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Sonic composer Richard Jacques (Sonic R, Racing Transformed) has a history of bullying other Sonic composers

Camjo-Z

Camjo-Z

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,541
The other day, the Sonic Twitter account released a remix of the Sonic R classic "Can You Feel the Sunshine" composed by Jun Senoue and Tee Lopes with vocals by Tee's sister Mariana Lopes, which received a positive response from most people... except the original composer of the tune, Richard Jacques:

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This was quite a rude comment from Mr. Jacques considering Tee Lopes almost certainly had nothing to do with putting credit on the video, as well as the fact that most fans listening to the remix would probably be aware of the fact that he was the original composer, but he deleted the tweet shortly afterwards so I assumed maybe he was just having a bad day.

...That is until I saw these tweets from Bentley Jones, best known by Sonic fans for Silver's theme "Dreams of an Absolution" from Sonic 06 and the theme to the original Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing.





That this behavior is confirmed not to be a one-off but something known to Sega for years is appalling to say the least. Wikipedia has him credited as working on Sonic as recently as this year with a remix for Team Sonic Racing, but if this is how he treats other Sonic composers then clearly he needs to go.
 

Deleted member 48897

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This does not brighten up my day (Yeah, I'd seen this the other day). I on some level get being protective of your creative work, but c'mon now
 
Rotobit

Rotobit

Editor at Nintendo Wire
Verified
Oct 27, 2017
10,196
Sonic Chronicles' own Richard Jacques, everyone

I love some of his classic tracks but yeah, what a jerk move. Thankfully Sega has so many other options for future remixes and new tracks that cutting him out of future games would hardly be a big loss.

Also calling that new rearrangement a "bad job" and "for personal gain" (it was uploaded to the Sonic channel???) is straight up delusional
 
Berordn

Berordn

One Winged Slayer
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Oct 26, 2017
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I just like how he attacks Tee Lopes for not giving credit when it went up on a channel he doesn't even have any control over.


maybe not being a dick makes companies want to work more with you who knew
 
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ValKiryuSonicEX

ValKiryuSonicEX

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Oct 25, 2017
2,265
While I'll always enjoy the Headhunter soundtrack (well maybe I can't now), Jacques can fuck off with that attitude.
 
Wil348

Wil348

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,213
What a shame, some of his compositions are fantastic. Lashing out at Tee in particular is abhorrent.
 
jett

jett

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Oct 25, 2017
44,687
This guy seems to be an asshole and an idiot. How unfortunate.
 
NotLiquid

NotLiquid

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Oct 25, 2017
34,880
Extremely upsetting. His music was formative for me and I've been singing his praises in regards to his contributions to the franchise for years now.
 
Damn Silly

Damn Silly

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Oct 25, 2017
7,225
Fuck 'im.

Yeah, he's provided some classics (and I even somewhat understand being touchy when it comes to remixing your work, even if I highly disagree) but it's absolutely not worth it in the slightest when he's bullying other people.
 
Jazzem

Jazzem

Member
Feb 2, 2018
2,696
Goddammit, that's disappointing, if not unsurprising after his bizarre recent outburst. Poor Bentley :(

Also very disappointing how shittily Sega+Sumo handled that situation. Yyet another example of how, as long as you're successful, companies will happily be complicit to your abusive behaviour
 
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Camjo-Z

Camjo-Z

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,541
ValKiryuSonicEX said:
While I'll always enjoy the Headhunter soundtrack (well maybe I can't now), Jacques can fuck off with that attitude.
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R and 3D Blast Saturn remain some of my favorite Sonic soundtracks, but I don't blame anyone else for excising him from their playlists and I certainly don't care to listen to any future work from him if he's going to treat people so poorly.
 
Virtua King

Virtua King

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Dec 29, 2017
3,987
Eh, that's really his own business from my viewpoint. If he doesn't get along with other composers, it is what it is, and it's not really a concern for an outsider. Yuji Naka is well known as a dick too, but when it comes to his work, he's still my favorite developer of all-time.

I will say, however, that at least in my fan experience interacting with Jaques, he was nice.
 
Grapezard

Grapezard

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Nov 16, 2017
7,807
Awful stuff.
Looks like his original tweet was deleted? Hopefully he got lambasted before that.
 
higemaru

higemaru

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Nov 30, 2017
4,122
I like Richard Jacques music for the most part but imagine doing the Sonic R soundtrack and thinking you can be a dick to other composers
 
SanTheSly

SanTheSly

The San Symphony Project
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Sep 2, 2019
6,632
United Kingdom
This sucks, I really liked Jacques work on Jet Set Radio.

I hope he apologises and reflects on this to become a better person, but I won't hold my breath.
 

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SteelBeast6Beets said:
I thought the original soundtrack had some legal issues at the last minute and what we got in the game was basically a weekend rush job.
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Argh, I'd have to go trawling through a lot of internet discussion backlog to double check but I recall the answer being that the guy who was supposed to do the music programming got really sick and the person who took over didn't have any background in DS/GBA sound. I don't think it's a licensing issue because, heck, I'm pretty sure a couple songs from Sonic 1 were adapted into the game soundtrack.
 
