Grant Kirkhope Appreciation Thread

[Deleted member 671]

Recently played Banjo Tooie again so I had some of Grant Kirkhope's tunes on the brain, so I figured why not make an appreciation thread!

Some selected works:

Goldeneye (With Graeme Norgate and Robin Beanland)
Banjo Kazooie
Banjo Tooie
Donkey Kong 64
Perfect Dark
Grabbed by the Ghoulies
Viva Pinata
Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise
Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning
CityVille 2
The Enchanted Cave 2
Desktop Dungeons (With Danny Baranowsky)
Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z
Civilization: Beyond Earth - Rising Tide (With Geoff Knorr and Griffin Cohen)
Yooka-Laylee
Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle



Of course most will know him from Goldeneye/Perfect Dark and Banjo Kazooie/Tooie



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGH4gTnTsNQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kfBdCtccUU




Some of his more recent work on Yooka Laylee and Mario + Rabbids:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJBkdCQKd7A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=md_O41H_gJs



A lot of his lesser known stuff is damn great too:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLxjbwZOE-A




What are some of your favorite tunes from Kirkhope?

 

[Deleted member 39587]

Love him a lot!

 

[Deleted member 671]

Love him a lot!

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He really is a lovely guy.

 

[Cub3h]

Oh man, I always forget how GOOD the Perfect Dark soundtrack was. When I think of Kirkhope I think of Banjo, but Perfect Dark really captures that 202x futuristic spy feel.

 

[mas8705]

Honestly, part of me wonders if Grant will ever host an opera. Really think about this since he has technically done two opera performances in games where he got to do the music.




Can you imagine it? "An evening with Grant Kirkhope" where two performances are opera performances? But yeah, all his songs are spectacular and really does feel like he can make any game better when he gets to handle the music.

 

[FarSight XR-20]

PD's soundtrack is his best work in my opinion.

 

[Rodney McKay]

I still get Banjo Kazooie music stuck in my head even after all these years.

One of the many reasons it's one of my favorite games ever.

 

[Hero of Legend]

He really is a lovely guy.

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Maybe even...

One HELL of a guy! :D

Love Grant. Easily my top western game composer (with David Wise a super close second). DK64 and Banjo-Tooie are my fav works of his and he is a HUGE fan of the Nintendo golden era of Rare. He still from time to time tweets about it, more recently hoping the XBL rumors mean Banjo can be played on Nintendo systems again. What a guy! :D This predated the big Nintendo + MS rumors even. You may get your wish Grant!

 

[dmr87]

Bring it!

 

[Luigi87]

Love Kirkhope's music.
Themes from Banjo will always have a special place in my heart above the rest of his work.

 

[Admiral Woofington]

it's such a shame he never came back to Game Grumps during the Danny era. Because the only episode they have of him was during Jon's time. And I can't find myself going back to his episodes anymore. Point is during his episode they play Banjo Kazooie if I recall correctly, and he goes over some cool tidbit of the development of the game plus his music while they play.

 

[Lost]

DonkeyKong64.ost

 

[Shelbyville Milhouse]

Honestly, part of me wonders if Grant will ever host an opera. Really think about this since he has technically done two opera performances in games where he got to do the music.

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"It's a me, here we go - the only words you know" is the sickest burn Mario ever felt

 

[Castor Archer]

Love him a lot!

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That's awesome.

One of the GOAT composers, him and David Wise provided the soundtracks for my childhood. The way his Banjo soundtracks (and maybe DK? I didn't play it enough) would change instrumentation depending on what area you were in, or if you were underwater, blew me away and it's still such a great touch.

 

[dirtyjane]

I don't drink anymore but if I ever got the chance to have a beer with him I would throw all my principles over board just to have a chat with him.

 

[Bushido]

Probably my second favorite game composer (just behind Kondo). Love pretty much everything he's done, especially Banjo, Conker, Golden Eye and Perfect Dark, from his never stuff the Mario + Rabbids soundtrack is absolutely brilliant. Hopefully they'll make Rabbids + Zelda next, Grant would probably be very happy about that.

 

[AztecComplex]

Everyone that liked anything about DK64 is wrong and should feel bad and that includes the music of that godforsaken game.

Other than that sure, stand up dude. His Perfect Dark and Goldeneye OSTs were incredible and memorable as fuck.

Now if only someone could point me in the right direction of the David Wise appreciation thread, if it exists at all, I'd be delighted.

 

[Deleted member 671]

it's such a shame he never came back to Game Grumps during the Danny era. Because the only episode they have of him was during Jon's time. And I can't find myself going back to his episodes anymore. Point is during his episode they play Banjo Kazooie if I recall correctly, and he goes over some cool tidbit of the development of the game plus his music while they play.

