30 Days of Sonic DAY 17 - Poll of the Week 3: 'Favourite Crush 40 Song' [30DOS22]

[Dreadknux]

End of the work week! Time to have some fun in the sun with a cool little poll.

As we're now into week three of Poll of the Week, you can unlock a new badge for taking part!

  

If this is your first/only participation in this activity, you can earn the Blue badge. If this is your second participation, you can earn the Bronze badge. If you have participated in all Poll of the Week activities up to this point, taking part in this one will net you the Silver badge.

Poll of the Week

What's the Best Crush 40 Theme?

Not much to think about here - just 'Open Your Heart' and find the answer from within. Choose wisely though, as you'll have to Live & Learn the consequences. Everyone's opinion on this might be different, so make sure your vote says 'I Am All of Me'! It's important to Never Turn Back from an opportunity to express yourself in a Free manner.

Now, I know that picking just one song With Me is super difficult. Jun Senoue and Johnny Gioeli are seen as Sonic Heroes that a lot of people look up to, and it's hard to Live Life knowing that all the other tracks won't get the same love as the one you pick.

It's times like these I think about Johnny, you know - in His World, every song is as good as one other. Mind you, with the amount of tracks he's sung about him, if it were up to Johnny we'd All Hail Shadow too.

I'd actually bet Seven Rings in Hand that Senoue-san has a secret favourite, though.

So allow me to give you all the Green Light Ride to make a firm decision in this very important poll. And once you've voted, make sure you immediately post in this topic with your choice and reasoning - otherwise we cannot track your participation in this activity! Just, don't cause a Sonic Boom in your hurry to vote and post!

....Knight of the Wind.

EDIT: As for which song I actually picked, I had to stick to the OG and go with Sonic Adventure's "Open Your Heart". There's something about hearing that song - especially played live - that just makes my heart pump.

[Shiny Gems]

It's a tie between Live and Learn and Knight of the Wind for me. I chose Live and Learn on the poll though, mainly because it was my first main Sonic game theme song I ever heard aside from the character ones. It just sounded so cool.

Even Masahiro Sakurai, when describing the song in a post in the Smash Bros. Dojo for Smash Bros. Brawl, called it a hot song.

[Covskin]

I posted a few days ago my favourite vocal theme was What I'm Made Of so I'm sticking with that.

When I first saw the thread title I missed it was poll and thought this was my chance to be subversive and pick a non-Sonic track. I'm a big fan of all the ballads and Revvin' Up never seems to get its proper due, but I have to draw attention to the filthy bass in Down and Dirty.

 

[castell-neath]

Went with Open Your Heart. I remember playing Adventure DX on the pc back in 2004 and thought "wow, this is a departure from the dancey / techno feel of the classics".

 

I'm really not a fan of crush 40 personally...their sound is really not to my musical taste, but that riff on the title screen is superb.

 

As a counter to the best, I thought sonic heroes was awful. Repetative, brash, and just plodding

[Solister]

Open Your Heart and Live and Learn are the duel of giants for me here, I Am... All of Me could come in a close third place, with Sonic Heroes and Sonic Boom closing the top 5.

But I just gotta go with Open Your Heart. For me, it is the most iconic song in the series, and ultimately one of my favorites from the franchise, which I think really translates well Sonic's attitude and gives a great overview of what Sonic Adventure is all about.

It's really the kind of song where the crowd would go wild on their show encore. I'm still not sure if C40 will be coming to BGS this year, but I feel watching them live might not be so far away from me.

[JezMM]

Didn't include Un-Gravitify because you already had the jokey ending to your post covered with Knight of the Wind huh???

 

Anyway, it's a boring choice but it's hard to beat Live & Learn.  While I mostly feel like it works best as the theme song for Sonic Adventure 2 specifically, it's become such an anthem for the series as a whole, really one that makes you all emotional about playing some silly games about this little blue guy y'know!?  It's also the one that I think had the most impact in-game.  To once again go back to my reunion with Sonic as a teenager, Sonic Adventure 2's soundtrack blew me away after years of gentle Nintendo midi music, and while City Escape was the powerful first impression, Live & Learn is what cemented it in.  Hearing the title screen song come in as the final boss began as I steadily realised "wait... this is a whole song!?" is a feeling I'll never forget.  No other Sonic game has pulled off such restraint with the usage of it's main theme to cause the full version to have maximum impact when it plays - be it due to not showing up at all, being overplayed, or giving us an entire verse and chorus during the opening movie (aside from maybe Fist Bump which was used very creatively, kudos to Ohtani).

