You know how it is. You’re sat there in the evening after a hard day’s picketing outside your local butchers, gladioli swinging in one hand, games controller in the other, and you think to yourself, “This, truly, is the life”.
Well, that’s clearly what YouTube user Hipsterdisco did, because he’s combined the hitherto unexplored union of The Smiths and 8-bit video game soundtracks into a nine-track mini ‘album’ that can only be described as “confusingly quite good”.
Fans of old-school gaming of the Super Mario ilk will be familiar with 8-bit, or Chiptune. All plinky plonky high-end bounce, it’s a sound that immediately makes you think you should be jumping over toadstools. Fans of The Smiths, meanwhile, will know that brightly coloured, twee visuals and animated pet dinosaurs aren’t really their bag per se. Despite this, the pairing works (especially Johnny Marr’s guitar line in ‘This Charming Man’, which is some kind of twisted genius).
Check out the full range of 8-bit Smiths offerings below, featuring all your favourite Chiptune classics – from ‘Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now’ to ‘The Boy With The Thorn In His Side’.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3BmUlAeqqY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksXMaf6g90s