Michael Jackson and Sonic 3. It's finally confirmed

[TheOcelot]

Does this song called 'Hard Times' remind you of a zone in Sonic 3?

 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2OWC5Hosv8

 

Sonic Retro article:

 

"On YouTube, Fervor Records has posted a few unreleased music tracks on December 11th, 2009 from the band “The Jetzons.” One track, named “Hard Times” shares a more than vague resemblance to the theme of Ice Cap Zone. In fact, it may as well be exactly the same thing. What is the cause of this? The keyboardist of the group, Brad Buxer would work on the title, along with Michael Jackson as he confirmed in this interview conducted in the same year. While he does state he is not sure what material the developers used in the game, turns out to be remnants of the unreleased song linked above. You can listen to the song side by side to Ice Cap thanks to a video provided by Retro staffer, Skyler (below)."

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoVCsGgxscY

 

It's pretty cool.

Edited November 11, 2013 by -Bender-

[Tani Coyote]

So the song was never released, if I'm reading right?

That explains a lot. Otherwise, I think SEGA would be pretty deserving of a lawsuit. Inspiration is one thing, being a lyricless copy is another.

Pretty surreal to hear it with lyrics, though!

[Turbo the Punk]

Hardly deserving from a lawsuit in the sense that Buxer carried over his own material and improvised from there. Unless of course it was without the consent of the others he was working with, which would be an entire different situation.

[GeneHF]

If this is what you guys expect to be deserving of a lawsuit, then Tommy Tallarico is going to have double trouble due to Black Knight.

[Your Vest Friend]

Oh yeah, because at least one of the songs is pretty much exactly the same as a song from a different game. I remember that now. 

 

Edit: This song

 

 

And Molten Mine. 

Edited November 11, 2013 by VEDJ-F

[Tani Coyote]

Hardly deserving from a lawsuit in the sense that Buxer carried over his own material and improvised from there. Unless of course it was without the consent of the others he was working with, which would be an entire different situation.

I imagine any copyright issues were alleviated since it looks like the actual song was never released. Had it been released, however, that may not have been the case.

Though even if this is perfectly legal, it makes me raise eyebrows at Buxer. On one hand reusing an unused melody saves time and such, but on the other it looks somewhat lazy.

[MamboCat]

Darn. Ice Cap Zone's theme is one of my favourites.

 

Now it's ruined.

[Vec]

Now I can add lyrics to Ice Cap instead of just start humming

[TheOcelot]

For NA fans who might be interested in downloading the Jetzons album (which includes Hard Times), it's available as MP3 download on Amazon.com and iTunes

Edited November 11, 2013 by -Bender-

[Vec]

Wait...What other songs did Buxer composed for the game? Maybe he took more cues than just this one

[TheOcelot]

Wait...What other songs did Buxer composed for the game? Maybe he took more cues than just this one

 

I've searched but can't find anything which states if he composed any other songs for Sonic 3.

Edited November 11, 2013 by -Bender-

[Briraka]

I imagine any copyright issues were alleviated since it looks like the actual song was never released. Had it been released, however, that may not have been the case.

Though even if this is perfectly legal, it makes me raise eyebrows at Buxer. On one hand reusing an unused melody saves time and such, but on the other it looks somewhat lazy.

Who cares, Ice Cap's music is awesome anyways.

[ChaosXVI]

This is actually really awesome...But then again I'm a sucker for what most would describe as cheesy '80s music.  Just makes me wonder what other Sonic 3 zone themes are based on really obscure music...isn't the credits theme based off another MJ song?

[Shiny Gems]

Does this song called 'Hard Times' remind you of a zone in Sonic 3?

 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2OWC5Hosv8

 

Sonic Retro article:

 

"On YouTube, Fervor Records has posted a few unreleased music tracks on December 11th, 2009 from the band “The Jetzons.” One track, named “Hard Times” shares a more than vague resemblance to the theme of Ice Cap Zone. In fact, it may as well be exactly the same thing. What is the cause of this? The keyboardist of the group, Brad Buxer would work on the title, along with Michael Jackson as he confirmed in this interview conducted in the same year. While he does state he is not sure what material the developers used in the game, turns out to be remnants of the unreleased song linked above. You can listen to the song side by side to Ice Cap thanks to a video provided by Retro staffer, Skyler (below)."

