Awesome Music / Forza

Forza Horizon

Since music plays a major role in the Horizon series, it naturally receives top-billing here.

• Forza Horizon has three music stations: "Horizon Bass Arena", which plays electro house, drum n bass, tech house, new wave and dubstep; "Horizon Pulse", which plays synthpop, pop, alternative dance and indie music; and "Horizon Rocks", which plays hard rock, post punk revival, garage rock, post hardcore, punk rock and metal. Each station has its awesome tunes: "Bass Arena" has Skrillex's remixes of "Cinema" by Benny Benassi and "Levels" by Avicii, "Illmerica" by Wolfgang Gartner, "Lick The Rainbow" by Mord Fustang, "The Power" by DJ Fresh and Dizzee Rascal, "Everyday (Netsky Remix)" by Rusko, "Blue Monday" by New Order and (best of the best) "Me And You" by Nero; "Pulse" has "Awake" by Electric Guest, "1901" by Phoenix, "Over and Over" by Hot Chip and, best song of Pulse, "Something Good Can Work (The Twelves Remix)" by Two Door Cinema Club; "Rocks" has "Lonely Boy" by The Black Keys, "Give It Up" by LCD Soundsystem, "R U Mine?" by Arctic Monkeys, and the classic "She Bangs the Drums" by The Stone Roses.
  • Turn 10 and Playground Games even nailed it on the trailers, with songs by artists such as Zeds Dead, The Anomalies and Netsky. For this last artist, the songs that appear are: "We Can Only Live Today (Puppy)" and "Come Alive". This last song, for your information, is downright FITTING for the entire Forza series.
  • Almost all of Horizon Bass Arena and of Horizon Pulse and more than half of Horizon Rocks. Conclusion: Playground Games and Turn 10 really nailed the soundtrack section in Horizon. And if you want to know the whole OST, go here and get blown away by awesomeness. The soundtrack was all mixed and chosen by BBC Radio One DJ Rob Da Bank. If you want to thank the guy who mixed the game's OST, now you know him.
  • The song that plays at the title screen and menu? "Language" by Porter Robinson. The piano/synth mix really drives home the scenery being shown in the menu.
• Horizon 2's soundtrack features almost 150 licensed songs^note in the Xbox One version; the Xbox 360 drops the non-Horizon-branded stations of pure awesomeness ranging from indie music, electronica, house, rock, punk, hip hop, and even classical. You can check the soundtrack here, and beware, it's so awesome fans are even asking for a soundtrack album to be released!
  • The soundtrack of the game starts out strong with two relaxing tracks; title screen track "Nocturne" by Keeno and Reid Willis' opening cinematic composition.^note Sadly, that composition isn't available for streaming or download, and Microsoft told Willis that they own the rights to the composition and forced him to take down the original from Soundcloud. Get to the Horizon Festival and this plays, putting a stamp on how racing festivals are done.
  • Horizon 2 probably has the best Horizon Pulse playlist in the series, with the highlights being "Busy Earnin'" and "The Heat" by Jungle, "Can't Beat the Old Skool" by Bo Saris featuring Jasper Wilde, "The Mother We Share" by Chvrches (their first of several appearances in the series), "Luna" by Bombay Bicycle Club, and the otherwise Australia-exclusive Goldroom Remix of "I Might Survive" by Architecture in Helsinki.
  • While Forza Horizon 2 Presents Fast & Furious doesn't include the various radio stations or DJ Chatter, it's clear that the song selection is being treated as if it was a Greatest Hits Album for the main game, with the two new songs for the expansion, "Get Low" by Dillon Francis and DJ Snake, and "Now" by Bassnectar and Rye Rye, leading the charge. The former is the title screen song and the latter is the song heard in the launch trailer.
• The soundtrack of Horizon 3 includes the return of Bass Arena and Pulse, but also features a hip-hop station called Horizon Block Party, for those who thought it was sorely missing from the last games. Additionally, it features the return of Hospital Records Radio for Drum and Bass, and three new label-specific stations, namely Epitaph Records for Pop Punk, Metalcore, and Post-Hardcore, Vagrant Records for Indie/Alternative Rock, and Australia's own Future Classic for that mix of electronica and indie.
  • Standout tracks on Bass Arena include "Turn the Music Louder (Rumble)" by KDA featuring Tinie Tempah and Katy B, "To Ü" by Jack Ü (also known as Skrillex and Diplo) featuring AlunaGeorge, "Papua New Guinea" by The Future Sound of London, and (best of all) "Killer" by Adamski and Seal. Pulse includes "Freedom! '15" by !!!, "Shine" by Years & Years, "Like An Animal" by Rüfüs du Sol, "Go Time" by Digitalism, and two songs from CHVRCHES — "Clearest Blue" and "Bury It". Block Party also features some stand out tracks, with artists ranging well-known to obscure from around the world, with songs such as "Uh Huh" by Tkay Maidza, "The Wild Life" by Outasight, and classics such as "It's Tricky" by Run–D.M.C. and "Bust a Move" by Young MC.
  • Timeless is a local classical music station - try not feeling badass when tracks like "Also sprach Zarathustra", "A Night on the Bare Mountain", "Dies Irae", or "The Trials" (from Halo 5: Guardians) are designated as a skill song. "Also Sprach Zarathustra" plays during what may possibly be the most awesome Bucket List Challenge in the game: driving a Koenigsegg One down an airport runway at sunrise. Just when you cross the speed trap, the music reaches the brass fanfare!
  • To kick things off, here's the debut trailer featuring a chill-inducing cover of Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game" by Ursine Vulpine featuring Annaca. It's not in the game, sadly.
• Forza Horizon 4 continues the tradition by opening the game with "A Moment Apart" by ODESZA, giving the first glimpses of the new world an awe-inspiring, uplifting feeling that makes it very difficult to press "Continue".
  • The game itself starts off in a grandiose way with its overview of each of the 4 seasons, and Playground Games had the idea of making even the tutorial a magnificent experience with the touch of Fred V & Grafix. "Sunrise" is a 10-minute opus made precisely for the game's opening sequence and is split into four parts, one for each of the seasons. It was originally made as a piece just for the opening sequence, but fan reception was so overwhelmingly positive that the Series 8 update silently included the song into Hospital Records Radio's in-game playlist. Sadly, the song still hasn't dropped officially.
