self-references like that, though.

By: 620BC

620BC — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 06:42:30 +0000

I loved the classical music mashup for the ghost musician boss battle – it’s very Peter Schickele (aka PDQ Bach) – esque.

I’m surprised nobody has pointed this out, but there’s an unmistakable quotation of a theme in the finale of Shostakovich’s 6th symphony (at about 0:34 on this recording: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nm5YGLrQZ_Y , plus recap at 5:19) – I don’t know the Mother 3 track title, but I’m sure you’ll be able to recognize it immediately!

By: Dan Bruno

Dan Bruno — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 00:08:57 +0000

I can’t speak for the commenters, Melson, but feel free to use what I’ve written. I’m not sure I’d consider myself a scholarly source, though; just a music fan with some time on his hands. :-)

By: Melson Varsovia

Melson Varsovia — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 21:54:07 +0000

I’m planning on writing a scholarly essay for a class on Mother 3 and its music, and I hope that you might let me cite you (as well as any repliers) as a source. Thanks so much! It’s great commentary!