Episode #401 of BGMania: A Video Game Music Podcast. Today on the show, Bryan and Bedroth travel back to the formative years of home computer gaming to celebrate the groundbreaking work of Martin Galway, one of the true architects of early video game music. Best known for pushing the Commodore 64’s SID chip far beyond its perceived limits, Galway helped define the sound of an entire era with unforgettable compositions.

Long before lush orchestras and expansive sound libraries, Galway was composing bold, expressive, and technically daring music under extreme hardware constraints, creating tracks that still shine with personality and ambition decades later. This Composer Appreciation honors a pioneer whose fearless experimentation and melodic instincts laid crucial groundwork for everything video game music would eventually become, and whose influence can still be felt in chiptune and retro-inspired scores today.

Email the show at bgmaniapodcast@gmail.com with requests for upcoming episodes, questions, feedback, comments, concerns, or any other thoughts you'd like to share! Special thanks to our Executive Producers: Jexak, Xancu, Jeff & Mike.

EPISODE PLAYLIST AND CREDITS

1. Ocean Loader 1 from Hyper Sports [Martin Galway, 1985]
2. Title Screen from Arkanoid [Martin Galway, 1988]
3. Title Screen from Wizball [Martin Galway, 1987]
4. Title Theme from Crazee Rider [Martin Galway, 1987]
5. Title Screen -I Wanna Be Your Drill Instructor- from Combat School [Martin Galway, 1987]
6. Title Screen from Rambo: First Blood Part II [Martin Galway, 1985]
7. Title Theme from Terra Cresta [Martin Galway, 1986]
8. Title Screen from Helikopter Jagd [Martin Galway, 1986]
9. Title Screen from Ultima: Runes of Virtue II [Martin Galway, 1993]
10. Main Theme from The Neverending Story [Martin Galway, 1985]
11. Main Theme from Game Over [Martin Galway, 1987]
12. Title Theme from Yie Ar Kung-Fu II: The Emperor Yie-Gah [Martin Galway, 1986]
13. Title Screen from Times of Lore [Martin Galway, 1988]
14. Title Screen from Street Hawk [Martin Galway, Unreleased]

LINKS

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PODCAST NETWORK

• Very Good Music: A VGM Podcast
• Listening Religiously