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoVCsGgxscY

 

It's pretty cool.

That is actually pretty cool. I never thought that tune of Ice Cap Zone would be done by Buxer instead of Michael Jackson, since I did not think about it that much. I'd say that this is a pretty cool discovery.

[Tornado]

I imagine any copyright issues were alleviated since it looks like the actual song was never released. Had it been released, however, that may not have been the case.

 

On the other hand, Ice Cap is another one of the songs that didn't make it to Sonic and Knuckles Collection; and it's long been posited that one of the possible reasons for them doing that was legal (since all of the other affected tracks were all the ones with obvious Jackson-song comparisons).

[Jango]

So, if Ice Cap was actually composed by Buxer, the similarities with Jackson's Who is It was coincidence? Or not, since they worked together, Jackson's melodies probably inspired Buxer. Anyway, Buxer is such a sneak bastard, Hard Times IS Ice Cap 100%. Talk about being lazy xD Still love the music.

[TheOcelot]

As far as I am aware you could only previously download Hard Times in NA (it was available on Amazon.com but not Amazon.co.uk).

 

However, Hard Times (Jetzons) is now available as an mp3 download on Amazon.co.uk for £0.89. I've just downloaded it.

 

Retro posted an article from Fervor Records who acquired the Jetzons catalogue back in 2008. They've obviously noticed a recent spike in sales.

[Sonicstitch]

OK I had to do this.

Gold Rings

parody of
The Jetzons Hard Times

Try to grab all the rings in the zone
and save them all for me.

I'll drop them all if I run into some spikes
So Tails pick them up for me.

Don't, let me down, little, bro,

I can see more rings way up on the ledge
So fly up and grab them all for me

Gold Rings
That is what will save my life

Gold Rings save my life

Gold Rings
That is what will save my life

Gold Rings save my life

Hey now Tails I am freezing in the cold
cause of all this ice and snow.


I've got nothing but adrenaline inside me
but that you should already know

Will I be an ice cube now


all the bots that continue to attack me
should all be frozen now


Gold Rings
That is what will save my life

Gold Rings save my life


Gold Rings
That is what will save my life

Gold Rings save my life

(solo)

Gold Rings
That is what will save my life


Gold Rings
That is what will save my life

Gold Rings save my life

Gold Rings
That is what will save my life

Gold Rings save my life

Gold Rings
That is what will save my life

Gold Rings save my life

(solo)

(outro)

 

Staff Edit- This isn't really contributing to the topic, thus it's kind of spammy. Regardless, I've just spoiler tagged it due to its length - Pelly 

[JCWithTheRojoTee]

Hello everyone! (Sorry about that, I've scoured these forums to find a proper place to introduce myself but I've missed it?)

 

Anyway, I thought this was a very eye opening discovery back when it was announced and, in my humble opinion, means that there should be no question about whether or not Michael Jackson and his sound team had anything to do with Sonic 3. 

[Mando-Whirl-Wind]

Introduction threads over here

[JCWithTheRojoTee]

Ah thank you! I beat you to it by just a second lol. I was about to edit my post here. 

[GOAT]

This is great, but haven't we all known this for a long long long time now. On a side note, both MJ and Sonic are legends!

[goku262002]

So this happened, I'll directly quote from Retro:

OH SHIT. OH SHIT. OH SHIT. Its about 3 minutes longer.

Here's the link for convenience:

Now watching...

Once again, nothing new. But at least its great to see the interest is alive and may open further investigations on the subject.

Congrats, Dissident. You're interviews with Brooks were mentioned by Pop Fiction.

[Tani Coyote]

In line with Michael Jackson's involvement...

It was confirmed once again at Sonic Revolution 2014. This time by Tommy Tallarico. I think he's easily the most high profile person to confirm the story, being a fellow musician to boot.

Tommy's story basically went along the lines of Michael was a fan of the franchise and so was all too eager to help with the score. Tommy was called by a friend at SEGA to let him know that Michael was touring the studios at the time; sounds like Michael eventually signed on afterward. Michael had his name removed because he disliked how the Genesis made the music sound.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF8XeZdh2Jc

Now why MJ wouldn't realize his music didn't sound so hot until after he was done composing, I don't know.

[Dizcrybe]

I don't understand how the Genesis port of Moonwalker was allowed either if that's the case.