Up until recently, there had only ever been two video game soundtracks to be added to the Recording Registry of the United States’ Library of Congress. First was the Ground Theme from the Super Mario Bros. OTS, and the other was the entire Minecraft soundtrack. Now, another iconic collection of video game music will be joining those two in the form of the DOOM OST.
Composed in 1993 by Bobby Prince, the music from DOOM is catchy and intense, the perfect tunes to mow done hoardes of demons and monsters. Here’s a bit about Prince from the Library of Congress website:
Prince, a lifelong musician and practicing lawyer, was fascinated by the MIDI technology that rose in prominence in the mid-1980s as a means for instrument control and composition, an interest that led to his earliest work composing video games. For “Doom,” Prince took inspiration from a pile of CDs loaned by the game’s chief designer, John Romero, including seminal works by Alice in Chains, Pantera and Metallica.
Despite the technical limitations of the day, Prince was able to produce an album that perfectly encapsulated the feel of both the music that Romero lent him, as well as the game itself. DOOM would have an immense impact on the first-person shooter genre and remains a beloved game to this day. The DOOM soundtrack won out against 3,000 other nominees to be part of this year’s selection of music. Congrats to Prince and the DOOM crew for such a noteworthy achievement.
Source: Library of Congress Website