I saw on Joystiq, that DOOM co-creator John Romero has posted a pack of unreleased MIDIs from the game’s soundtrack. Considering that I played the tar out of DOOM when it was originally released in 1993, I was pretty excited. Not only did that game give me nightmares, but I also happen to like the music in all its synth glory. I remember thinking that it reminded me alot of Alice In Chains and NIN, and I didnt realize how right I was.

Romero says “there’s a reason these weren’t released – they’re not very good”, however I beg to differ and believe it was more a case of copywrite infringement that kept these from being put into the game. Not only did these unreleased tracks remind me of my favorite grunge bands, but they were EXACTLY them. I was shocked that half of Alice In Chains’ Dirt was on there as well as Stone Temple Pilots, Slayer, and a few others I couldn’t quite put my finger on though sounded familiar to me. What shocks me even more is that most comments on Joystiq and Romeros blog don’t even recognize the music. I guess I am indeed getting old.

Doing some further research, it appears that John Carmack had given music CDs to DOOM’s composer Bobby Prince as reference material. The idea was to use these as a spring board to define what the game’s music should sound like. I think that these tracks were exploratory attempts to see if they could even recreate the sounds and melodies used by contemporary rock bands to push the limits of the day’s harware. Remember, this was 1993 and most PCs didnt even have sound cards in them yet.

I think its also fair to say that DOOM’s soundtrack infuenced a few modern day artists in return. Trent Reznor of NIN has been qutoed as saying he played DOOM a whole lot, and which years later he was then asked to write a soundtrack for id’s Quake. He was also asked to do work for DOOM3, but id and Reznor parted ways when a deal could not be reached. The Smashing Pumpkins sample the “exploding barrel” sound effect on their double CD, Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. I can’t remember how many times I heard the Imp’s hiss or a dead soldier’s grunt used in some Hollywood movie.

So while its fair to say that clearly DOOM had its inpiration from alternative bands, it also inspired other artists in return.