  • Each of the radio stations also have their highlights.
    • Pulse includes songs such as "Colors" by Beck, "Wind Shear" by the late Pierce Fulton, the aforementioned "A Moment Apart" and "Late Night" by ODESZA, "Deadly Valentine" by Charlotte Gainsbourg, "Never Say Die" by CHVRCHES, "Kim and Jessie" by M83 and "Shooting Star" by Anna Yvette.
    • Bass Arena features bangers like "aNYway" by Duck Sauce, "Are We Still Young" by Grant, "Ottomatic" by Oliver, and "TopBrazil (Benny Benassi vs. Constantin & Mazzz Remix)" by Fischerspooner.
    • Block Party features classics like "Award Tour" by A Tribe Called Quest, "Rapper's Delight" by The Sugarhill Gang, "Rebirth of Slick" by Digable Planets and "Don't Sweat the Technique" by Eric B. & Rakim mixed with modern songs like "i" and "All the Stars" (from Black Panther (2018)) by Kendrick Lamar (and SZA for the latter), "Karaoke" and "Rent" by Big Freedia (and Lizzo for the former), "Don't Rush" by Ric Wilson and Patrick Pryor, "Symphony" by Towkio, and "MICHUUL." by Duckwrth.^note That one was also in Need for Speed Payback
    • XS returns from Horizon 2 with more modern rock and heavy metal songs like the '70s hard rock esque "I Don't Wanna Know" by Bass Drum of Death,"Down to the Bottom" by DOROTHY and "Over and Over and Over" by Jack White, and "The Evil Has Landed" by Queens of the Stone Age, Post Hardcore and emo leaning songs like "Satellite" by Starset, "Rapture" by Underoath "No Wolf Like the Present" by At the Drive-In and the catchy yet rocking "Run for Cover" by The Killers, who also have the Jacques Lu Cont remix of "The Man" on Horizon Bass Arena.
  • Hospital Records Radio makes a return once again for Horizon 4 as well, but this time, instead of being just a greatest hits radio of some of the label's current acts, it features fully original music made especially for the game by some of the label's artists. The radio station's full playlist has also been released as an album which is available both on online stores and streaming services, but if we have to pick our favorites we can go with "Haltija" by Etherwood, "Hot Wheels" by Kings of the Rollers, "Caffeine" by Urbandawn, "Mismatch" by Krakota and "Dawnbreaker" by Metrik.
  • The LEGO Speed Champions expansion adds a whole new radio station exclusive to its worldspace called Radio Awesome. It literally contains only one song, "Everything Is Awesome" (from The LEGO Movie) by Tegan and Sara featuring The Lonely Island, played on repeat.
• Forza Horizon 5:
  • The catchy Mexican guitars of their "The Getaway trailer", which also sneaks in some "Mucha Muchacha" by Esquivel.
  • As with Horizon 4, Horizon 5's title screen is just... it's beautiful. The moonlit streets of Guanajuato, the mountain peak of La Gran Caldera, the dunes of Baja California, the shores of Riviera Maya... all scored by the magnificently uplifting and somewhat melancholic "Encanto" by Urbandawn. Bienvenidos a México.^English Welcome to Mexico.
  • "Route 174" by Metrik plays during the final part of the intro sequence where you're racing to the Festival site in a Mercedes-AMG Project One. The upbeat, energetic pace of the music along with Horizon Bass Arena's DJ, Scott Tyler, playing hype man is the perfect way to get you pumped for your Horizon adventure.
  • "Tulum" by Ian Livingstone is an adventurous piece that captures the feel of exploring unknown lands and finding the wonders within.
  • How much of a pop banger is this game's Horizon Pulse tracklist? Dua Lipa's hit Signature Song "Levitating" is part of it. Don't be surprised if you want to dance while driving. In addition, Porter Robinson makes his grand return to Horizon with "Look At The Sky", Gorillaz appear with "The Valley Of The Pagans (feat. Beck)", and there's plenty of Latin American artists featured to go with the Festival's new stomping grounds, including "El Punto Final" by Centavrvs, "Suéltame Bogotá" by Diamante Eléctrico and two songs by Sotomayor: "Fiebre" and "Quema".
  • Not to be outdone, Bass Arena brings quite the hype mix to the table - with returning artists like Notaker's "Into the Light", deadmau5's "Channel 43" and the Ellis remix of Haywyre's "Tell Me", alongside new faces like RIOT with "Jungle Fury" and of course, Imanbek's remix of "Roses" by SAINt JHN.
  • Block Party once again brings a mixture of old and new, with Run–D.M.C.'s "It's Like That" and Beastie Boys' "Intergalactic" joining the likes of DJ Shadow with "Rocket Fuel (feat. De La Soul)" and Lil Nas X with "Industry Baby (feat. Jack Harlow)". And like with Pulse, various Latin American rappers feature as well, like Bomba Estéreo with their infamous "Soy Yo" (from that Grub Hub ad) and Monica Lionheart with "Baila".
  • Latina musician Angelica Garcia takes over DJ duties for XS this time, with her own "Karma the Knife" on the tracklist alongside The Killers' smash hit "Caution", "Trouble's Coming" by Royal Blood,^note those last two also appeared in DIRT 5 "You Can Get It" by Arkells and K. Flay,^note Used in the official reveal trailer, meaning that a trailer song actually appears in a Forza Horizon game for once! "Smile" by Wolf Alice, "Teardrops" by Bring Me the Horizon (geddit?), and no less than two Foo Fighters songs: "Holding Poison" and "No Son of Mine"! And once again, she's joined by fellow Latin rockstars El Shirota with "La Ciudad" and Technicolor Fabrics with "Mejor Que Nadie".
  • Once again, Hospital Records provide a brand-new mix of songs created just for Horizon: in addition to the aforementioned "Route 174", we have "Burn Out" by Kings of the Rollers, "Skyscraping" by Fred V, "Illusion Of Time" by S.P.Y, one extra Metrik song in "Utopia" and two songs by Grafix: "Alone (feat. Ruth Royall^note who was the vocalist for FH4's "Sunrise", if you recall)" and "Black Magic (feat. Dynamite MC)".
  • The Horizon 10th Anniversary update added a new station called Horizon Mixtape; comprised of a "greatest hits" selection of sorts from the previous four Horizon games. To name just a few, "Language", "Slipstream", "Tied to You", "Bored to Death", "Sunrise" and "Dawnbreaker" are all featured, and it feels just as good hearing them here as it did back then.

