YouTube Finds: Get Your Classic NBA Live Music On
Posted by Neil Paine on October 14, 2009
Back in the mid-to-late 1990s, EA Sports composer Traz Damji put together a series of ridiculously funky (and catchy) background songs for the best years of the NBA Live franchise. They became synonymous with video hoops action for a generation of young, impressionable gamers, and now they're available in all their old-school glory courtesy of YouTube:
Live 96 Song #4
Live 97 Song #1
Live 97 Song #2
Live 97 Song #3
Live 97 Song #4
Live 97 Song #5
Live 98 - "Down to the Wire"
Live 98 - "Fresh Trip"
Live 98 - "Order in the Court"
Live 98 - "Paint Dance"
Live 99 - "The Big Ticket"
Live 99 - "From Downtown"
Live 99 - "1999 Funk Street" (don't you just love these names?)
Live 99 - "Keep'n It Live"
Live 99 - "Shakin 'n' Bakin"
October 15th, 2009 at 8:08 pm
Ah that brought back great memories - hours playing as season after season of every NBA Live year. I always tried to get 5 All Stars, never miss a free throw and win it!!
October 16th, 2009 at 8:15 am
I reminisce, i reminisce! I only listened to live 97, becouse i played it the most (and 2000). Great tracks, been looking for them before.
October 16th, 2009 at 9:18 am
Ah... So it's been that long since I first heard those songs. I must have begun playing Live with its 97 offer since the Live 96 Song #4 is not familiar. (Does Live 96 have Shaq on the cover?) But that Live 97 Song #1 just made me smile due to its familiarity. Of all the BGMs, I must have listened to those from Live 99 the most number of times. My bro and I customized our teams. Those were the days. We still love playing against each other when time permits, be it a 5-min basketball drag race or a 20-min/quarter version of the Indy 500!
October 16th, 2009 at 9:54 am
Yeah, I wore down the bones in my thumbs playing Live 96 and I'm not sure I recognize that first one. My strongest memories are of the nu-metal shredding that played over the title screen, and of this one ridiculously funky 5 second loop that would sometimes play bewteen quarters. I would always be happy when I got that one, and disappointed when the other one came up.
October 16th, 2009 at 10:14 am
Ahh - the picture on YouTube shows the Genesis version. I played the SNES.
October 16th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
Here's the SNES version of Live '96:
October 16th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
That's the stuff!
October 16th, 2009 at 10:50 pm
i remember beating my dad in nba live 2000 and i was only 5yrs
October 19th, 2009 at 3:45 am
I already have all of these songs on a CD in my car. I listen to them all of the time, just amazing stuff. Whoever decided to go for licensed tracks in 2000 (even though I love the Mothership Connection) is a damned fool.
July 12th, 2010 at 12:51 am
loved this article!