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Red Dead Redemption 2 is undoubtedly one of the biggest, if not the biggest, videogame success stories of 2018. It currently sits at a Metacritic score on 97, and is that site's best-reviewed game of 2018. It has created an immersive world that's easy to get lost in - and that's even outside the 800 trillion hours of story-driven gameplay (we might be inflating that number by a trillion or two).
Part of that immersion comes from the game's incredible soundtrack, which itself has won critical praise and took home the Best Score/Music Award at the 2018 Game Awards. The first game (or second, depending on how pedantic you want to be about it) was acclaimed for its music, as well, but this new title takes it even further, moving further away from its "spaghetti western" roots and more towards a more Americana vibe. Like the first game, it also combines some great original music with some great existing tunes.
Actually, both soundtracks are awesome and you should listen to each of them. Preferably after or as you read this.
So, here are six facts you may or may not have known about this amazing musical collection.
#6 The soundtrack sold more copies than Drake's Scorpion
Ok, this one is a tad bit of a cheat - we're equating buying the game to buying the soundtrack. Which really isn't fair - if this were the type of situation where we'd be worried about being fair. Sorry to all you Drake fans who take these kinds of things really seriously.
That being said, Red Dead Redemption 2 - the game - sold 17 million units during its first week of release. That's an insane amount, and everyone who has played it has listened to the soundtrack. Well, except for deaf people. And people without working speakers. And people who... look, you get the idea.
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#5 One of the co-producers also produced U2's The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby
Daniel Lanois, the Canadian musician and producer who helped collaborate with Red Dead Redemption 2 composer Woody Jackson, has worked with a number of music legends in the past: Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Emmylou Harris are just three notable examples. But, he might just be best known for producing one of the best-selling and critically acclaimed albums of the 1980s, U2's The Joshua Tree.
The Joshua Tree, released in 1987, would eventually sell over 25 million copies and become one of the best selling albums of all time. It would get the band two Grammy awards and was also selected by the US Library of Congress for inclusion into the National Recording Registry. So, it was kind of a big deal.
Lanois handled the production for all the vocals composed for the album, which were performed by a wide variety of artists. In fact, one of those artists, Rhiannon Giddens, are performing with him and his band in the clip from the Game Awards last year. As for those other artists working on the soundtrack, you ask? Thanks for asking....
#4 Vocalists are not who you'd expect from a "country" soundtrack
In the video attached to the previous entry, Daniel Lanois was performing with Rhiannon Giddens. If you're not familiar (and I certainly wasn't before I started writing this feature), Giddens is the lead singer and a musician in Carolina Chocolate Drops (I'm not sure if there's supposed to be a "the" in the name - fans, let me know in the comments!), a band Wikipedia describes as a "country, blues and old-time music band." So, essentially, the kind of group you'd expect on the soundtrack for a game like RDR2.
- "Unshaken" by D'Angelo, from the Red Dead Redemption 2 soundtrack
So, who else is performing on here? Let's see... OK, obviously it's not new stuff, but there's some classic Johnny Cash stuff here. Willie Nelson, that makes sense. Josh Homme? The guy from Queens of the Stone Age? Well, that's unusual, but I can see how that sort of fits.
Who else? D'Angelo? Wait... the R&B guy? Nas?! The hip-hop legend who put out Illmatic?! What the heck is going on here?
The variety of musicians on the soundtrack can partly be attributed to the reputation of Lanois, who has worked with a wide array of different styles of artists over the years. It can also be that who wouldn't want to make music for the biggest video game of the year?
I mean, other than Meat Loaf.
#3 110 musicians were needed to create and record the entire score
While how long a game takes to play is pretty much determined by how long you spend playing it, Red Dead Redemption 2 has, at the very least, 60 hours of gameplay tucked away in it. That's a lot. And those 60 hours are going to need a lot of music. Not 60 hours of music. That's a bit excessive. But, still... a lot.
So, according to this brilliant piece by Rolling Stone (who we have to give the ole' H/T for their help on this feature), a grand total of 110 musicians were brought on board to create all the tunes for the game. Many of them were session musicians - talented, of course, but not necessarily household names - but a number of them, such as Arca (who has worked with old-time country legends like Bjork and Kanye West) brought a certain amount of pedigree you wouldn't expect from a videogame soundtrack.
Now that we've talked about nearly every other contributor to the game's soundtrack, let's take a look for a bit at the guy that actually wrote and put the whole thing together....
#2 The composer tested the soundtrack by listening to it at a shooting range
Woody Jackson has done a lot of music work for Rockstar Games. He's composed music for the original Red Dead Redemption, its DLC Undead Nightmare, and Grand Theft Auto V, as well as making contributions to L.A. Noire and Max Payne 3. So, it's not surprising to know that, much like the studio he works for, he also some unorthodox methods in his creative process.
According to this piece by OnlySP, Jackson went to pretty interesting lengths in order to make sure the music fit the vibe of the game. To do this, he listed to the score while firing guns at a firing range.
According to the piece, Jackson "felt that this method would allow him to get a feel for whether his music was working for the feeling he was attempting to evoke." He purchased the weapons - after obtaining a gun license, of course - from a manufacturer that specializes in recreations of antique weapons, so he could fire the same guns used in the game.
#1 Jackson also purchased instruments used by legendary musicians to write the score
It wasn't just vintage guns Jackson purchased in order to make the score. He also picked up some classic instruments, as well. And not just any instruments - he bought the instruments used by legendary session musicians The Wrecking Crew.
The group was founded in the late 1950s by Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members Earl Palmer and Hal Blaine, as well as Ray Pohlman, who also recorded with a diverse range of artists - country legends Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard to crooner Mel Torme to rock bands like The Monkees and The Turtles. They most notably worked for producer and notable crazy person Phil Spector. Other members included Glen Campbell, Al Casey and, oddly enough, Sonny Bono.
Now that I think about it, Jackson sure spent a lot of his own money to do this soundtrack. That's pretty interesting in of itself.
What do you think? Can you think of or find any other tidbits of info on the RDR2 soundtrack? Use the comments section and let us know!