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I remember he said something to the effect of "The chord intervals in Banjo Kazooie are C major, F sharp major, C major, etc... because it represent Banjo and Kazooie as characters. Kazooie is clever and sarcastic and Banjo is dumb and unwitty. That's why all the songs follow that chord interval" and a lot of other cool aspects of the music. Love his music.

 

[Deleted member 671]

Everyone that liked anything about DK64 is wrong and should feel bad and that includes the music of that godforsaken game.

Other than that sure, stand up dude.

Now if only someone could point me in the right direction of the David Wise appreciation thread, if it exists at all, I'd be delighted.

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Bruh, the music is one of the only good parts of that game.

 

[Bear and bird]

Great guy and a fantastic composer. Goldeneye, Banjo-Kazooie, Perfect Dark and Viva Pinata all have terrific and truly memorable soundtracks. Digging what I've heard from Mario + Rabbids too!

Honestly, part of me wonders if Grant will ever host an opera. Really think about this since he has technically done two opera performances in games where he got to do the music.



Can you imagine it? "An evening with Grant Kirkhope" where two performances are opera performances? But yeah, all his songs are spectacular and really does feel like he can make any game better when he gets to handle the music.

Click to shrink...

Probably my second favorite game composer (just behind Kondo). Love pretty much everything he's done, especially Banjo, Conker, Golden Eye and Perfect Dark, from his never stuff the Mario + Rabbids soundtrack is absolutely brilliant. Hopefully they'll make Rabbids + Zelda next, Grant would probably be very happy about that.

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Robin Beanland made the soundtrack for Conker's Bad Fur Day. And Chris Marlow was the voice of the Great Mighty Poo.

 

[daTRUballin]

You really should've just made a thread about all of Rare's composers, OP. Rare had some of the best composers in the industry working there back in the day. Even something obscure like Mickey's Speedway USA on the N64 had an underrated soundtrack. Composed by Ben Cullum.

BTW, Graeme Norgate and David Clynick also did work on Perfect Dark. And Nuts & Bolts also had work done by Beanland and Clynick.

Also, LOL at the DK64 soundtrack hate. The hate for the game itself has always annoyed me to no end, but when the MUSIC gets involved.....oof.

 

[Prof Bathtub]

Honestly, part of me wonders if Grant will ever host an opera. Really think about this since he has technically done two opera performances in games where he got to do the music.

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Conker was Robin Beanland. Still, an undeniable operetta vibe to a lot of Grant's works.

 

[Deleted member 671]

You really should've just made a thread about all of Rare's composers, OP. Rare had some of the best composers in the industry working there back in the day. Even something obscure like Mickey's Speedway USA had an underrated soundtrack. Composed by Ben Cullum.

BTW, Graeme Norgate and David Clynick also did work on Perfect Dark. And Nuts & Bolts also had work done by Beanland and Clynick.

Also, LOL at the DK64 soundtrack hate. The hate for the game has always annoyed me to no end, but when the MUSIC gets involved.....oof.

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I mean, I get not liking the game. Some of the design decisions are baffling. But hating on the music while praising Banjo Kazooie/Tooie? Some of the music in 64 was literally meant to be in Banjo Kazooie until they had to be cut and were the ideas were reused in 64.

And Yeah, Rare Composers did some amazing work in the 80's and 90's.

 

[daTRUballin]

I mean, I get not liking the game. Some of the design decisions are baffling. But hating on the music while praising Banjo Kazooie/Tooie? Some of the music in 64 was literally meant to be in Banjo Kazooie until they had to be cut and were the ideas were reused in 64.

And Yeah, Rare Composers did some amazing work in the 80's and 90's.

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I think the soundtrack gets hate for several reasons, really. I think DK64's very mixed reputation probably doesn't help, but I also know some people weren't delighted about the music being in the same style as Banjo rather than the DKC trilogy. I can totally understand wanting DK64 to sound more like DKC, but saying the music is outright BAD for that reason is silly. I mean......it's Kirkhope. Come on. You can't go wrong with Kirkhope.

I think some people just let their dislike of the game itself extend to the music. Most people aren't going to care about how good an OST is if they didn't care for a game. I think Super Mario Sunshine may be another good example of this.

Rare's Microsoft era games can be another example too, actually. Most of the games were ignored and dismissed, so the respective soundtracks were also ignored regardless of their quality. The Viva Piñata OST is actually pretty fantastic for what it is, but nobody gave a shit because it was post-Nintendo Rare.

 

[Zero83]

His work on GoldenEye and Perfect Dark is fantastic.

 

[InASnowBoundLand]

Viva Pinata is his best work! Beautiful!

 

[FrostyLemon]

His work speaks for itself, but I like listening to him in interviews because he comes across as a really friendly down to earth bloke.

 

[Deleted member 671]

Viva Pinata is his best work! Beautiful!

