15 Bands From Texas Who Made Video Game Soundtracks Even Better

Sometimes a great game isn’t complete without a great soundtrack to go with it. With literally HUNDREDS of games available, there are bound to be a few games that have bands you know and love.
Here are some Texas bands you may have heard in video games.
Pantera: We’ll start with a group that has appeared in MANY video games (at least 13 so far):
- Walking appeared in Rock Revolution, The Bigs 2, Madden NFL 10, NHL 11
- Cowboys from Hell – 4 Guitar Hero games (Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero Live & Guitar Hero Smash Hits) & Operation Flashpoint: Red River.
- mouth for war – Shaun Palmer’s Pro Skateboarder
- I’m broken – Guitar Hero Warriors of Rock & BandFuse: Legends of Rock
- & The gates of the cemetery – Blacksmith 2014.
- In addition, 5 minutes alone (and some of the aforementioned songs) & the ENTIRE The Great Southern Trend the album was included as DLC for the Rock band series.
Let’s not forget the fact that Pantera was a HUGE inspiration for the creation of the soundtrack of Loss.
Reverend Horton Heat: When you think of Texas rockabilly, Reverend Horton Heat is certainly one of the biggest names in the genre. However, you might know them from a handful of games:
- I can’t surf – Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3
- The baddest of the bad guys – Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground
- Pride of San Jacinto – Hot Wheels Race Turbo
- Soak – chasing rainbows
- mad mad heart – Far Cry 5
- Psychobilly Freakout – Guitar Hero 2
- & the most popular : Big Love Bed Rocket on MotorStorm, The Sims 3 and Need for Speed: The Run.
Butthole surfers: Another Texas band that is known as a one-hit wonder, Austin’s Butthole surfers appeared on at least 3 different games
- Pepper appears in Saints Row: The Third & World Tour Soccer 2003
- Who was in my room last night was in Guitar Hero 2 (expect a lot of GH/RB entries on this list)
The sword: While it is sad that The sword officially called 2022, we can at least enjoy the songs Austin rockers have given us over the years. Including these soundtrack features:
- iron swan – Tony Hawk’s Project 8,
- Tres Brujas – MX vs. ATV Alive,
- The Black River – Guitar Hero: Metallica,
- Young girl, mother and old – Guitar Hero 5,
- & freya appearing on Burnout Dominator, Guitar Hero 2 and Guitar Hero Smash Hits.
Toads: Ft. Worth Texas’ Hit Wonderland Band, Toads are known for Possum Kingdom. SSo far, they have only appeared in one video game: Guitar Hero 2 (and yes this song appeared in the game). However, they also appeared as DLC for the Rock band series: Outside and Tyler were included with realm of possums.
Overwhelmed: A band that isn’t talked about much, but anyone who’s played NASCAR video games might know the band from Stephenville, TX Overwhelmed.
- Divide the hate – Nascar 2005: Chasing the Cup
- Better to rethink – Nascar The Game: 2011
cover page: The band from Benton, Texas, which formed in 2002, had a slew of hits and blew up Lacey Sturm’s career. You have probably seen cover page appear on quite a few games in the guitar hero/rock band series:
- Still was their most popular video game song, appearing in Tap Tap Revenge 2, Guitar Hero Warriors of Rock, Power Gig: Rise of the Six String. Also appeared later in Rock band in DLC.
- Tina appeared in Guitar Hero III: Legends Like Rock as downloadable content
- New Horizons – Guitar Hero Live,
- Perfect – Guitar Praise,
- Cassie – The Sims 2: Teen Style Stuff,
- and of course you might remember I am so sick on the original Rock band.
At the drive-in: Yes, they are one of the two bands from El Paso that have appeared on the video games. At the drive-in appeared in 4:
- One arm scissors appears in Guitar Hero: World Tour and Rock Band 3,
- No wolf like the present – Forza Horizon 4,
- & Cosmonaut – Tony Hawk: Shred
The Volta of Mars: It is logical that if At the drive-in was featured in a video game, then El Paso’s other big name, The Volta of Marswould too.
They have only been featured in 3:
- L’Via L’Viaquez was in Guitar Hero: World Tour (This is the only game that features both El Paso bands but I think there should be more in the GH/RB series),
- The El-P remix of Goliath was used in Gran Turismo 5 Prologue,
- Zed and two dummies in MLB 12: The Show
Spoon: Austin’s alternative/indie rock band, Spoon might be having the most songs from any Texas band included in video game soundtracks (aside from Pantera):
- Mat Hoffman’s Pro BMX 2 Featured To take a walk,
- Black-smith – me and the bean,
- MLB 09: The Show – Do you Evah (He would appear on another video game but we’ll get there)
- MLB 15: The Show – rent i pay,
- MLB 17: The Show – Shotgun,
- MLB The Show 22 – Feel good,
- Need for speed: return on investment – pink up,
- Soccer 2023 – Savage,
- Sister Jack would be included as DLC on Guitar Hero 5,
- 4 songs would be included as DLC for Rock band: Ain’t Evah, Got Nuffin, I turn on my camera, & The problem comes running
The dark angels: If you heard The dark angelsyou might think they’re from the 70s but no… the psychedelic band from Austin was formed in 2004. So far they’ve only appeared on 2 games (1 having 2 songs)
- black fat on Grand Theft Auto V,
- The First Vietnam War & bad vibes on Specs Ops: The Line
MDC: One of the oldest bands on this list, the Austin punk rock band MDC was formed in 1979 and they were only included on 1 game:
- John Wayne was a Nazi was featured on GTA V when released on PS4 and Xbox One. The song is said to be on the Channel X radio station and there is another Texas band featured on that same fictional station.
DRI- The Houston Thrash Band DRI (or Dirty Rotten Fools) would also appear on GTA V’s Channel X, but that wouldn’t be the only game DRI appears on:
- I don’t need company to the reissue of GTA V
- Destroy it – Backyard Wrestling 2: There Goes the Neighborhood,
- Sofa – Tony Hawk’s American Desert,
- under the wheel – Skate 2
white jeans: The last band from Austin on this list, white jeans is a neat mix of jazz, rock, psychedelic with a few video game appearances in their career:
- let’s talk about it – Colin McRae: Dirt 2
- comb your hair – Saints Row: The Third, Tap Tap Revenge 3
- I start to burn will also appear on Tap Tap Revenge 3,
- Burnished – Black-smith
- night in dreams – Gran Turismo 6, Rock Band 4 and Guitar Hero live
High ZZ: And finally we had High ZZ & OF COURSE they have been featured in video games. But how much to be exact?
- Sharp dressed man – Guitar Hero. The Living in Texas version was used in Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock.
- Give me all your love’ – Amplified SingStar, GH: World Tour (DLC) & GTA V (re-release)
- I just got paid – Skate
- Thug – Grand Theft Auto IV
- I’m bad, I’m national – MLB 08: The Show
- I have to be paid – MLB 13: The Show, Guitar Hero Live
- & Barn -GH III: Legends Of Rock, Guitar Hero: On Tour & Nascar The Game: 2011. The Junkie XL remix would be used in Forza Motorsport.
Honorable Mention 1 – Nothing More: While the San Antonio rockers haven’t appeared in a video game (yet), Nothing more DID got used to the Paladins video game trailer. You can hear a few seconds of Go to war to be used.
Honorable Mention 2 – Damageplan: The band Vinnie & Dimebag formed after Pantera, Damageplan was actually originally intended to be on the Midnight Club 3:DUB Edition soundtrack. But for some reason the 2 songs got cut, but we can blast them both here, why not?
If you’re curious about more video game related content, you can see a list of 10 video games set in Texas.
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