Ferrs

Ferrs

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Oct 26, 2017
18,830
It's especially surprising considering how poor his work was in Transformed or Generations, where he did just take the OG track and slap a new bassline (Transformed) or grab the original and take out some instruments (Generations). Felt like he didn't really want to work with that, so if you add the bullying... yeah fuck that.





muteKi said:
Argh, I'd have to go trawling through a lot of internet discussion backlog to double check but I recall the answer being that the guy who was supposed to do the music programming got really sick and the person who took over didn't have any background in DS/GBA sound. I don't think it's a licensing issue because, heck, I'm pretty sure a couple songs from Sonic 1 were adapted into the game soundtrack.
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I remember a dev in Sonic Stadium forums saying what Steel said. They had to remove the OST and rush a new one.
 
Nepenthe

Nepenthe

When the music hits, you feel no pain.
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Oct 25, 2017
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He was never even on the level of Fumie Kumatani or Kenichi Tokoi anyway.
 
SrirachaX

SrirachaX

Member
Apr 12, 2019
236
I'm very disappointed to hear this. I love his older works, namely Saturn Sonic 3D Blast and Sonic R, too much to write it off, but I don't know about listening to his newer stuff.
 

admiraltaftbar

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Dec 9, 2017
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higemaru said:
I like Richard Jacques music for the most part but imagine doing the Sonic R soundtrack and thinking you can be a dick to other composers
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His comment just screams insecurity. Like why even comment in the first place even if you feel the way he does. It's just shooting yourself in the foot.

(I mean the obvious answer is he's just a crappy person which that other testimonial backs up)
 
Shaneus

Shaneus

Member
Oct 27, 2017
8,917
Fuck, I've always kind of respected him since he was always kind lauded on UK Resistance (remember that site?).

But fuck him, what an asshole. And fuck Sega/Sumo for allowing that behaviour to continue.

Also, his Euro remixes in Outrun 2 were shit.
 
Nepenthe

Nepenthe

When the music hits, you feel no pain.
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Oct 25, 2017
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Village said:
Don't forget it people who composed for sonic includes people like hideki Naganuma

Homie has a lot of competition
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There's that one unknown dude who composed the Tornado Chase song in SA1.

I will listen to that even that first everytime.

muteKi said:
I dunno, Sonic 3D Blast had a damn nice PC/Saturn soundtrack.
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Only song from Jacques I consider a certified banger that I'd play regularly is that Rusty Ruins piano joint. Otherwise he's not on my radar. I think he got made a bigger deal than he is because Sonic R is easy to ironically love, and his 3D Blast soundtrack was relatively unknown. But even then Senoue gave us the wonder that became Windy Hill in SA1 in 3D Blast anyway.

I don't think Sonic music history irreparably suffers if Jacques was never there.
 
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Camjo-Z

Camjo-Z

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,541
Virtua King said:
Eh, that's really his own business from my viewpoint. If he doesn't get along with other composers, it is what it is, and it's not really a concern for an outsider. Yuji Naka is well known as a dick too, but when it comes to his work, he's still my favorite developer of all-time.

I will say, however, that at least in my fan experience interacting with Jaques, he was nice.
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I'd say upsetting Jones to the point where he felt he needed to go to upper management about it goes a little beyond "not getting along with other composers". It's also pretty shameful to see ascended fan artists like Tee Lopes and even Jones (he got his start doing Sonic OCRemixes before getting to work on Shadow the Hedgehog) achieving their dreams only to get treated like trash by one of the people who inspired them.

I see no incentive in letting this be swept under the rug like it apparently has been in the past, let's hope next time Jacques is announced to be working on something Sonic related people will remember this and give Sega shit for it. I'm sure there are plenty of other Sonic fans who would love to fill in for him.
 
Virtua King

Virtua King

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Dec 29, 2017
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Camjo-Z said:
I'd say upsetting Jones to the point where he felt he needed to go to upper management about it goes a little beyond "not getting along with other composers". It's also pretty shameful to see ascended fan artists like Tee Lopes and even Jones (he got his start doing Sonic OCRemixes before getting to work on Shadow the Hedgehog) achieving their dreams only to get treated like trash by one of the people who inspired them.

I see no incentive in letting this be swept under the rug like it apparently has been in the past, let's hope next time Jacques is announced to be working on something Sonic related people will remember this and give Sega shit for it. I'm sure there are plenty of other Sonic fans who would love to fill in for him.
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I'm not advocating "sweeping it under the rug," but rather just stating it does not upset me, because I don't put any of these people on pedestals, nor do I especially expect them to be saints.

A lot of famous people are jerks, but as an outsider, I don't consider that sort of behavior my concern nor business. If SEGA wants to hire Jaques for more soundtracks, I'm not going to do something hyperbolic like refuse to buy the product or delete Sonic R's OST from my personal playlist, because he's a mean guy.
 
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