With The Quickness #9: Director of Animation Jim Jagger Curates Tony Hawk's Pro Skater-themed Spotify Playlist (THPS Edition)
"My name is Jim Jagger, and I am an Animation Director in the video game industry. After spending my first few years making games in The UK, I wrote to Neversoft, begging for an opportunity to work on the Tony Hawk's [Pro Skater] series. My love for the game began with "The Warehouse Demo" and by the time I had completed THPS2 I was desperate to be involved. By some fluke or miracle, I found myself in California, breathing life into my favourite game! Catching the tail-end of THPS3, I primarily worked on THPS4 and THUG [Tony Hawk's Underground]."
"There can be only one place to start and that's with [Goldfinger's] "Pretending I'm A Superman." This song epitomised the game so much that my friend and former Neversoft colleague, Ralph D'Amato, used it as the title for his recent documentary of The Tony Hawk Series. With the help of director, Ludvig Gür, they released the feature a few weeks ago. If you haven't seen it, check it out. It's absolutely brilliant. As well as charting the history of the games, it, also, talks about how the music and culture have affected each other over the years. Highly recommended!
My good friend, Chris Rausch, one of the original designers of the series, played a large part in promoting songs to be included in The Tony Hawk Soundtrack. I remember offering up a few suggestions in the early days, but my ideas were quickly rejected. At the time, I was into bands like The Hives, The Strokes, and The White Stripes. It was an avenue of music that I "thought" suited the culture [and] suited the game, but, unfortunately, that wasn't the opinion of the music supervisor. Given how great the soundtracks were, I bow to their better judgement.
Gang Starr, People Under The Stairs, The High & Mighty, [and] Del The Funky Homosapien. These artists were absolutely great and I wasn't aware of any of them prior to this game. Thanks to the culture, the community, and the team. Everyone associated with the game breathed the culture. I just went with it. I wanted to absorb skate culture. I wanted to understand it. I breathed it. I loved it. I loved the game. I loved the company. I did everything I could to immerse myself into the game.
I remember playing [Motörhead's] "Ace of Spades" on The Suburbia Level in THPS3. It was my "lucky" song. If that song didn't come on when I started the level, I used to Quit and Retry until was blazing. What a song to play while smashing through pumpkins and collecting those S-K-A-T-E Letters. What a game!
I was almost tempted to include Tenacious D on my playlist because we were lucky enough to have them play a private gig for us when we shipped THPS3. I believe, Jack Black has always been a fan of the game (rumour has it, he's in the new one!) It was quite a party."
"I remember sitting around the conference room table during one of our Monday morning meetings and Joel [Jewett] came out and said, "we have a decision to make for The Opening Credits of THPS4..." The first song he played was "Anarchy In The UK" by The Sex Pistols. The second being "TNT" by AC/DC. We all voted. Almost unanimously voting for The Sex Pistols, but, then, in front of everyone, he said, "you're all f**king wrong. It's got to be "TNT.'" We went with Joe's choice, which was the right choice. What a way to open a game. Absolutely incredible. Loved it!
Although, "Anarchy In The UK" was, ultimately, overlooked for The Opening Credits, it was used in a secret out-takes reel. If you look up "Hommies Skating," you'll see a whole host of developers paying homage to their favourite skaters (myself included.) It shows how little "skill" I had and, hopefully, how hard I tried to jump in.
And not forgetting DJ Qbert. I, actually, animated Qbert in THUG. We had an Arena Level and he was DJ'ing. I was obsessed for a brief while, studiously researching him and trying to replicate his moves as best I could. Absolutely cannot miss him off this soundtrack.
I stand convinced that The Tony Hawk Soundtrack included music for all. Be it Ska, Hip-Hop, or Classic Rock, the music choices were incredible. I cannot wait to play the re-mastered version [Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2]. In fact, that's exactly what I'm going to do right now..."
Regards,
Jim Jagger (@JimJagger)