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His work is Viva Pinata is definitely underrated.

 

[Waddle Dee]

It was really cool seeing him show up on Hbomberguy's DK64 stream. Seems like a very friendly guy.

Everyone that liked anything about DK64 is wrong and should feel bad and that includes the music of that godforsaken game.

Other than that sure, stand up dude. His Perfect Dark and Goldeneye OSTs were incredible and memorable as fuck.

Now if only someone could point me in the right direction of the David Wise appreciation thread, if it exists at all, I'd be delighted.

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DK64 is a trash fire of a game that valued quantity over quality, but the soundtrack itself is solid. It doesn't feel like DKC music at all and some of the tracks kind of blend together but otherwise it's the one good aspect of an otherwise mess of a game.

 

[AztecComplex]

It was really cool seeing him show up on Hbomberguy's DK64 stream. Seems like a very friendly guy.



DK64 is a trash fire of a game that valued quantity over quality, but the soundtrack itself is solid. It doesn't feel like DKC music at all and some of the tracks kind of blend together but otherwise it's the one good aspect of an otherwise mess of a game.

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DKC has the best soundtracks in the entire SNES. My 14 year old self couldn't believe the downgrade in music quality from DKC3 to DK64. I couldn't fathom that the newfangled N64 couldn't equal, much less surpass, the music from the much older SNES.

Sure, DK64's music wasn't trash fire like the game but coming from the sex-to-the-ears that was the OSTs from the DKC trilogy it was a sharp drop in quality. Like Yoshi's Island to Yoshi's Story levels of drop or worse. So yeah I admit my hate for the DK64 may be a tad unfair but I stand by it.

 

[AppleKid]

While I have strong disdain for DK64, I find this rendition of its overworld track magical

 

[elektrixx]

One day I'll finally play that Mickey Mouse remake game with Grant's music.

 

[InASnowBoundLand]

DKC has the best soundtracks in the entire SNES. My 14 year old self couldn't believe the downgrade in music quality from DKC3 to DK64. I couldn't fathom that the newfangled N64 couldn't equal, much less surpass, the music from the much older SNES.

Sure, DK64's music wasn't trash fire like the game but coming from the sex-to-the-eats that was the OSTs from the DKC trilogy it was a sharp drop in quality. Like Yoshi's Island to Yoshi's Story levels of drop or worse. So yeah I admit my hate for the DK64 may be a tad unfair but I stand by it.

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I agree. Grant Kirkhope is such a talented guy. But I don't think he "gets" the DKC sound like David Wise, Eveline Fischer do. I think he could do better, I hold him in high regard especially due to his versatility in style, but I would worry Grant Kirkhope on a DK game again would get us more DK64 -esque tunes. His pieces for DK sound a bit too whimsical for the franchise.

The Mario + Rabbids DLC music was good but I still felt was not "appropriate" for DK mostly. The overworld island remix though is great.

 

[Monkey Gland Sauce]

Civilization: Beyond Earth - Rising Tide (With Geoff Knorr and Griffin Cohen)

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He also did music for the base game, along with Geoff Knorr, Griffen Cohen, and Michael Curran.

 

[daTRUballin]

DKC has the best soundtracks in the entire SNES. My 14 year old self couldn't believe the downgrade in music quality from DKC3 to DK64. I couldn't fathom that the newfangled N64 couldn't equal, much less surpass, the music from the much older SNES.

Sure, DK64's music wasn't trash fire like the game but coming from the sex-to-the-eats that was the OSTs from the DKC trilogy it was a sharp drop in quality. Like Yoshi's Island to Yoshi's Story levels of drop or worse. So yeah I admit my hate for the DK64 may be a tad unfair but I stand by it.

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Uhhhh, you really think DK64 was a downgrade from DKC3? You must hold DK64's OST to an unbelievably low regard considering that DKC3 itself was a huuuuge downgrade from the first two. It was still good for what it was, but it was a total disappointment coming from DKC2.

DKC1-2 to DKC3 was a considerably larger drop in quality than DKC3 to DK64 ever could be IMO.

 

[Deleted member 671]

I mean, I wouldn't even compare DK 64 to DKC 1 - 3. Quite simply put, Kirkhope's style is very different to Wise's and Fischer's and in interviews Kirkhope is very adamant about not composing a lesser facsimile. It's why he's never tried to remake Mario music in the games he composes for as it would "sound a bit rubbish" since that's not what he's great at.

 

[daTRUballin]

I've always liked the underwater music from World 3 in Yooka Laylee. So atmospheric. Was that one Kirkhope?

PD's soundtrack is his best work in my opinion.

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Alien Conflict was by David Clynick and Defection was by Graeme Norgate IIRC. Both are awesome though!