And beyond that, it's just a great song!

 

I will say though, jokes aside, Un-Gravitify is my very close second placer.  Really love what they did with that one.  Live Life was also a really unexpected one from them that I adore a lot for 3rd place, and finally an honourable mention to one from outside the games - Song of Hope is a similar feeling ballad but even better IMO.

[Dr. Mechano]

Gotta go with Live and Learn. It's an intense, fast-paced song suitable for a final boss fight. The fight itself is still one of the most dramatic moments in the franchise's history, with Sonic's friends - and even Dr. Eggman - cheering him on to stop the ARK and save the world. The song compliments the fight spectacularly.

Open Your Heart is good too. Though in my opinion, the two phases of Perfect Chaos's fight music should be reversed. Start with the sinister boss music, and then kick it up a notch with Sonic's triumphant song toward the end. This is how they did it in Colors - starting with the Egg Nega Wisp boss theme and then switching to an upbeat orchestral arrangement of Reach for the Stars as Sonic gained the upper hand - and I just feel like it works a little better.

[Winston]

I am going to go with Open Your Heart as well. I do like Crush 40 decently, but I'm usually not going to listen to their music outside of the games at all, and even then I feel like most of their songs are just okay, but Open Your Heart will always be the standout to me. I thought it was really cool as a kid, and the intro with Open Your Heart almost always gives me goosebumps. I just think it fits Sonic Adventure extremely well, and to me, Open Your Heart is probably their magnum opus. It's just iconic. 

[Ryannumber1gamer]

I don’t have much to say this time because I already said it all in a previous favourite vocal theme topic - Open Your Heart remains far and away my favourite Crush 40 song, a perfect encapsulation of Sonic Adventure, and one hell of cool opening to a whole new era of Sonic games. It gives off such an amazing vibe of an epic story, and it’d basically unlike anything that had been seen in the classic games. It just comes rolling out the doors swinging.

This time, I will remember to mention Knight of the Wind as my runner up though, I used to love this song more than any other Crush 40 song. Loved how it sounded, loved how it perfectly captured Sonic’s personality, loved how it told a story throughout the song, loved how it felt just insanely epic for this radically different adventure compared to past songs, but I ended up listening to it that often that I ended up growing a bit sick of it. Still really do enjoy it, but Open Your Heart edged it out because I didn’t play it to exhaustion lol.

[Iko]

Knight of the Wind for me, with Live and Learn as a close second.

I already talked about it in the favorite vocal track day, but well, epic song that I like even though I never played Black Knight: it's just cool.

I don't even know what else to say, just this.

[Spin Slasher]

Mine might Be Open Your Heart with Live and Learn as a close second alongside with Sonic Heroes as a close third

[Cuz]

Given I perfer the version of With Me without Crush 40 I should probably of gone with Open Your Heart. It's a fantastic opening song with an awesome opening fmv to hook players into Adventure. 

But my first instinct was With Me Massive Power Mix, again that one holds up well.

[Dark Qiviut]

Quote

1. Which of the following Crush 40 Tracks is your favourite?

Yes.

Okay, okay, okay. Lord, it's so hard to choose, and my favorite bounces around. But as of the time I post this, it's Open Your Heart. This theme song. This the song! Kicks! Plot!

(Not sorry for using brony slang. XD)

After a few dormant years, when this song plays, it tells you directly, "Sonic's back!" Boy, did it ever! Open Your Heart oozes extreme self-confidence in its iconic lyrics and equally iconic tune. Once you hear that masterful opening riff, Open Your Heart immediately tells you that Sonic Adventure means business.

One YouTube, Eldarin, has a fantastic review of Sonic Adventure's vocal tracks, which I highly recommend. Here's the part about Open Your Heart and how it came to be.

 

[WanderingBleats]

Since I already posted it as my favorite vocal theme, my favorite Crush 40 song is also, by definition, Live and Learn. I went over my reasoning in more detail the previous topic, but in summary, I love the action-y feel tinged with melancholy that makes it a perfect complement for the climax of the story.

