The first Gears of War game successfully appropriated the Michael Andrews/Gary Jules cover version of Tears for Fears’ Mad World. The internet flipped the hell out, mainly because no one had ever experienced a video game ad with a soundtrack that consisted of anything other then cheese metal or orchestral massacres. After that, the song stopped being a hallmark of post-punk culture and was firmly absorbed by gaming culture, eventually reaching legitimate meme status. Now, instead of being remembered as a dark wave ballad about teenage depression, the song will be held in the annals of history as an epic tale about shooting alien bug things.

Gears of War 2 comes out next month, and the newest ad ups the ante. Not only does it feature a great song that is severely mismatched with the visual content, but it’s by a lesser known artist: DeVotchKa, a group from Denver who specialize in gypsy rock with a slight folk styling. Sounds like a perfect match for a game with chainsaw guns!

Or maybe I’m just not familiar with the conceptual side of Gears of War and it also heavily critiques various Christian viewpoints, which would make the track a perfect fit. All I know is that I’m really looking forward to having hundreds of frat boys shout “PLAY THE GEARS SONG!” at the next DeVotchKa show I attend.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 24th, 2008 at 10:00 am and is filed under This Week In Internet. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.