On the Subject of Open World Music

[AscentionTheMage]

I think in my head, I have this image of there being two types of radio stations. There's the legit legal ones that are playing stuff that's comfortable for the various elites and "norms". Then there's a bunch of outlaw pirate stations which tend to only broadcast at night, each with its own distinct flavor. And much like GTA: Vice City and San Andreas, all of these stations would have their own host, each with a distinct personality and voice. It's be cool if it were feasible to have each of them occasionally give monologues about various subjects in-between the music. Maybe have those lead you to potential hidden locations, side quests, Easter eggs, and other fun stuff.
I would find it personally amusing to have the public radio station be this weird parody of NPR, with the host being this absurdly pretentious stereotype of old school East Coast Intellectual/Ivy League WASPs, sort like if William F. Buckley had been a member of the golf club in Caddyshack. The music would be all classical stuff (and I'd like to dig up some interestingly obscure or historically interesting pieces), and every so often, he'd give these totally bizarre anecdotes relating to Ancient Greek history or Russian literature or the time he murdered Gore Vidal at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. And eventually during the game, it's possible to meet him, and he's actually the Ventrue Primogen.

Meanwhile, the pirate stations would include some guy who goes off on these very dark and rather pointed rants about sin, temptation, divine judgment and redemption in between playing stuff by people like Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen, Nick Cave, and Tom Waits.

I'd want the conspiracy theorist from Deb's show in bloodlines to make an appearance, and it could be done in one of 2 ways: have him as one of the hosts, or as a character you meet who's on the lamb because he finally cracked the code, or because he revealed the plot of bloodlines one to the general public all the way back in 2004, you can possibly even do both if the writer is smart enough.

[AscentionTheMage]

Razor Radio
The City's nightly barrage of power metal and associated metal styles. The host is Stacy Blades, seen by many as the living incarnation of 80s metal. This is a little ironic, as she's actually a vampire. Her broadcasts are often peppered with calls for rebellion against the status quo and more than a few thinly veiled rants against the Prince and his supporters (as well as the current state of pop music and culture, shitty comic books, and so on). In spite of her clear Anarch leanings, the powers that be largely leave her alone, as she seems mostly content to have her radio show and vent over the air. At some point during the game, she probably becomes a potential source for various side quests, depending on the character's leanings.

Playlist:

• WASP - Ballcrusher
• Warlock - I Rule the Ruins
• Whitesnake - Still of the Night
• Iron Maiden - Wasted Years
• Twisted Sister - Burn in Hell
• Dio - Stand Up and Shout
• Halloween - I Want Out
• Judas Priest - The Green Manalishi
• Lita Ford - Out for Blood
• Moterhead - Orgasmatron
• Accept - Balls to the Wall
• Michael Monroe - Dead Jail or Rock n Roll
• Black Sabbath - The Mob Rules
• Alice Cooper - Freedom or The World Needs Guts, either one
• Anthem - Immortal Bind
• Bullet - Hammer Down
• Motley Crue - Livewire
• Meat Loaf - The Monster is Loose
• Manowar - Call to Arms
• Cinderella - Somebody Save Me

Great fucking playlist, with a few exceptions. Lita Ford and Meatloaf might be overrated, and there were and are better Motorhead songs than Orgasmatron.

I like how you include Anthem who are criminally underrated in the west, and Bullet, who are relatively new but kick ass. And as an aside WASP and Accept still kick ass today.

[Nail Eater]

Dude just get spotify or their alternatives, pretty much the same thing but you can chose the songs, plus you can pay a monthly fee and get rid of the adds.

If it would be so easy I would play my own personal playlist full of classic hard & heavy. Or my favourite station, hardrockin80's. But I work in a warehouse, where I can't have any kind of electronic devices so my coworkers choose the music democratic. And they prefere simple songs, with meaningless lyrics.

[Nail Eater]

Great fucking playlist, with a few exceptions. Lita Ford and Meatloaf might be overrated, and there were and are better Motorhead songs than Orgasmatron.

I like how you include Anthem who are criminally underrated in the west, and Bullet, who are relatively new but kick ass. And as an aside WASP and Accept still kick ass today.

I got a feeling that the only radio you would like would be the one you create playlist for . But it does not work that way. Can you name a radio which plays only the songs you like? I doubt it. Even in GTA series not every song played by hard rock stations was the song I like. Hell, sometimes when me and my players are going somewhere by car we play during that time (a kind of quasi LARP). For situation like this I've got a few special playlists (Hard&Heavy, evergreen hits, classical, more evergreens and a mixture of every genre). There are songs which some of us or our characters like (you can hear cries like "play it louder man) and there are songs which some of us don't like. Sometimes both. And there's only one songs about which we are united: Jessica by Allman Brothers.That's the song we don't like generally. But, it's still on my playlist cause it was a hit (even if I don't know why) and that's the radio.

[No One of Consequence]

Great fucking playlist, with a few exceptions. Lita Ford and Meatloaf might be overrated, and there were and are better Motorhead songs than Orgasmatron.

Orgasmatron is one of those songs I enjoy for its subject matter.

In hindsight, I probably should've included Queensryche's "Speak" (or something else from Operation: Mindcrime). Probably something by Stryper as well.

One of the interesting things about modern video games is that you could in theory have DLC that included additional music for various radio stations or even totally new stations.

ADDED: If, say, you had a Halloween themed DLC with some missions/sidequests/events centered around Devil's Night, Halloween, the Day of the Dead, and related stuff, you could include a bunch of thematically appropriate new radio songs for when you are doing those. In the case of the previous station, it would allow me to be absurdly cheesy in certain respects.

• Alice Cooper - He's Back (The Man Behind the Mask) or Prince of Darkness
• Dokken - Dream Warriors
• The Dudes of Wrath - Shocker
• Fastaway - Trick or Treat
• Twisted Sister - Captain Howdy
• Black Roses - Soldiers of the Night
• Lou Graham - Lost in the Shadows
• Moterhead - Hellraiser