The Smiths, led by king of moping Morrissey, weren’t exactly known for their peppy, upbeat tunes. They made sad, somber music about not getting what you want and not having a stitch to wear, all bolstered by the mournful crooning of Moz himself. On the other hand, chiptune music is known for… nothing of the sort. You may also know it as 8-bit music, the music that played during older cartridges and arcade games. As it is a nostalgic thing on the internet, it has gotten quite a following, with people making new chiptune music, or doing chiptune covers of existing songs. You are probably smart enough that you’ve put two and two together, and you know that there are some 8-bit covers of The Smiths tunes out there.
Somebody by the name of “HIPSTERDISCO” has taken several chiptuned Smiths songs that people have made and put them together into two compilation videos. There’s almost 30 minutes of songs such as “This Charming Man” and “There is a Light that Never Goes Out” being re-imagined vis-à-vis the sounds of old school video games.
Obviously, there is some humor in the ironic juxtaposition of the dour, or at least existentially wrought, music of The Smiths being re-contextualized into the peppy, happy sounds of chiptune. However, they also sound pretty good. The originals had solid craftsmanship to them, and they don’t lose much in 8-bit form. So, if you like the sound of The Smiths, but wish they’d lightened up a bit, well, this is your lucky day.
(Via AV Club)
