Quake Soundtrack

Quake

Quake is a video game by id Software released on June 22, 1996, which features music by Nine Inch Nails. Most versions of the game included 10 audio tracks from the game as standard CD-Audio files, so the game disc could be played in a CD player with the first track reserved for game data (which cannot be read by a CD player), and 10 additional tracks of music. Some versions of the game include shortened edits of the music tracks.

Trent Reznor was also responsible for the game's sound effects. Reznor became involved as the result of mutual fandom between himself and developers at id Software. He was a big fan of Doom and had sent tickets and backstage passes to developers, expressing an interest in working on Quake.[1] It is notable that this soundtrack contains ambient music, which Reznor went on to explore further with the Ghosts series and various scores created with Atticus Ross. It is also reminiscent of the dark ambient music of Coil.

On September 16th, 2020, it was announced that the Quake 12" 2xLP would be available for sale via the NIN.com store. Per John Crawford on Echoing the Sound, it was confirmed that the release has the Null 0.5 release number. Historically, there was confusion as to whether the soundtrack was credited to NIN or Reznor alone, but this was cleared up id Software designer American McGee[2] and by the hype sticker on the 2020 vinyl edition.

Track Listing

Alternate Track Titles

There are in fact no official names for these tracks, as they remain untitled in the accompanying game literature.[3] They can be referred to by their track number; however, because the first audio track is the CD's second track (the first being reserved for the actual game data), this usually leads to confusion. As such, they can also be referred to in the format of Ghosts I-IV track titles (e.g. "02 Quake I"), numbers (e.g. "Quake 1"), sequenced untitled tracks, and so on.

Alternatively, fan-made titles and game level names are often brought up when CD ripping/playing software looks up the information on the CDDB:

game data
"Persia Inversion", "Quake Theme" or "Main Theme"
"Aftermath", "The Life Beneath It All" or "Intermission"
"The Hall of Souls", "Conscience" or "Start/Whispers"
"It is Raped", "Freezing Vertigo" or "Grisly Grotto"
"Parallel Dimensions", "The Journey" or "Slipgate Complex"
"Life", "The Hammer" or "Underearth"
"Damnation", "Ice" or "Castle of the Damned"
"Focus", "Peace?" or "Necropolis"
"Falling", "Violence Inside" or "Ziggurat Vertigo"
"The Reaction", "Death" or "Gloom Keep"

Official Track Titles - 12" Vinyl

Side A

"Quake Theme"
"Aftermath"
"The Hall of Souls"

Side B

"It is Raped"
"Parallel Dimensions"
"Life"

Side C

"Damnation"
"Focus"
"Falling"
"The Reaction"

In-game appearances


Dimension of the Doomed the mystical past comes alive...	Slipgate Complex (E1M1) "Track 5"	Castle of the Damned (E1M2) "Track 7"	The Necropolis (E1M3) "Track 8"	The Grisly Grotto (E1M4) "Track 4"	Gloom Keep (E1M5) "Track 10"	The Door to Chthon (E1M6) "Track 3"	The House of Chthon (E1M7) "Track 6"	Ziggurat Vertigo (E1M8) "Track 9"
The Realm of Black Magic ancient castles and strange beasts ahead...	The Installation (E2M1) "Track 5"	Ogre Citadel (E2M2) "Track 7"	Crypt of Decay (E2M3) "Track 8"	The Ebon Fortress (E2M4) "Track 4"	The Wizard's Manse (E2M5) "Track 10"	The Dismal Oubliette (E2M6) "Track 3"	The Underearth (E2M7) "Track 6"	no level
The Netherworld primal fear in a strange dimension...	Termination Central (E3M1) "Track 5"	The Vaults of Zin (E3M2) "Track 7"	The Tomb of Terror (E3M3) "Track 8"	Satan's Dark Delight (E3M4) "Track 7"	The Wind Tunnels (E3M5) "Track 10"	Chambers of Torment (E3M6) "Track 4"	The Haunted Halls (E3M7) "Track 3"	no level
The Elder World your worst nightmares come true...	The Sewage System (E4M1) "Track 5"	The Tower of Despair (E4M2) "Track 7"	The Elder God Shrine (E4M3) "Track 8"	The Palace of Hate (E4M4) "Track 4"	Hell's Atrium (E4M5) "Track 9"	The Pain Maze (E4M6) "Track 3"	Azure Agony (E4M7) "Track 6"	The Nameless City (E4M8) "Track 9"
Deathmatch Arena and special levels	Place of Two Deaths (DM1) "Track 4"	Claustrophobopolis (DM2) "Track 4"	The Abandoned Base (DM3) "Track 5"	The Bad Place (DM4) "Track 2"	The Cistern (DM5) "Track 4"	The Dark Zone (DM6) "Track 4"	Introduction (START) "Track 3"	Shub-Niggurath's Pit (END) "Track 3"

"Track 2" plays upon completion of each level when statistics are shown (time spent, secrets, kills)

Trivia

Nailgun ammo.

A particular weapon in game play is the "nailgun" which can be reloaded by collecting ammo boxes decorated with the NIN logo. Also, Reznor was the original choice for sound design on id Software's Doom 3, but circumstances halted his involvement. Former NIN member Chris Vrenna composed the game's theme song.

The game's readme refers to Nothing Interactive, an entity that has not been to referred to before or since.

Credits

Titles of songs or themes (C) 1996 TVT/Interscope Records.
Written by Trent Reznor (C) 1996 Leaving Hope/TVT Music. ASCAP
Special thanks to Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails for sound effects and music.