Forza Motorsport

The Motorsport series may not be so focused on music as its younger brother, but it still has some great tunes.

• Forza Motorsport 2 has "Spitfire" by The Prodigy vs. Rage Against the Machine, "Put Your Hands Up" by Benny Benassi, "Insomnia" by Faithless, "Body Language" by Booka Shade, "Cobrastyle" by Teddybears, "Gone Daddy Gone" by Gnarls Barkley, "Daft Punk Is Playing At My House" by LCD Soundsystem, "Positive Tension" by Bloc Party, "Lights Out" by P.O.D. and not one, but two songs by Goldfrapp. Even the trailer song, "Rock Star (Jason Nevins Remix)" by N.E.R.D., is awesome.
• Forza Motorsport 3 has "Trash" by The Whip, "Showdown" by Pendulum and "Lost Weekend" by The Qemists featuring the one and only Mike Patton. And probably the best of the lot, "Tick Tick Boom" by The Hives (cue "YEAH!" three times) and "Suburban Knights" by Hard-Fi.
• Forza Motorsport 4 is a soundtrack heaven for Hospital Records^note years before they became known for being the regular record label station in the Forza Horizon series, no less and Marine Parade fans. With artists signed to Hospital such as Camo & Krooked, Danny Byrd, Netsky and Nu:Tone, and Marine Parade artists such as Evil Nine and Alex Metric, you know where this is going. And just listen to the game's theme song, "It Starts" by Alex Metric. Whoa.
  • Other pieces from 4 to mention are the three songs by The Qemists from their album "Spirit in the System". The songs are: "Take it Back" (with the special appearance of Enter Shikari), "Dirty Words" with Matt Rose and Bruno Balanta, and "Your Revolution" featuring Matt Rose.
  • Not even the launch trailer is safe from this. "I'm livin' in the 21st century, doin' something mean to it. Doin' better than everybody you ever seen do it. Screams from the haters, got a nice ring to it. I guess every superhero need his theme music."
• Forza Motorsport 5 doesn't feature a licensed soundtrack. Instead, it features an operatic, epic movie-like soundtrack which adapts itself to every situation. It is glorious.
• Forza Motorsport 6 continues to use a film-quality soundtrack throughout the game. Perhaps it is best summed up by the incredibly beautiful title track.

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