Tracklist Michael Jackson Billie Jean The Outfield Your Love Hall & Oates Out of Touch Laura Branigan Self Control Aneka Japanese Boy Yes Owner of a Lonely Heart Joe Jackson Steppin' Out
When I was in elementary school, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City was one of my favorite video games. I haven’t played it in forever, and I probably won’t ever play it again; however, the one thing I’ll always be fond of is the soundtrack, so I created a compilation highlighting some songs from my favorite in-game radio station, Flash FM. Please note that I haven’t played the game since I was like 8 or 9 years old, and my taste has changed drastically since then, so this isn’t a list of every good song in the game. These are just a few that I remember enjoying.
So I started it off with one of the greatest songs in history, Billie Jean. I think this was the first Michael Jackson song I ever listened to. I remember being absolutely amazed when I listened to the instrumental as I blasted off the heads of innocent civilians. It just makes sense. Like, I can’t imagine this song not existing. With that said, I still don’t even think it’s my favorite song from the game. Your Love contains one of the most captivating melodies I’ve ever heard in my life, inducing aural ejaculation. Just kidding. That’s not possible. That’d be gross. One aspect of the Grand Theft Auto series that I wasn’t really cognizant of until curating this compilation was the blatant audacious racism. The games are really fun to play, but Rockstar is unfortunately given the privilege of releasing extremely problematic content as a result. Almost every character in the game is an absurd stereotype. The player is constantly bombarded with an onslaught of obnoxious insults from NPCs who utilize degradingly hyperbolic variants of different ethnicities’ accents. Speaking of racial dignity minimization, there’s a song in the game called Japanese Boy, and… Well… The song is dope af sonically, but… Just look at this shit…
I always assumed the song was performed by a Japanese vocalist, but after seeing the music video I came to the unfortunate realization that Aneka is really just a dumb white bitch who exploited Japanese culture in order to benefit her own financial prosperity. As anyone who isn’t a fucking idiot could have speculated, she rightfully faded into obscurity after being unable to follow up with another popular single. The preponderance of demeaning racism has thankfully decreased drastically due to the internet’s advent of social ubiquity, rightfully paring her 15 minutes of fame. Another standout track is Yes’ “Owner of a Lonely Heart.” The avant-garde production exudes a musical flavor akin to that of an authentic experimental Hip Hop instrumental. I tried to make it sound as if the character, Ken Rosenberg—voiced by William Fichtner—was intentionally flowing along with the beat. I think I did a decent job.
Overall, I'm definitely satisfied with the final product. It could've been mixed better, and I didn't get a chance to master it, but this is my first time doing something like this, so I think that's pretty impressive. Not to be a douche. Anyway, let me know what you think. What's your favorite GTA soundtrack? Favorite Song Your Love Least Favorite Song Japanese Boy Final Grade A-
Focus Hip Hop 
Now to answer your question about which GTA soundtrack/stations I like.
It’s a tossup between San Andreas and GTA V.
Though with San Andreas there’s certain radio stations that I would personally add/cut due to personal tastes.
GTA V is more well rounded with the music (even before the Daz Dillinger lawsuit happened.)
If I were to rank the soundtracks/stations by person taste it’d go…
SA:
Radio X (Alt Rock)
Radio Los Santos (West Coast Hip Hop)
Bounce FM (1980s Funk)
Playback FM (East Coast Hip Hop)
CSR (New Jack Swing)
K-Rose (Country)
K-DST (1970s/80s Rock)
Master Sounds (Old School Funk/Grooves)
K-JAH West (Reggae)
SF-UR (Techno/House music)
(Not including the talk radio stations because there really isn’t any reason.)
V:
West Coast Classics (self explanatory)
Channel X (Old School Punk Rock)
East Los FM (Latin Music)
The Lab (The Alchemist’s station)
Space 103.2 (Funk)
The Lowdown (Soul Music)
blonded (Frank Ocean’s station)
Blue Ark (Reggae)
Radio Los Santos (self explanatory)
Rebel Radio (Outlaw Country/Rockabilly/Southern Rock)
Vinewood Boulevard Radio (Indie/Alt Rock)
FlyLo Radio (Electronic Music)
Radio Mirror Park (Indie Rock/Electronica)
Soulwax Radio (Electronic)
Los Santos Rock Radio (Classic Rock)
Worldwide FM (Chillwave/Deep House)
Non-Stop Pop FM (self-explanatory)
Keep up the good work!
This is gonna be a long one so bare with me…
The thing with the Houser Brothers/Rockstar Games is that much like Trey Parker and Matt Stone from South Park;
They don’t give a flying fuck about who gets offended at their content, because being sensitive has never been their style (outside of GTA III, due to 9/11 happening and a lot of missions that referenced terrorism had to be cut or reworked, but that’s a whooooole different discussion for a different game.) They want you to be offended because it’s a game about a Wiseguy Italian battling to be the main man of a city filled with Redneck Bikers, ultra macho Cubans, Haitian thugs led by a Voduan Priestess and other assortments of criminals, psychotic druglords, other Wiseguys gunning for him. It’s a violent, insensitive, and intentionally darkly satirical million dollar franchise.
However I think Rockstar has become more aware to an extent that maybe their writing of characters were hollow and more culturally tone deaf compared to current entries. (i.e. Niko Bellic in GTA IV a Bosnian War Vet with PTSD, the three protags in GTA V each with some form of emotional/psychological trauma’s and needs of personal redemption/gratification.)
Rockstar always has had people with great ears to work on their soundtracks, especially DJ Pooh with his work on GTA San Andreas and GTA V (I’d love to hear your opinions on those soundtracks one day in the near future.)
This was a pretty good collection of cuts here Nick, I was never one for the 1980s scene outside of a couple select acts, (mostly the mid-late 80s Punk Rock and Electro-Hop movement’s going on in California and the New Wavers such as DEVO, Talking Heads, Tom-Tom Club etc.)
I’ll need to revist each radio station from Vice City I just remember mainly listening to the Wildstyle station since it was the “main” Hip Hop station.
Hope to see more playlists like these Broski!