The concept of modding (i.e. modifying) is an endemic part of video game culture. For the uninitiated, modding is all about taking a video game, breaking into its code, and rewriting it to become something new. It's as much a form of expression as it is a technical process. Sometimes it turns games into elaborate jokes - like this in Resident Evil. Sometimes it turns games into extensive pieces of IRL art - like the below from Gao Hang. Sometimes it even turns old games into entirely new games - like League Of Legends did with Warcraft.
Traditionally, modding has been reserved for enthusiasts. It was a practice restricted to those who knew how to break into complex software systems and create through code. Early in the 80’s, these enthusiasts would gather and swap floppy discs in a subculture known as demoscene. They’d often play with typeface’s and original sound track’s (OST’s), layering their own creations over the top of them.
But today creatives who grew up playing video games are finding ways to “mod” without needing to understand Python or Javascript. This has become particularly prevalent within music - another cultural domain that thrives off a kind of modding through remixing, sampling, or editing.
Björk was perhaps one of the trailblazers here with her “Army of Me” album cover art from 1995. Despite never being a gamer herself, Björk - always ahead of her time - showed that you didn’t need to be a player per-se to play with the idea of video games. This is the crucial difference between enthusiast modders and cultural modders. Enthusiasts mod to play. Cultural modders mod to nod.
Juice WRLD many years later would be more literal with cultural modding by turning his Death Race For Love album cover into a PlayStation 1 inspired bootleg cover, akin to that of Twisted Metal 4. This comes as no surprise given Juice WRLD's musical education likely came from iconic game soundtracks like GTA and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater.
Fast forward to 2024 with the PlayStation AI Filter taking over Tik Tok. Perhaps Juice WRLD’s "Death Race For Love" cover walked so the PlayStation AI Filter could run. With the NPC-trend rising to fever pitch, the PlayStation filter entered as a way for all of us to turn ourselves into NPCs. In a nutshell, it allows users to transform themselves into a PlayStation video game character using an AI-generated app called Replicate. While many used the filter for themselves, the most viral additions came from famous album covers. Dua Lipa, Charli XCX, Kendrick Lamar, Frank Ocean and many more received the PlayStation Filter treatment - recognising their albums as the expansive open-world’s that they are.
Zooming in further, we can see the impact of video games on some of culture’s most beloved artists goes deeper than filters and album covers. Burial based a large part of his debut EP on Metal Gear Solid, and continues to do so to this day. In one of his most famous tracks,"Ghost Hardware”, Burial weaves gameplay samples of bullet casings atop a deep cut from the game soundtrack with vocals from 2000s R&B tracks from artists like Bobby Valentino and Christina Aguilera.
Meanwhile A$AP Mob, Knxwldge and Soulja Boy have all pulled from The Legend Of Zelda to create their own music. The “Hey Listen!” sound from Link’s fairy (Navi) became somewhat of a meme in electronic music with DJ's from dubstep to techno dropping them throughout their sets. Baby Keem dug into the archives and took NES’ Super Metroid’s original soundtrack to create Gang Activities. Even Janet Jackson’s "China Love" samples "Moonlit City Roa", from Legend of Mana - a truly deep cut.
Back in 2020, I wrote about this idea of the “era of expression” that video games were heading into. That was when fashion girlies were getting off fits in Animal Crossing and hypebeasts were descending on Fortnite island as Travis Scott rapped from 100ft up. What’s become clear since then is that the “era of expression” in video games does not sit solely with those who actually play. The modern idea of modding in the music space attests to this. Whether you’re running your next album cover through a PS2 filter, rapping over an archival Super Nintendo OST or simply just mashing the “Hey Listen!” sample in a DJ set - we’re all modders today.