I think Grant "remade" some of Norgate's tracks after Norgate left Rare, but I'm not sure if Grant did any work on Defection specifically.

 

[Deleted member 671]

I've always liked the underwater music from World 3 in Yooka Laylee. So atmospheric. Was that one Kirkhope?





Alien Conflict was by David Clynick and Defection was by Graeme Norgate IIRC. Both are awesome though!

I think Grant "remade" some of Norgate's tracks after Norgate left Rare, but I'm not sure if Grant did any work on Defection specifically.

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Yes, all the overworld music was Kirkhope.

 

[AztecComplex]

Uhhhh, you really think DK64 was a downgrade from DKC3? You must hold DK64's OST to an unbelievably low regard considering that DKC3 itself was a huuuuge downgrade from the first two. It was still good for what it was, but it was a total disappointment coming from DKC2.

DKC1-2 to DKC3 was a considerably larger drop in quality than DKC3 to DK64 ever could be IMO.

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I wholeheartedly disagree that DKC2 to 3 was a larger drop than DKC3 to 64.

I agree that DKC3 was a drop from 2, that much is scientifically accurate (DKC2 was just unbelievably good), but this one song from DKC3 was still better than the entire OST of DK64 combined:

 

[daTRUballin]

I wholeheartedly disagree that DKC2 to 3 was a larger drop than DKC3 to 64.

I agree that DKC3 was a drop from 2, that much is scientifically accurate (DKC2 was just unbelievably good), but this one song from DKC3 was still better than the entire OST of DK64 combined:

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I like Rockface Rumble too, but I feel like it's slightly overrated when compared to other DKC3 songs much in the same way that Stickerbrush Symphony gets mentioned way too much and other better songs in DKC2 get overlooked.

I really like songs like Boss Boogie and Sub-Map Shuffle. I find Enchanted Riverbank to be extremely underrated. Cavern Caprice, Water World, Cascade Capers, Treetop Tumble, Mill Fever, and Big Boss Boogie are pretty okay. I even like something as minor as Crystal Chasm. I used to really like Pokey Pipes and Frosty Frolics, but I'm just not as impressed with them anymore for whatever reason. The rest is either meh or just didn't grab me the same way the other games did.

I just can't agree with Rockface Rumble being better than the entire DK64 OST combined. That just seems hyperbolic. DK64's OST needs more appreciation dammit! I think what you need to do is just sit down, pretend the DKC trilogy doesn't exist, maybe even pretend the Banjo games don't exist either, and listen to DK64 on its own merits. Maybe then you'll come to like the OST lol. It really is a damn good soundtrack and I'm not even someone that really grew up with DK64 anyway! I didn't even play the game that much as a kid.

 

[flak57]

I wholeheartedly disagree that DKC2 to 3 was a larger drop than DKC3 to 64.

I agree that DKC3 was a drop from 2, that much is scientifically accurate (DKC2 was just unbelievably good), but this one song from DKC3 was still better than the entire OST of DK64 combined:

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The highlight of that track is just remixing Mining Melancholy though
https://youtu.be/BkRvgb27xnU?t=35
https://youtu.be/6qxgzPzkDNk?t=113

 

[AztecComplex]

The highlight of that track is just remixing Mining Melancholy though
https://youtu.be/BkRvgb27xnU?t=35
https://youtu.be/6qxgzPzkDNk?t=113

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Calling the whole song "just remixing Mining Melancholy" is being very reductive. It remixes like 10 seconds of it and it took me 20 years and the advent of the internet for me to find that out so the similarities are not very evident.

 

[flak57]

Calling the whole song "just remixing Mining Melancholy" is being very reductive. It remixes like 10 seconds of it and it took me 20 years and the advent of the internet for me to find that out so the similarities are not very evident.

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"The highlight of the track", by track I mean Rockface Rumble, I linked the exact part not the whole thing. Those 15 or so secs (whole song loop is only 1:05)

I've had this same exchange before because people always use Rockface Rumble as the example for DKC3 music because it's the only one that has a melody that's really memorable like DKC2's... you can see the irony when that part is just taken from DKC2 itself.

 

[Richietto]

What an incredible composer. Second only to Yoko for me personally. His music is forever stuck in my head. The variety of his work is incredible.

 

[Giga Man]

Spent so much time in the DK64 battle mode.

 

[daTRUballin]

Spent so much time in the DK64 battle mode.

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My man! Same here. It's fun playing MP with friends in that game. Very underrated. Yet another aspect of the game that haters ignore.

And this track is great too. Some nostalgic memories are associated with this track for me.

 

[Camjo-Z]

Grant Kirkhope is one of the best composers ever. His typical "oompah" style is immediately recognizable and iconic, though I love his more varied soundtracks like Perfect Dark and Viva Pinata too.

Here's one of my favorite tracks from Mario + Rabbids: