The Fallout franchise includes both original music compositions by the developers, as well as many classic oldies hits that provide the franchise with its signature Soundtrack Dissonance.
Oldies
Fallout
- The one that started it all: "Maybe
" by the Ink Spots, which perfectly fits the opening and ending of Fallout.
- "I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire," especially if you take its lyrics and apply them to the events of the game.note
- Many of the songs from Fallout 3 are deliciously ironic. "Let's Go Sunning" comes to mind.
- And for sheer catchiness, "Butcher Pete". Which is now stuck in your head and will be for the next fifteen hours. You're welcome. Even better if you're using a knife to attack opponents.
- There are few things more satisfying than roaming the Wasteland and blasting the monster's heads while listening to Cole Porter's "Anything Goes". Soundtrack Dissonance at its best!
- As befits a game set in the Las Vegas area, the game leans more heavily into the Rat Pack for its soundtrack. "Blue Moon", The first song that plays in the game, has the classic Vegas feel to it, as well as other songs like "Ain't That a Kick in the Head".
- The other half of the classic soundtrack includes a lot of western-themed songs that go well with the Mojave Desert, such as "Jingle Jangle Jingle" and "Johnny Guitar".
- If ever there were a song to make headshots by, "Big Iron" is it.
- "Lone Star" is always a good one to listen while roaming the Mojave Wasteland.I know my home is waiting for me by the river shore!
I know that all the ones I love will welcome me once more!
In dreams I see them now, though it seems I'm bound to roam
My thoughts are still of Texas and of Home!
- "The End of the World" by Skeeter Davis. A somber song that greatly fits the apocalyptic setting and the Sole Survivor's situation.
- "Atom Bomb Baby" is a great song to listen to while wreaking havoc in the wasteland.
- "The Wanderer" by Dion & The Del Satins. Fairly catchy on its own, but it also acts as an ironic, and tragic, contrast to the main character's situation. It adds to the emotional depth of the game.
- "Butcher Pete" is back for another round, and now the song has the second part included. If you thought it was catchy before, it's twice as long now, so you'll have even more fun hearing about Pete's chopping!
- "Uranium Fever" by Elton Britt. This song is really catchy, and will now be stuck in your head for a damn long time.Uraaaanium fever has done and got me down
Uraaaanium fever is spreadin' all around
With a Geiger counter in my hand
I'm goin' out to stake me some government land
Uranium fever has done and got me down!"
- The absolutely gorgeous cover of Take Me Home, Country Roads by John Denver used in the game's reveal trailer. The original was one of Denver's Signature Songs and one of the official state songs of West Virginia for a good reason, but the cover by a features a baritone lead singer which makes it noticeably different from the Denver original. The full cover was eventually released on iTunes, and you can listen to it here. The song was used as a fundraiser for Habitat For Humanity.
- The trailer for the series gets right into the Soundtrack Dissonance with Nat King Cole's "I Don't Want to See Tomorrow", with some added heavy brass chords at the end, juxtaposed with a vault going into a riot, and various grisly scenes and creatures in the wasteland.
Original music
Fallout
- "Metallic Monks". A haunting, eerie piece that combines an air raid siren, Morse code-like beeping and faint male chanting to create a bleak, foreboding sense of exploring a devastated nuclear wasteland. "Immersive" does not do it any kind of justice.
- "Khans of New California" is the perfect combination of ominous and quirky for a tribe of post-apocalyptic barbarian badasses.
- The relaxing alternate world map theme that plays when driving the car, "My Chrysalis Highwayman". It's a shame that you won't hear it very often since you'll probably reach your destination before the intro is finished playing. Of course, you don't need to leave the map screen immediately after you arrive at your destination…
- "Dream Town", the song that plays at Modoc, is relaxing, melancholic, and rather lonely.
- Take "Battle 1" playing when fighting a Super Mutant Behemoth with a Fat Man. And "Battle 5", which is actually titled "Behemoth" on the soundtrack.
- The main theme. Really fits the western feel of the game.
- "Dam Nation", the Final Dungeon theme. The song has a heavy beat as the drums of war are struck as both the NCR and Caesar's Legion fight high above the Colorado.
- "Begin Again", featured in the Dead Money expansion pack, is a haunting song that espouses the main theme of the Sierra Madre - letting go.
- The main theme is very atmospheric and packs some serious punches, with many fans viewing it as the definitive theme for the Fallout series as a whole. An epic rock cover made it more wild with guitar riffing.
- "Rebuild, Renew" and "Of the People, for the People", two of the city themes, both of which convey the feeling of a wasteland society that is rugged, but with hope for rebuilding.
- "Still Standing", one of the Minutemen themes, which strikes just the right chord between hopeful, militaristic, and heroic.
- The Institute's theme ("Imagine Utopia"), which has a fittingly futuristic and hopeful sound with an also fittingly sinister, mysterious, and apprehensive hint to it.
- "Dominant Species", one of the combat tracks, is an epic remix of the main theme. There's a good reason it was used for the game's launch trailer.
- Lynda Carter, already having a long history of lending her voice to Bethesda games all the way back to The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, returns to voice the Third Rail's lounge singer, Magnolia, and this time she gets to show off her singing voice with some fantastic original songs for the game that match the feeling of the oldies, like the upbeat "Baby, It's Just You" or the sultry, innuendo-laden "Good Neighbor".
- "Rise and Prevail" is one of the more epic combat tracks, perfect for taking out Raiders and Gunners to.
- The Nuka World theme is delightfully cheesy and caricatured for a theme park jingle, and as always gives off the skewed disconnect between Pre-War America and the horrific Raider-infested reality.
- All of the Far Harbor soundtrack, but most notably "Our Island". It nails down the lonely, desolate tone and mysterious atmosphere of the DLC perfectly.
- "The Children Of Atom" has both a haunting tone along with ethereal echoing Gregorian-style chanting, as if one of the Children of Atom is singing a hymn to their holy god. It has a very foreboding feel to it and even calls to mind "Acolytes of a New God" from Fallout. Really makes you realize how those silly kooks in Megaton aren't just whistlin' Dixie anymore, huh?
- "Covert Action", the theme for the Railroad, is a deliciously sly, Mission Impossible-esque track that will make you feel like a post-apocalyptic superspy.
- The main theme starts off with a lovely solo fiddle to evoke Appalachia before erupting into a rousing upbeat version of the main Fallout theme.