[FReaK]

Live & Learn, this is the definition of Crush 40 for me. Open Your Heart is a close second though. I'll never forget when I first fought the Finalhazard back in 2001 and the Song came on for the first time. Nothing they did after that topped that until now.

[Celestia]

This is absolutely one of those questions where the answer would change depending on when you asked me.

At the moment it's Open Your Heart. I think when I was a kid I slightly preferred it to L&L. There's just something about it, especially it's use in the game, hearing it in the intro and then again at the end when you actually fight Chaos' huge monster form. The same thing happens with Live & Learn but somehow I think it's a bit cooler in the first game.

[Cosmos Rogue]

It took a bit of soul searching, but I was able to Open Your my Heart to the truth of my feelings. The intro of the song just works so well for the scenario it plays in in game, in a way that I don't think any of the other Crush 40 songs fit their scenes.

[Sega DogTagz]

Low vote totals so far, but I'm shocked L&L isn't taking this by a landslide.

Its peak Sonic music. Easily the most iconic thanks to SA2 Battle and Smash.

[Stasis]

Live and Learn all the way, although Green Light Ride has recently been played a fair bit while I've been driving.

[Indigo Rush]

Man I don't know what it is but Open Your Heart always hits me in a way no other Sonic vocal theme does. Live and Learn is rightfully legendary, but I think it overshadows the one Crush 40 track that started it all. 

[Dr. Detective]

There was a time where I dared to wonder if I was getting tired of Live & Learn.

Then the Sonic Symphony put an orchestra behind this bitch and I was like "No. Actually. What the fuck was I thinking? It really is the best one."

 

[Sapphirine Wind]

It was pretty hard for me to choose, because I like a lot of Crush 40 songs... I could go with nostalgia, but I'm going to chose "I Am... All of Me". It's just a slapping edgy song and Crush 40 simply pulls it off with flying colors.

I've never even played Shadow the Hedgehog (I saw the gun in one of the commercials and thought that my parents wouldn't get me it).

[Monkey Destruction Switch]

I Am All of Me is pretty much the only one I've gone out of my way to listen to that often. It's just a cool, edgy, fun rock song. I've never even played Shadow the Hedgehog and my desire to do so is very low. Crush 40 music in general is pretty decent, but nothing to write home about - I'd rather listen to something else most of the time.

Open Your Heart is a powerful song, but it's just not as fun as IAAoM, I guess xP

[A super No.1 washedupgamer]

I like sonic heroes. It's pretty low on the poll but this song is nostalgic to me.

See that? This is me in this video. except I was around 16 yrs old. 

Anyways, watching that opening start of with sonic tails and knuckles to this upbeat song was the highest point of being a fan for me at the time. I was so glad to see them finally playable side by side, I wanted that since sonic and knuckles. (I haven't played the adventure games before this.) Team dark comes on the screen and I get to see that black hedgehog everyone was so crazy about but who is that big robot? I remembered rogue from sonic battle for the gba so I thought it was cool for them to team up but I had no context. Then team rose comes up. Was good to see Amy and cream playable like in the advance games but i only knew of big from the first adventure previews. Then, the chaotix pops onscreen and my excitement is through the roof! Characters from a 32x game that I always wanted to play as a child show up in a new game? Wow! 

My favorite part is when the chorus comes up and we see eggman in his flagship commanding his badniks. Then here comes sonic tails and knuckles just tearing through entire airships to the music;

SONIC HEEEEROOOOOOEEESSSS!!!

SONIC HEROES!!!

It was so exciting. So many memories with this game man. Music really enhanced the experience for me. Sonic heroes will always have a special place in my fan heart.

Second place goes to open your heart of course. I also like how it was remixed in generations.

[NegaMix]

The obvious choice would be either Open Your Heart or Live & Learn. Everyone knows that already.

...Which is why I didn't pick either of them.

No, I've gone for Never Turn Back. I just think it's a solid summation of Shadow's viewpoint at the end of his long, tedious, alien-filled, multi-directional, amnesia-fuelled journey: He's finally made his choice on how to live his life, and he's not gonna turn back on that choice unless SEGA say otherwise. That, and I really enjoy the melody.